Llama Trip: Day 2&3

The next morning we ate breakfast with a southern small-town diner theme. At the "Llama Diner," "We believe in costumer service, so therefore our costumers serve us." At 11:00 am, we set out again, this time for Bob's Lake. Around 2:00 pm we got our first view of the backbone of the Wind River Mountains (at right), followed by the first river crossing (below). We continued down into the vast meadows around Bob's Lake and the countless others in the near vicinity. We arrived at our camp a few hours later and had dinner, only to settle in again for an eventful night of sleep.

A little before midnight we were awoken by the alarm call of a llama followed by thundering hooves. My dad went running outside in his underwear only to come back in cursing about the cold and how he forgot his bear spray. It soon became apparent that we were missing four of the nine llamas, the result of a wandering deer that spooked them. A search party was sent out, soon finding that they were not anywhere in camp. After broadening the efforts to include the areas further out from the immediate vicinity of the camp, three of the four llamas were found about a quarter mile away, and the search party returned. The fourth llama, named 525 (my llama!), would be searched for in the morning, due to the impending thunderstorm.

That morning, my dad and I, and a llama to lure the missing the missing one in, set out across the far side of the meadow, where he was able to get a desperate text out to my mom who was nursing a ruptured Achilles tendon at home. She was able to contact the llama company, and they began to orchestrate a rescue mission. Meanwhile, another party of two (my uncle and cousin) went down the middle of the valley/meadow, with a third (another uncle and cousin) headed along the near side. At the lunchtime rendezvous, none of the parties had turned up anything, despite the beautiful hikes. Upon returning to camp, we discovered my sister, younger cousin and aunts had been informed by a group of passing horseman that the llama was "just over yonder." Thinking the llama was close, they had, naturally, taken off in that direction, with only an assortment of flip flops and Crocs on their feet and none of the essential head nets and bug sprays needed for repelling the increasing number of mosquitoes. After six miles of hiking (some of it through a hail storm), they returned having found 525 with his lead rope tangled to a log. Another desperate text was sent in the extremely spotty reception, this time saying that the search team that had been being arranged was no longer needed. Finally, we slept soundly that night.

Coming Soon: Llama Trip Day 4 & 5