[pct-l] Mules in the Woods

["Shawnee Cavnar-Brown" <migraine@fishnet.net>]

In defense of the mule...
Do take it all lightly. I've been on a lot of mail lists and I know
how to take a joke and take it lightly.  I'm not mad and I'm not
flaming.  Partly, I'm kidding. You're entitled to your opinion. And I
to mine.  I'll point out again, I have yet to ride the PCT, I came on
the list to gather information about it and about lightweight gear for
a trip I am planning through Wyoming on the Oregon Trail.  I'm no
threat to you, neither is my mule. Right now I don't even have a horse
trailer, so I won't be there any time soon.

>As long as I am posting a message, I also would like to point out
that
>Mules don't really belong in some wilderness areas, either.  While
they may
>be legal, they are quite destructive.  With the weight that they
carry and
>the shoes they wear, they tear trails to shreds.  <<
    My mule is barefoot. And c'mon, I've seen elk that practically
outweigh her. Bears out weigh her, some of them. Walter Hudson*
(*fattest man that ever lived) weighed more than my mule (of course,
he couldn't get out of his bed, and he's dead now...) Trails are just
woods and grasslands "torn to shreds", by humans, till there's no
grass along it, no shrubs there, nothing but dirt, right?  There are
way more hikers than mules.

>>>Furthermore, they
>defecate indiscriminantly,<<

    My mule is very discriminate about where she chooses to defecate.
;c)   And she poops a proportionate amount to her weight. It just
LOOKS like a lot because they are big animals. It's the amount of
toilet paper she uses afterwards.....   Birds pick the grain out of
it, it gets flattened out by (or stuck to) others passing by, and
becomes fertilizer. And who's to say I (who have not yet ridden the
PCT) wouldn't at least kick it off to the side, off the trail? Or
throw it at bears? Hmm, more environmentally sound than rubber
bullets...

I have YET to see a mule, however, start a fire, leave a coke can or
energy bar wrapper, shoot anything, or leave bear bait lying around.
Hmm, wonder what specie does all that???
    >
>I apologize if I have insulted anyone, but I hope there are more
people
>that agree with me than not.<<

Wonder why it matters how many agree with you? Never been a concern of
mine.
No insult taken, just don't walk too close behind my mule...  ;c)

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