Well that's not how it turned out at all. The llamas had to carry so much stuff to feed, maintain and care for the llama and to keep them from running away that there wasn't much room left for anything else. I ended up carrying my backpack for the whole trip. No big deal because that's what I'm accustomed to. The experience was disappointing.
I'm curious. What all did the guy take anyway? I use a couple strong 3/8" ropes stretched out on the ground. Trained llamas won't fight a rope so you don't need winch cable to hold them. If they get tangled, they'll stand and work their feet until they're loose. I have 100' and another 50' in case I don't have stuff to tie the ends to. I put a 2" tie ring every 20' so I have room for 5 llamas on a 100' ground rope. Then I put a 12' light weight 1/4" rope, with a small snap on each ring for a tether. That's all the stuff I take for tying out. In the summer, they have enough natural feed. Llamas will eat about anything. During late season, I'll take some hay pellets as a supplement. You can feed 4 or so llamas on what 1 horse will eat. I'll take enough pellets so each one gets a qt twice a day. They get heavy but they're compact and fit easily in a pannier. I just have to balance the weight. Add some very light weight dog dishes to feed them in and that's it.
Bulk is more of an issue than weight. Llama panniers are much smaller than horse panniers. Sleeping bags can be a problem if the guys don't have compact bags. I took a scout troop on a trip this summer. We invited some adults to go and ended up with 12 people for 5 llamas. Everyone carried their own sleeping bag and any other bulky items. A couple years ago, one boy showed up with a slab of 4" memory foam for a pillow. It literally weighed 10lb and would fill half a pannier. Forget that crap. Carry your own, Buster.
