What's a Pack Trip?

You’ve heard of backpacking. A family pack trip has similar goals as backpacking, but you ride a horse while a mule or horse carries your pack. The advantages are many: You’re on a horse! You're able to look around instead of at the ground since the horses take care of the trail. Also, you can travel farther and longer since your pack horse or mule can carry 80 to 100 pounds. Bring that heavy, comfy air mattress!! The mule won’t complain. River crossings are much easier and safer. And, really, is there any animal more beautiful than a horse?

On the downside, it’s still a ton of work to go on a family pack trip, maybe more work than going on a backpack trip because you are not just taking care of yourself. Horses and mules need to be saddled, unsaddled, brushed, watered, and contained when not being ridden or they will wander away. You will also be noticeably saddle-sore unless you are in good horse-riding shape (I've been there).

But all that is balanced by the love you have for your horses and mules, and the thrill of traveling deep into the wilderness with them. Truly, a dedicated horse packing person loves this work. However, the job no one likes is sawing through big tree trunks that have fallen across the trail when there is no way to ride around it. Just ask Rusty.

Taking a much needed rest with Teddy

A pack trip is prone to unexpected happenings:

For example, on a very hot day, the mule carrying the packs may decide to roll in the soft, cool sand banking the river you are crossing. The packs must be taken off and redone.

Or, at night, just after you settle into your cozy tent, the horses, whinnying shrilly, break through the corral's thin electric fence, galloping and bucking to evade swarms of mosquitoes.

Or, a mule, not mentioning any names, takes a shortcut down a steep ridge, tumbles then rolls over and over, landing with legs flailing in the air, unharmed. Whew. The mule must be unpacked, examined for injuries, then, uninjured, repacked.

You don't get this kind of excitement on a backpacking trip.