# Long-haul packing tips?



## gretchbr (Jul 23, 2012)

My husband and I are prepping to take our pack goat on the 450-mile PCT section of Oregon, starting in late July. We've packed with Tripp on short overnights (walking 3 days in a row was the longest) and he did okay then. This will be a 5 week trip, though, and I'm worried about how to keep him going. I'm looking for any tips that anyone might have for doing a successful long goat-packing trip. (I've read Carolyn Eddy's book, Practical Goatpacking - does anyone want to second any of her specific contributions?)


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## wyomingtrapper (Mar 27, 2014)

Tell us more about the country you are covering? How many actual miles will you be hiking over those five weeks? If it were a full 450 miles, that would be basically a half marathon each day! That would be insane. I assume you are not packing five weeks worth of supplies. Are there access areas were your trail comes in contact with roads where you will be caching supplies? 

You will want to schedule in plenty of breaks and recovery time for both you and Tripp. Perhaps split the time with a couple of days of hiking with a full day or two between to rest. I expect that you know what you need to do. Watch her hooves, watch for stiffness. Take an appropriate first aid kit and meds.


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## gretchbr (Jul 23, 2012)

*More*

Yes, we're hoping to do at least 12 miles per day, moving to 15 miles/day once everyone gets their trail legs. The good news is that we'll have lots of hours to get that mileage done, and suspect that we'll be doing it mostly in 2 big hunks/day with a long lunch/rest break in the middle. My husband and I hike quite a bit and are in reasonably good condition - the trick is getting our goat out more often to help him get into shape as well.

The Oregon section of the PCT is considered "flat", but that's only relative to the much more variable sections of the trail through CA and WA. We will have days with 1000+' climbs and descents, but it's not too bad. Since we live in hilly country, we can practice that. Much of the trail is forested, so we're walking on duff/packed dirt much of the time. There is a section of lava rock in S. Oregon that will be a challenge.

We are reading PCT online groups and have guidebooks, so are aware of how to re-supply ourselves. We're looking for points where the trail crosses a road and then asking friends to drive supplies to us (which we'll mostly have packed in advance - and we live in Oregon, as do these friends) since we obviously won't be able to hitch, with a goat, into towns to do our re-stocking. We're planning, at this point, to carry about a weeks' worth of food at a time, and will be getting our water along the way. I'm also thinking of getting 5# or so of goat grain at each re-supply spot so that we can supplement Tripp's browsing and hopefully keep his weight up.

We hope to be flexible with zero days and short-distance days, depending on how we are all doing.

I know that people have successfully done long-haul packing with goats - hoping to find out what worked to keep the goats going day after day.


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## wyomingtrapper (Mar 27, 2014)

Sounds like you have covered your bases. It will come down to how you and the goat do over several weeks. Prepare contingencies in case any of you end up lame. Better to rewrite the trip or end it prematurely, if necessary, then turn a problem into something serious. I think having grain to supplement will be good. All of you will be burning some serious calories.

In younger days, when hunting elk, I would often cover 10 to 12 miles of steep country a day. I ate like a horse and still would loose a good 12 pounds in five days. I am wiser and hunt smarter now. lol Though ironically could use the weight loss now!


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