You're right, most backpackers now would not know much about handling or packing a pack animal anymore. Considering the nature of the sport, and the long history of using burros as pack animals, that, in and of itself, is both a bit odd, and a bit sad.

It wasn't that long ago that renting pack animals here in the States, especially out West, was common. I think it went out of style with the advent of backpacking becoming a sort of popular sub-culture. But modern backpacking, as we know it know, is still an offshoot of using pack animals for backcountry travel.

I'm pretty sure there are still places in Europe that you can rent burros for hikes. You can even rent them for day hikes, if I recall correctly.

I don't know much about llamas or goats as pack animals, but burros are low maintenance, very mild mannered, and not at all hard to control. They love to hike with people and they don't spook like many horses I've been around. Their reputation of being stubborn is pretty much exaggerated too.

Now when you combine using mini burros with ultralight gear, it's quite different than it was when using pack animals was last common here. You have a much smaller animal that is much easier to control, and really, much happier to be there with you, and you can bring all the gear it used to take a truly stubborn Missouri Mule to carry. It may be fair to say it is an entirely new "Style".

To bring this a little closer to the original topic, I wouldn't NOT go if I couldn't own or rent a pack animal, but I'm sure there are people who did stop going into the backcountry when they could no longer rent them, and people who don't go now because they can't rent them. That's something important to consider too. It's the same thing that leads many people to lightweight backpacking, but if that doesn't work, for most of us, that's the end of the trail.

I know there are backpackers who really don't like being on the same trail as horses and pack animals, but all things considered, using smaller pack animals addresses a lot of what they don't like, so, just like learning how to go "Primitive" or "Ultralight", it's probably worth learning more about if you have the opportunity. It could actually be the difference between being out there someday, or not.

The problem right now is, there are no outfitters that rent them, and not many people can own a burro, so there is little opportunity to learn about it. Until that changes, it will remain a style that only a few can experience or benefit from.

It would be nice if it does change though. Considering the historical time frame of backpacking as a sub-culture, being fully embraced by the baby-boomer generation that left pack animals in their stalls, and the current graying of us baby boomers, it would seem to be a logical place for it to go. A full circle, so to speak.

But perhaps I over think it.