COLORADO — Several very special assistants are helping the Leadville Ranger District on the Pike-San Isabel National Forest & Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands complete trail maintenance this summer. However, these assistants may not be quite what you’d expect. They are the four-legged furry kind—they’re llamas! Well trained llamas are a great addition to the wilderness trail crew because they are docile, easy to handle and transport, and low maintenance. They also walk at a similar pace as their human coworkers. 

Wyatt and Junior, the llamas in question, were welcomed to the team in June and will support the program through August. So far, they have assisted with a variety of projects, including wilderness trail bridge maintenance and replacement, two trail re-routes and a handful of other general maintenance tasks such as sign installations, wilderness patrols and alpine lake clean-up. 

Leadville District is home to four wilderness areas that contain nine fourteeners — mountain peaks with elevations of at least 14,000 feet. Many of the trails are 9,000 feet in elevation or higher. Llamas are native to the Andes mountains of South America, primarily Peru and Bolivia, so they are accustomed to living and working at high elevations. They are well adapted to harsh, extreme weather and other variables typical of mountain environments. They are in the Camelid family, meaning that they are two toed, not hooved, with toenails covering each padded toe. Because of this, their feet are much lighter on the land, which is important for traveling in sensitive high alpine tundra and other fragile terrain. 

The district has over 300 miles of trails; a lot of area to maintain, patrol and monitor. Since motorized or mechanized equipment are not permitted in wilderness areas, llamas are ideal to pack in tools and supplies and pack out trash or abandoned camping equipment. 

“Llamas relieve our wilderness crew of some of the extra pack weight necessary for the four day hitches they work throughout the summer. This alleviates fatigue and allows the crew to get farther and faster into the field,” said Wilderness Ranger and Llama Program Manager Kate DeMorest. Llamas can generally carry up to 1/3 of their weight, which is around 60 to 80 pounds; they generally carry tools, personal protective equipment, camping gear and miscellaneous supplies.   

The llamas do not transmit disease to sensitive species such as bighorn sheep. “Disease transmission between domestic sheep and goats and wild sheep populations is a serious problem in some areas and a good reason to utilize the right pack stock,” said DeMorest.

DeMorest worked with llamas in the past and wanted to bring their expertise to the Leadville Ranger District. After several years of planning, the llamas joined the district’s wilderness program in June 2023. Initially funded through a grant, agency funds now support the program, which has been a great success and is expected to continue.