Who carries heavy loads into Great Smoky Mountains backcountry? Mules

Inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park, animal caretaker Danny Gibson describes the park’s mule team as the work force that carries heavy loads through backcountry areas restricted to non-motor travel. The program includes three human employees supported by 12 mules and six horses, hauling tens of thousands of pounds of materials and equipment across the park’s 816-square-mile wilderness each year. In 2025, the team removed 997 trees, packed 57,800 pounds and worked nearly 687 hours pulling logs up to 18 feet long over distances reaching two miles. Gibson helps “learn your mules” and was joined by Tobias Miller, who helped celebrate the pack program’s golden jubilee on April 30 at Towstring Barn. The mules’ creation dates to the federal Wilderness Act of 1964 and the park’s later wilderness management rules that barred motor vehicles and equipment in the backcountry.