Backpacking (wilderness) - Backpacking With Animals

Backpacking With Animals

Some backpackers bring along a pack animal, such as a horse, llama, goat, dog, or burro (donkey) to help carry the weight of the gear. These animals need special considerations when accompanying backpackers on a trip. Some areas restrict the use of horses and other pack animals. For example, Great Basin National Park does not allow pets at all in the back country areas. Like their human counterparts, pack animals require special backpacking gear like a variety of leads, harnesses, and packs. Dog packs are widely available at outdoor sporting goods stores. Wild animals can be attracted to pack animals, so extreme caution is necessary when bringing domesticated animals into backcountry areas. Some trails like the Libby Creek Quartet have premade corrals which specifically cater to large pack animals.

Dogs tend to show admirable hill-climbing ability and can carry a few kilos (several pounds) of gear (their own dry food and other) when among a backpacking party. However, few dogs will be able to traverse the roughest off-trail terrain that their human backpacking companions will cross with little trouble. For example, cross-country travel through fields of 1-meter (3-foot) boulders or dense 3/4-meter-tall (2-foot) brush may cause a dog to balk or halt entirely. Such balking may be especially pronounced when one or more of these factors is present: small body size, e.g. under 30 kilos (60 pounds), puppyhood or age greater than a few years, obesity, and a dog pack weight of greater than a few kilos or pounds. A steep descent will cause a dog much more hesitation than it will a backpacking human. Restricting travel to well-maintained trails, therefore, may be needed. Attention to a dog's paw condition is important. For example, hidden adhesions of pine pitch between toes may cause balking or limping even when otherwise uncalled for.

Otherwise, dogs will need few other special arrangements while backpacking. As experienced owners of large dogs of the working and sporting breeds can attest, a dog in a backpacking party needs comparatively little in terms of insulation, shelter, and bedding. Their food need only consist of some combination of human food scraps, fish scraps, and their own carried dry dog food.

In the American West, the importance of the "burro" was unsurpassed. Today, this is emphasized at Philmont Scout Ranch, a property dedicated to backpacking in northern New Mexico. At Philmont, crews that are completing their 12-day trek will receive their burro to assist with carrying their equipment. Though a donkey is a stubborn animal, their resilience is phenomenal; therefore, their use is widespread in the backpacking arena.