View Full Version : Goats on the Appalachian Trail?
tjforrester
04-22-2011, 11:09
Goat hiking. (http://tjforrester.com/2011/04/21/appalachian-trail-hike-noc-to-fontana-dam-to-the-colbert-report/)
Think it will catch on?:)
Old Hillwalker
04-22-2011, 11:54
Not on the AT since pack animals are prohibited.
Doc Mike
04-22-2011, 12:24
How about a goat as a companion similar to a dog with there own little pack?
Not that I would but sounds interesting. I read a good story about an elderly lady doing this on the pct.
tjforrester
04-22-2011, 13:29
You could also teach a goat to maintain trail, Doc Mike. Those thorns that cut up your legs? Gone forever. Burnt cans in the fireplaces? A blight of the past. Those candy wrappers the church group kids drop on the trail? Like they never existed.
Seriously, though, all novel ideas have their downside. I doubt a goat would last long on the AT, what with thru-hiker hunger and the need for protein. Goat meat on a spit is a wonderful thing, or so I hear. You'd need multiple goats for a thru-hike, say a new one every couple hundred miles. Within three or four years, every outfitter on the trail would have a goat corral out back.
WingedMonkey
04-22-2011, 15:20
http://www.highuintapackgoats.com/
you know, this guy can actually write. got to find out more about him.
tjforrester
04-22-2011, 15:37
Bear food.
Duff, obviously you'd have to hang your goat at night.
Jim Adams
04-23-2011, 13:43
if they are not on a leash...can i use goat spray?
geek
Duff, obviously you'd have to hang your goat at night.
What worries me now is the people who refuse to hang their food and, instead, "sleep with it". A long thru hike with a warm fuzzy body sleeping next to a lonely hiker conjurs thoughts that are just weird; though I have heard things about people from the hills and sheep. Maybe it'd be confused for that pretty girl who hasn't shaved her legs in two months. "I swear, I went to sleep with a pretty girl and woke up with a goat!"
Jim Adams
04-23-2011, 15:48
"I swear, I went to sleep with a pretty girl and woke up with a goat!"
You too!....OK, ........back to the best beer thread.:eek:
geek
mistiaggie
04-23-2011, 16:57
There was a guy in The Hundred last August who had a goat. Wonder if this is the same guy. we didn't run into him but several people we know, did.
mkmangold
04-23-2011, 17:29
A long thru hike with a warm fuzzy body sleeping next to a lonely hiker conjurs thoughts that are just weird; though I have heard things about people from the hills and sheep. Maybe it'd be confused for that pretty girl who hasn't shaved her legs in two months. "I swear, I went to sleep with a pretty girl and woke up with a goat!"
I'm for the sheep idea. Not only would you have a warm fuzzy body but if it's a milking sheep, free milk. You could repair tears with free wool. Towards the end of the hike, you'd have mutton, too.
brian039
04-24-2011, 12:17
I saw two hikers with pack-goats in the 100-mile wilderness at Horseshoe Canyon Lean-to. I'm not sure if they were allowed on the trail or not.
While on the trail, just south of Dragon"s Tooth in 2001 I came across 2 goats. They were with no one. When I took my pack off to get my camera out I couldn't keep them from trying to eat my pack straps.
mweinstone
04-24-2011, 17:16
i will be anyones pack animal who asks and pays my way. ill eat spam if i could be your lacky. i would carry all your weight and cook.