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Mule team celebrates 50 years of contribution in Smoky Mountains
The team hauls tens of thousands of pounds of supplies each year because park rules bar motor vehicles in the backcountry.
- Great Smoky Mountains National Park is celebrating the mule team's half-century anniversary, with 12 mules and six horses assisting three human employees in hauling equipment through the 816-square-mile backcountry.
- Following the 1974 wilderness designation proposal, Great Smoky Mountains National Park banned motor vehicles in the backcountry to preserve wilderness characteristics, forcing a transition to animal power.
- Animal caretaker Danny Gibson leads the team in hauling black locust logs for footbridges and removing hazard trees from the rugged backcountry terrain.
- Gibson, who has served since 2010, emphasizes that trust with the animals is paramount: "That's the first thing you do," he said.
- Facility manager Frank Hyatt originally launched the program to comply with wilderness rules, and the mule team remains the primary method for moving heavy materials into remote areas.
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Total News Sources20
Leaning Left2Leaning Right0Center18Last UpdatedBias Distribution90% Center
Bias Distribution
- 90% of the sources are Center
90% Center
C 90%
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