2025, animals, Government, Uncategorized

Feeling Mulish

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We live about 40 miles from Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It is very rugged, with buttes, gullies, strange rock formations, rattle snakes, big horn sheep, bison, and prairie dogs. We have enjoyed hiking there since our children were little.

In about 1998 the United States Forest Service built a 144 mile trail that connected the South Unit of the park with the North Unit. It is called the Maah Daah Hey Trail, which is a Mandan Indian word for “grandfather”. Bicyclists, hikers, and horse riders use it a lot. We have hiked a mile or so on it.

In 2023 a bridge near one of the trail heads collapsed into a gully, and that area of the trail has been closed. The Forest Service is responsible for its upkeep, and recently started bridge repair. Although motor vehicles could have hauled in the bridge materials, the Forest Service chose to use some of their pack mules to do the hauling so as to not disturb the landscape. The Forest Service has about 300 pack mules that are kept in Missoula, MT and help out with projects like this in our region. They only make the mules carry about 150 pounds of material at a time, which is about only half of what the average mule can haul. They retire the mules when they are about 25 years old and care for them for their remaining years. I think that is sweet. Who knew the Forest Service owned mules?

Where are your favorite places to hike or ride? Any experiences with mules or donkeys? Felt mulish lately?

38 thoughts on “Feeling Mulish”

  1. We’ve been on two mule-supported hiking trips in California’s High Sierra – we carry our light day packs, they carry the heavy camping gear and the food. Wonderful trips. But we’ve known for years about mules being used Out West for trail maintenance and to support hunting camps.

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  4. Norman McClain’s book A River Runs Through It. Most of it is about his time working for National Forest Service at a very young age in the mountains north of Bozeman. He hiked into these mountains with older experienced men of the woods using mules as pack animals. My granddaughter, who right now is working at a camp just east of these mountains, backpacked up into these much more tamed mountains last week with camp friends. No mules but they got quite close to mountain goats. She fell in love with backpacking but she found the trails on that hike a bit perilous. She starts a job in Bozeman in September

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  5. Hiking in the Rocky Mts. with my folks would have to be right up there. This would be in the 70s and 80s, when they rented a cabin outside of Estes Park – we’d drive to Bear Lake, and take one of several well marked trails from there…

    I know I’ve encountered donkeys somewhere, but can’t at this moment think where. Feeling mulish on hot, humid days, so glad for something a bit cooler here today.

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  7. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    A favorite hike is Oak Creek Canyon, north of Sedona, AZ. Lou and I have hiked it a few times, loving the experience each time. It is picturesque and cool, with a lovely creek wending the way through a steep, steep canyon. I looked in my pictures, and find the last time we hiked it was in 2018. In 1996 when we were in Arizona for my step-son’s wedding, we took our mothers. That was the most memorable. Lou’s mother was terrified each step, even when we had a hold on her and she had a walking stick. Most of the time there was no need for that kind of anxiety because it was not dangerous or scary. It just was not Iowa. The entire trip she spent every moment in terror because she was not in Iowa.

    I have little experience with mules, but I did not know there were still pack mules. I thought those had been replaced with motorcycles or gators, like Ben’s.

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    1. I have hiked Oak Creek Canyon – and would hike it again in a heartbeat. Beautiful scenery, not very strenuous, and being able to cool off our feet in the creek.

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    1. We saw the bridge from a viewpoint but did not get to do the hike. We did enjoy our hike from the Visitor Center to The Giant’s Causeway.

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  11. Twenty or Thirty years ago, I came home to find a pony and a donkey standing in the yard. They followed me back to the barn and I locked them in a pen. I don’t know anyone around here with a donkey. I notified the Sheriff and spent a couple days asking around. And then one day as I went down one road, I passed a car going the other way, and in the car was Joan and Dick. They had a real menagerie of animals and I knew then, they were theirs. But they live a few miles from us and I didn’t know how the donkey and pony ended up at our place.
    Well, through the fence, through some back yards, found a road, followed that to the highway, found our road, followed that to the end, and there I was. Nothing too it.

    I know Kelly has been to the Grand Canyon and ridden the mules to the bottom, and they’ve fed pringles to the mules or donkeys in the park.

