Monongahela National Forest
West Virginia
July 1992
A German family settled in this area in the 1700s. Their family name was Dahles, pronounced “dollies.” “Sod” is a term for an open grassy meadow. Hence this place became known as Dolly Sods.
I had been on the trail for several days when I came to a clearing. Some folks there were fussing with their pack animals: two people, four llamas. We got to chatting. The people and me, not the llamas and me. They explained that they were training their animals for the trail, so they could rent them out to folks who wanted a wilderness experience but didn’t want to carry their own packs. The name of their company? Dolly Llamas.
Why does Dolly Llamas use llamas and not, say, camels? Many, many reasons. I think the best explanation is that Dolly Camels just doesn’t cut it.
And while we’re on the topic of llamas, I would be remiss not to include Ogden Nash’s verse…
The one-l lama,
He’s a priest.
The two-l llama,
He’s a beast.
And I will bet
A silk pajama
There isn’t any
Three-l lllama.
This is to be followed up with, “What’s a Four-l llllama?”
“Oh, that’s a fire in Brooklyn.”