Episode
Trail Stories - The Burros Built it
- Podcast
- Hiker Trash Radio
- Published
- Jun 13, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 1386
- Processing state
not_requested
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Summary
Shane Weigand came to New Mexico from Montana with zero stock experience, tried to get a llama, met a llama, and bought a burro off Craigslist instead — and then, ten years later, found himself the unlikely guardian of one of the most distinctive subcultures in the American West. As the founder of New Mexico Pack Burros, Shane guides multi-day wilderness packing trips into the Pecos Wilderness, directs five races on the Southwest pack burro racing circuit, and works to bring a working tradition back to the backcountry that has been largely absent for fifty-plus years. This episode covers the history and wild energy of pack burro racing — a sport that has been running continuously since 1949 in Fairplay, Colorado — the case for the burro as the most practical and underrated backcountry companion available, and Shane's proudest moment in the sport: 150 miles of the Colorado Trail with a wild-adopted burro named Comet, followed by a race finish in Leadville that told him the burro was family for life. Hollywood says the horse won the West. Shane's version of history is more specific: the burros built it. The full interview with Shane drops Wednesday in two parts on the Hiker Trash Radio feed.