PACING A TRIP
Group trips often have reasons other than covering distance, unless we are talking about a Boy Scout 50-mile pack trip badge (and they have to carry their own packs to earn that).  So the planning stages are very important so that the group can enjoy the advantages that are the highest priority for their people, whether it is educational, relationship-building, recreational, or a special-interest like photography.    This is where our experience is most useful, helping you avoid the most common pitfalls of group trips.
physical capacity
We have been out with a lot of people in various stages of physical shape, so we can give you some well-tested parameters on this subject.  Those of you who are athletic and constantly track your body's capacity for excercise, read this anyway. Unless everybody on the trip is just as fit, this information will help you understand the limitations of the others.
gender
Adult males on average are taller, more muscular, and have a longer step than females.  In a mixed group, the guys will want to go faster and further.  Discarding the notion of physical equality (everybody's different) the taller, faster and more fit people should carry a greater handicap (that means a heavier daypack).  If the range is very wide, pick routes that have lots of side trails or ridges to climb after the party gets to camp.  The less fit can savor the relaxation that only genuine tiredness brings while the energetic check out all possibilities.
older hikers
Over fifty, people don't adjust as fast as they used to.  While women accept this as a given, sometimes men have a little difficulty being real about the differences between what they did in boot camp at twenty and what they can do today.  If a person over this age has a regular workout program and has been in the habit of staying fit, there is no problem whatever --- they will probably leave the rest of the group eating their dust.  For your average American fifty-plus individual, three to four miles is about all they will do in a day without undue strain.  We have a list of trails that are easier than most and are wonderful for retired hikers.
youngsters
If kids will be coming, this must be taken into consideration when planning.  Do not overestimate their physical abilities, and be prepared to carry young children if necessary.  (We do not rent llamas to carry children for liability reasons.  Your own llama can carry your kids quite nicely if you train it not to jump over logs.) A good rule of thumb is that an active, healthy child without a load can be expected to walk at most their own age in miles per day.  After seven years (or miles) it all depends on the kid.  Physical types vary, but the wiry, energetic ones will be ranging ahead while pudgy, generally inactive individuals will be suffering at the rear.  Do not force the pace to the point of torture for the less-athletic children --- they'll hate every minute of what could otherwise become a lifelong healthy habit.
Teenagers of either gender have the widest imaginable variation in ability and skill.

all the rest
If you want to have a good time on the trip, it is important that it does not come to resemble the "Bataan death march" for any of the participants.  When you are out in the wilderness together, a group becomes interdependent---one man's blister afftects everyone.  So in choosing the trail you hike and how each day will be paced, take off the rose-colored glasses and consider the needs of weakest member of your group.  Even with llamas doing most of the work, this person will determine the distance you cover.
getting the body ready
You don't need to be an athlete or super-fit to enjoy packing if you have llamas to carry the gear, but don't depend on the packtrip to tone yourself up.  If you do not have a regular excercise regimen, start walking at least a month before the trip. You should be able to comfortably walk about three miles an hour on flat ground without getting too out of breath.  For hilly ground, you should be able to do at least two miles per hour.

Try walking half an hour a day the month before the trip.  Be sure and include a few hills---they use a different set of muscles from the flat.  Start your walk by stretching.  Without "bouncing" (an invitation to pulled muscles), touch your toes a few times, first with your feet together, then apart.  Add a few squats and arm exercises.  Then start walking at a reasonable pace--try a walkman with rythmic music.  After ten minutes, stop and take your pulse by timing fifteen seconds on the carotid (neck) artery and multiplying by four.  You are getting conditioned if the number is 140 or over.  If your pulse is above 200, slow down and exercise more frequently.

