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PLTA Mileage

Club Guidelines

 

 

 

P urpose

The PLTA Mileage Club (MC) was set up to track distance traveled by a member while hiking with a llama. Mileage accrued by individual llamas will also be recorded according to the club guidelines.

B ackground

Much of the PLTA membership reported they were interested in hiking with their llamas but could not participate in pack trials for a variety of reasons. Completion of trial levels, advanced age or physical limitations of either handler or llama, and distance to trials were among them, Walking clubs, motorcycle groups, and other fitness programs offer recognition of informal mileage accomplishments. PLTA has decided to set up a similar program recognizing the miles members hike with their llamas.

M embership Requirements

Individualswishing to participate in the MC must first have a current full PLTA membership.Note that if 2 people in a family wish to be MC members, the family’s Full Membership is accepted for both family members. The member must hike with a llama but is not required to use a pack system or load weights as training and conditioning excursions may be counted. If mileage is to be tracked for the llama, the llama must be registered with the PLTA. This incurs a one-time fee of $10.00 per animal and is also required of all llamas participating in PLTA Pack Trials. If a participant uses a llama that is NOT registered with the PLTA, the person will receive credit for miles hiked but the llama will not be tracked. A participant may use several different llamas; the mileage will be accrued separately forthe animals and collectively for the person. The program operates on the honor system . It is the responsibility of the MC member to report their mileage on a monthly basis and within a two week grace period.

C lub Initiation 

Upon receipt of the MC applicationand full payment of the fees, the MC Coordinator will send out a packet containing this Guide about the MC program, and a PLTA Mileage Club primary patch. This packet will also include copies of the required forms to be used to track mileage and provide information about the trails hiked. Photo copies of the forms may be made as needed. In addition, the forms may be acquired electronically byemailing the MC Coordinator (see the form for the contact information) or through the PLTA website atwww.packllama.org. The forms have been created in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. An MC membe rmay send their monthly reports electronically to the MC Coordinator after first alerting them to the incoming submission.

T racking Mileage

The recording form contains essentially two parts—a record of mileage completed each day and descriptive trail information.The Mileage Record is set up allowing easy input by the hiker to add daily information. It has columns for the date, llama’s name, a simplified trail name, and mileage hiked that day. The Trail Information provides more details about the hike including location,permit requirements, parking accommodations, and other pertinent details that can be incorporated into the future PLTA Trail Catalogue. However, any hiking with the llama counts including those training hikes around one’s own property. These can include the llama’s first introduction to crossing water, or learning to navigate rocky slopes, with or without pack systems or added weights.

D ata Compilation

The MC Coordinator will maintain the mileage records for each MC member and their PLTA registered llamas. Accumulative totals of mileage will be calculated. As each milestone is achieved, the MC member will be notified of their accomplishment.The descriptive trail information will also be compiled as much as we can although that yearly report will likely become an article in the PLTA news and/or website. The creation of a PLTA Trail Catalogue will be dependent first on the submissions ofthe MC members but we then hope to provide periodic updates.

A wards

Members in the MC are automatically given a PLTA Mileage Club patch which signifies this member is intent on hiking with llamas. It is hoped that one will proudly wear this patch on the upper arm of a favorite jacket or llama panniers. As each 25 miles is accrued by the MC member, a “bar” or hatch

mark type of patch will be sent by the MC Coordinator.These bars are intended to be worn below the initial patch. We expect to also featurespecialized bars for significant milestonesn the future. Maybe even jackets especially chosen to showcase the patches? At the end of the year, certificates will be sent to the MC member with the actual number of miles their llama(s) has hiked (one certificate per llama). We also will be reporting these accomplishments in the PLTA News and on the website. Will you have the most miles under your belt? As data is received, additional categories of accomplishment are sure to emerge and the PLTA intends to recognize these. For instance, we hope to document quite a number of miles logged as our members volunteer with trail repair and other environmentalactivities. And what llama has accrued the most miles in a year?  Itwill be fun to see what states have the most active llama owners and if any particular trails seem particularly llama-friendly.