Washington State’s vast Olympic National Park sprawls across almost one million acres, 600 miles of trails, and 64 trailheads. Many of these important open spaces are in wilderness areas, meaning inaccessible to vehicles and machines. So how do park rangers maintain them for visitors?
They don’t drop humanoid drones out of the sky, if that’s what you’re thinking. In fact, their solution is a much cuter hybrid: Mules.
Mules are the result of interbreeding between a male donkey (Equus asinus) and a female horse (Equus caballus). Thanks to their strength, agility, and endurance, they are the perfect pack animal, according to a Washington’s National Park Fund statement. In fact, mules have been helping maintain the trails in national parks since the early 1900s.
“They get a lot of the endurance and resilience from the donkey’s side, and the personable attitude of the horse mom,” Olympic National Park packers Heidi Brill told The Seattle Times earlier this summer.
For years, Olympic National Park has been nominating one of their four-legged workers as “Mule of the Month” to introduce the team and their crucial contribution to the public. May’s Mule of the Month was a spirited and quick “sports-model” mule named RainCloud. June’s Mule of the Month was dark-coated Katherine, while July’s was 26-year-old Daisy, dubbed the “magnificent matriarch.”
“Olympic National Park’s mule team helps transport equipment, materials, and supplies throughout the park’s designated wilderness areas,” reads a social media post by the park. “If you encounter them on the trail, find a safe space to step aside and let them pass. But don’t feel bashful about snapping a few photos of these backcountry celebrities!”
The park’s over two dozen mules each weigh on average about 1,000 pounds. Given that mules can haul around 20% of their body weight, this long-eared team carries everything from trail maintenance gear to construction materials and research equipment during their working season (April through October) at Olympic National Park. They even support the search and rescue teams, safely evacuating injured hikers out of the wilderness.
When a new mule arrives at the park, Brill and her colleagues put them “next to good mentor mules,” she explained in the statement. “Temperament is important because they are diplomats for the park,” she added. “About 75% of our job is just knowing the characters in the team, and who gets along with who and can go where in the string.”
It remains to be seen who will win the prestigious honor of being August’s Mule of the Month.
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