Load up your daypack with the things you plan to carry on your person, (especially water) and take it along on your conditioning walks.  This will give you time to re-consider if something turns out to be heavier than it is worth.  And if they haven't already been broken in, test your footgear.  Experiment with socks, sole inserts, and be aware of "hot spots" --- places where the boot is rubbing.  A slight pressure place in an hour's walk becomes a blister over half a day.  Check your clothing, too.  Make sure it doesn't block persperation, that your underwear doesn't dig or cut into tendons, that your walking shorts don't "ride up", that your long pants don't bind, especially when climbing.  Fighting your gear uses up energy.

the learning curve
A pack trip -- with or without animals --- has an element of skill to it.  Whether it is loading, walking, or horseback riding, there are physical things to learn.  If you are new at any skill, learning how to be competent is a part of the fun; but that process takes a certain amount of time which must be factored in to the pace of a day's trip.  I once went out with a group of fifteen people, none of whom had any experience with llama packing at all.  The first day, everything had to be packed and loaded twice.  (Some of the llamas had to have the saddles switched after being tacked up, but we have since solved that problem by attaching laminated photos of each llama on his custom-fitted tack.) From the time we started until we hit the trail took three hours---about 20 minutes per llama.  By the fourth day, this group could get their whole elaborate camp packed up and loaded onto the llamas in less than thirty minutes! So remember: You'll spend a portion of the first day just getting the feel of the loading process down, and even with the best coaching in the world (us!) that will take some time.

It is a very good idea to get your stuff organized ahead of time; the larger the group, the more crucial this is.  Everyone should get together before the trip and go through their the gear.  All the trail stuff must be sorted, weighed and organized into pack loads.  This will take 20-30 minutes for each person on the trip.  Put the non-consumables, like tents and sleeping bags, together; once this stuff has been sorted out, you can just stick with the same system and it will go faster every day thereafter.  Food changes daily as it is consumed and these loads must be re-weighed.  So the gear can remain loaded until you start, don't include clothing you may need to wear on the day of the trip.  This will help you get a much faster start on the first day.

llama ability
Now for the llama part of trail pacing.  Your average backyard llama can be expected to do about as much as the average backyard owner, about six miles a day on not-too hard terrain.  Llamas come in different sizes and shapes, and some of ours are superb athletes.  These big boys can do 10-12 miles a day under load when they are fully conditioned (mid to end of packing season) but we limit the number of "ultimate workout" trips we rent our stock for.  (We can recommend suitable llamas for purchase to those whose passion is hiking fast and far.) All of our adult llamas are capable of doing a seven-mile day.  Since they must work all season, we like to keep the day's effort within the limits of enjoyment for the llama as well as the handler.

Llamas hang out in groups.  If you have one far behind the rest, it will humm, get worried, and sometimes want to push past the handler in order to rejoin the others.  Sometimes, if the others are completely out of sight and the llama didn't see which way they went, he will just stop for fear that he is being led away from his herd.  In the same fashion, if the person leading the front llama tries to get too far ahead of the rest, the llama will slow down or stop altogether.  LLAMAS ALWAYS GO TOGETHER.  Pace your trip accordingly.

Your packstock is also a prey species --- vulnerable to predator attack.  That means that they don't like to walk after dark, when their best form of protection, their vision, is limited.  Although some llamas will follow a trusted companion down a dark trail, most like to scope out a spot before dark, settle down and stay put.  So don't plan on walking the forest trail at night. Your llama won't do it.  (We know of llamas who pack open terrain by moonlight, but we've never tried it.)

Footsoreness can be a factor in pacing the trip.  The llamas--unlike their handlers---are barefoot.  We take care to toughen the footpads of our stock, but there are some trails which involve miles of travel over talus and scree --- the small, often sharp rocks left by a receding glacier.  When this is the case, stop and check the feet for signs of swelling and soreness. you may need to reduce the mileage to accomodate his feet.  (This is one of the reasons we now check out all trails our llamas travel before we rent them.)

Llamas are more agile than most packstock and can negotiate very tight and steep trails.  However, if the trail is a rugged or steep one, the load should be taken into consideration.  For very hard terrain, reduce either the load or the distance.  Good planning means that the llamas will travel their furthest or steepest miles toward the end of a trip, when the weight is down due to food consumption.  Llamas also know when they are returning to the trailhead and will want to go faster on the way back.