Oh boy, what a day. If some of you are confused as to where I am, you are not alone. I am headed Sobo from Canada to Mexico but due to our recent visit from Sally, we are trying to get her back to Butte. This allowed us to make a directional change after climbing Storm Pass and Goat Flat yesterday. Instead of heading south to Wisdom, we are now traveling Nobo towards Butte. All dots on the trail will be connected. And Fearless and I will resume our Sobo travel in a few days.

We are taking it a bit more leisurely with a reduction in miles and enjoying the amazing scenery. We broke camp after 7am and left ahead of the Llama Pack. Around 830am, they caught up and we decided to let them pass. Fearless was videotaping the creatures as they passed and the lead llama must have mistaken her camera for food because he put his face directly up to her IPhone. The Mama Llama said she must’ve thought it was edible. I guess it looks like oats!

They continued down the trail and within a few minutes, we noticed three horses coming up the trail. The Mama Llama, she’s the owner, name unknown, moved all three llamas off the trail. I guess some horses don’t like llamas and she wanted to give the riders a clear path. This is when everything went south!

The lead rider, Mr. Buster an older gentleman on an older horse, got spooked. The horse saw the llamas and started going backwards, then spun around in circles, raised its front legs up, not once but twice as Buster was holding on. I was quite impressed with his horsemanship until the horse misstepped and rolled off the trail trapping the rider underneath the horse. Oh crap, this is bad! I ran over as Mr. Buster was trying his best to get untangled from the horse and stirrups. He wiggled his way out as his daughter and granddaughter got off their horses. It gets worse!

Now Mom Madeleine is off her horse, and her teenage daughter has the other two horses on leads. We access Mr. Buster and attempt to figure out how to get the horse off the ground. The horse seems dazed and confused! It’s lying on its right side with the saddle and all its gear still attached. The horses legs are up hill which makes it quite difficult to upright. Mr. Buster is trying his best to get the horse to stand up. The Llama Mama and her llamas are making a quiet escape from this entire ordeal.

Finally after a few minutes of, “should we take the saddle off the horse” or “should we just let the horse rollover so it can stand”, the horse somehow, someway, uprights itself and takes off running down the trail riderless. And if that’s not bad enough, the other two horses, drag Maddy to the ground, as they follow suit. I know, you can’t make this stuff up!

Now teenage Maddy is down with abrasions and a possible busted ankle. Me and the gang all head over and access Maddy as the Mom and Grandpa are in need of finding their runaway horses! I take over as lead Medic and the girls find all things first aid. Madeleine and Mr. Buster see that Maddy is in capable hands and tell us they’ll be back once they retrieve the horses.

About half an hour later after Maddy is all bandaged up, Mom and Grandpa return. We haven’t seen the llamas, they are long gone but the horses appear to be fine. And that’s the gist of our day on the trail.

So in Montana, you get Grizzly Bears, Rocky Mountain Goats, Elks, Deer, Badgers but what is the scariest thing on the trail is evidently, a llama or worse, three llamas. So next time you’re out in Montana, be very weary of the docile and adorable llamas. They are truly the bad news bears!

Prior to us leaving this morning, we asked the Lord for protection and strength. I know He was aware of what was coming this day, yet amoung all the chaos, he protected us and the ones nearby.

“Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life. You stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes; with your right hand you save me. The Lord will vindicate me; your love, Lord, endures forever— do not abandon the works of your hands.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭138‬:‭7‬-‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