2 lost pack llamas

[peter303]

They are planning the llama 14er fkt. They are trying to beat A2.

[Eli Watson]

I'm so glad this is real and there are pictures and the llamas have been spotted.

I've definitely had a run-in with the dogs on the Ridge Stock Driveway.

[HikerGuy]

A little background on Rones and Vio and their owners. Hope they are reunited soon.

https://coloradosun.com/2024/08/05/llam ... og-attack/

[Trotter]

I kinda hope the two missing ones are a breeding pair... having wild llamas running around would really remind me of peru

[Buckie06]

neat article from the Sun. Best of luck in finding your llamas!

[cedica]

neat article from the Sun. Best of luck in finding your llamas!

+1
Couldn't believe my eyes when I read that Euskaldunak and their trusted companions are employed as shepherds over there. Those are the best wolves and coyotes preventive countermeasures on the planet for sure. And almost the best in the galaxy, just short of hiring Klingons. Euskara language must be more difficult to learn though.

[dr_j]

Beautiful llama, and somehow looking content despite being lost! I hope you find the other one.

I wouldn't mind seeing more llama photos, maybe they're going to be the new mountain goat?

[HikesInGeologicTime]

Couldn't believe my eyes when I read that Euskaldunak and their trusted companions are employed as shepherds over there. Those are the best wolves and coyotes preventive countermeasures on the planet for sure. And almost the best in the galaxy, just short of hiring Klingons. Euskara language must be more difficult to learn though.

Yeah, talk about burying the lede, as far as any linguistic nerds are concerned. Of course I hope the llamas are returned home safely and that area ranchers are somehow inspired to get their herding dogs under control, but I really want the Sun or some investigative journalist to go back there and figure out how exactly a speaker of a language that has only the most distant of connections to any other spoken in the modern day wound up herding sheep in southwestern Colorado!

But I really do hope to see an update about your llamas being returned to you safe and sound, OP.

[markf]

neat article from the Sun. Best of luck in finding your llamas!

+1
Couldn't believe my eyes when I read that Euskaldunak and their trusted companions are employed as shepherds over there. Those are the best wolves and coyotes preventive countermeasures on the planet for sure. And almost the best in the galaxy, just short of hiring Klingons. Euskara language must be more difficult to learn though.

Raising sheep has been a big part of the economy in the Pyrenees for many years, and Basque shepherds have been working in the American west since the late 19th century. https://footnote.wordpress.ncsu.edu/202 ... 0-22-2021/ . I was a little surprised at the part of the Sun article that said they couldn't communicate with the shepherd in Spanish. Most Basque that I encountered in the Pyrenees spoke Spanish or French quite well when they had to deal with non-Basque people, but preferred to speak Basque among themselves.

This is the second instance that I've read of on 14ers.com where Pyrenean sheep dogs in the San Juans have behaved too aggressively. I encountered quite a few sheep dogs in the Pyrenees last summer, and none of them behaved aggressively toward me. I'm pretty sure that if I had made a move toward one of the sheep I would have regretted it, but as long as I stood still or moved away from the sheep the dogs didn't bother me. There were posters and pamphlets at trailheads and in the refuges explaining what the dogs did and warning people not to mess with them, but the dogs themselves were never a problem. Maybe the dogs in the San Juans don't see enough hikers to become accustomed to them, or maybe they're just not as well trained as the ones I met in the Pyrenees.

[justiner]

I would also not challenge the Lake City Jai Alai Club to a game lest you lose all sense of self-respect.

[Ed_Groves]

I feel really fortunate that I have not encountered a sheep dog. In July of 2022 a buddy and I had to race down from Wetterhorn Peak in a thunderstorm and hail. We were pelted for much of the way down to tree line. Once I reached the basin a herd of about 150 - 200 sheep were clustered around the trail and I just ran right through them. They deferred to me as I passed. I wasn't about to slow down with lightning popping everywhere. I did not see a sheep dog with them. Unlike me, maybe it had enough sense to get out of the storm.

[jrs1965]

neat article from the Sun. Best of luck in finding your llamas!

+1
Couldn't believe my eyes when I read that Euskaldunak and their trusted companions are employed as shepherds over there. Those are the best wolves and coyotes preventive countermeasures on the planet for sure. And almost the best in the galaxy, just short of hiring Klingons. Euskara language must be more difficult to learn though.

In 2004 I did my last overseas trip to Kosovo with the Army before retiring. Loosely, as a mission we climbed Mount Ljuboten (8,200 feet) looking for nefarious activity. Plenty of sheep up there with no shepherd and just the "Sharr Mountain Dogs" to guard the sheep. These dogs are known as the "wolf killer" and they look it! We had one of these dogs charge us and he looked to be all business. Fortunately, the dog realized we were all business when I popped off a few 9mm rounds into the air to discourage him. I love dogs. Hopefully the San Juan herding dogs aren't quite as feral as their Balkan cousins...