    After reading that book by Rinker Buck and his journey on the Oregon Trail with his mules, I gained a new respect for the animals. And his brother. Can’t leave out his brother. 🙂

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  13. Riverbend Nature Center in Faribault is a lovely place to hike. Nothing too strenuous, and the prison is adjacent and unsightly (sometimes noisy with some sort of machine sounding off every 20-30 seconds). But the trail along the Straight River is peaceful and lovely.

    We also loved our hikes in the Banff NP area. Haven’t been in many years, but I highly recommend the Beehive, Johnston Canyon, and Takakkaw Falls.

    If you don’t mind carrying a heavy load on your back, hiking between lakes in the BWCAW is tough but rewarding, mainly for the sights you may see along the trail but also for the tranquility of getting to the next lake and realizing you’ll have it all to yourself for the night. And stargazing on clear nights is second to none.

    Of course, if you’re looking for “A Good Walk Spoiled,” head for the nearest scenic golf course with your clubs and enjoy the greenness and wildlife. I’ve seen bears, coyotes, foxes, giant snapping turtles, deer, elk, beavers, agles, ospreys, otters, and many other creatures on the various golf courses I’ve played. And some are in urban or suburban areas. I saw my first and only Great Gray owl (I think-wasn’t sure. At first thought it was a Snowy Owl, but they’re not supposed to live in southern MN.) capture an unsuspecting squirrel on Francis Gross golf course in Mpls.!

    Chris in Owatonna

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        1. I didn’t know that, but there was a best-selling book by sportswriter John Feinstein by the same title—about pro golf. I think I read it, but that was at least 25 years ago.

          Chris

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  14. We just got home from two of our favorite walks—not really hikes—in Duluth The Lake Walk yesterday and along the beach on Park Point this morning.

    We made the climb up to Glencoe in Scotland and up Harney Peak(which has a new name now) from Sylvan Lake in South Dakota, plus other unnamed hikes up mountains from Ouray Colorado but some of my most memorable walks/hikes have been along the High Line in Manhattan, along the Pembrokeshire coast in Wales and amongst the temples in Kyoto.

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  16. Once on a hike in the Grand Tetons I came face to face, much too close for comfort, with a nanny mountain goat and her kid. I had just come around a sharp bend in the narrow trail, and there she was, grazing peacefully with her kid. She was so close I could have reached out and touched her, which, of course, I didn’t do. I just stood there, frozen, considering my options, as several hikers behind me blocked my retreat. Fortunately she decided to scramble up the steep mountainside with her kid in tow, so we could safely pass. I can attest to the fact that the mountain goat is huge and incredibly nimble.

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    1. I had that. Happen ona trail deep in the Northern Mn forest, but it was a family of barred owls in the trees. Clacking their beaks at me. They were beautiful. We all watched each other for awhile. Not as intimidating as a mountain goat!

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      1. Birds can be pretty scary if they choose to be. I’ve been dive-bombed by blue Jays several times – they actually touched my hair – when I inadvertently got too close to their nest. I wouldn’t want to mess with an owl.

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  17. I have hiked in several national parks – Glacier, Yellowstone, Teton, Saguaro, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, Bryce, Zion, Arches, and Grand Canyon. At GC, we hiked partway down Bright Angel Trail and had to move out of the way to let Park Rangers and their pack mules pass us on their way to resupply Phantom Ranch. Later on that trip we did a 2 hour mule ride along the south rim. I don’t really enjoy riding horses or any other 4 legged creature – 2 hours was plenty on the mule – though the views were spectacular.

    I have hiked at several state parks – here and in other states. And I have enjoyed a “Good Walk Spoiled” at several scenic golf courses in and around the Twin Cities.

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  18. Nowadays my hiking is done vicariously by tagging along with friends who are in better shape and more ambitious than I.

    One such friend, a former coworker, has just returned from completing Stage 1 of the Pacific Crest Trail (Southern Terminus to Walker Pass), 660 miles, 110,000 feet of ascent, and lots of desert. Rich turned 70 in April, and he prepared for the PCT hike by hiking one 440 mile section of the El Camino in Spain in May. He routinely walks 22,000 steps a day at home. The El Camino is a saunter in the park compared to the challenges of the CPT.

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  19. Wow, so many cool hikes, baboons! Something above reminds me that when in San Francisco, I found a group of hikers that called themselves (tongue in cheek) the Flat Earthers… hiked some with them to Point Reyes in Marin County, et al., another memorable spot.

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