Mulesings

Okay,

Most of my letters and essays are pretty easy to understand, at least I think so. But this one is going to be a little complicated so I’d better start out with a little vocabulary. A donkey is a small animal, related to a horse. Donkeys are also called burros or asses – I will use the word burro in this assay because that’s the term used by my uncle, who has raised and raced burros in the Rocky Mountains for over thirty years. A male burro is called a jackass, or simply a jack. Burros range in size from not much bigger than a dog to the size of a horse. My uncle owns a jack named Maasai that is 16 hands high at the shoulder (a hand equals four inches). That’s a big burro and Maasai is probably the biggest jack in the state of Colorado.

Donkey, burro, ass, whatever you want to call it, don’t call it a mule. A mule is a very special animal. A mule has a jackass father [should I put a side comment here? nah] and a horse mother. Despite being half-assed, Mules are interesting creatures. Burros are usually considered smarter than horses and more sure footed. But Horses are usually bigger, Maasai being an exception, and more powerful. Mules get the best of both worlds and as a result, have been used for years to bring supplies in and out of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Every year since the late sixties, “Mules Days” has been celebrated on the Eastern side of the Sierra in a small town called Bishop, CA. For one week, the town of Bishop doubles or perhaps even triples in population. The place is crawling with RVs, stock trailers, saddles, bridles, mules, burros, horses, hay, Stetson hats, belt buckles big enough to have their own zip codes, cowboy boots (real men wear high heels), and lots and lots and lots of droppings. This is the scene I wandered into late Wednesday afternoon as the sun was setting on the Owens River Valley, with the low, dry slopes of the White Mountains to the east and the Sierra Nevada, high, dramatic, and snowy, to the west. I am used to looking at the Sierra from the west, since I live to the west of them. But from the East, they look much different, much more angular and sharp, majestic and beautiful.

I camped with my uncle and his Girlfriend in a far corner of the “Tri-County Fairgrounds” in Bishop between Wednesday and Saturday, when I came home. Being down with my uncle was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I missed some of the events he participated in because I was in a full court press to see some other friends of mine, and had some scheduling problems, but I saw him in the halter class, and in the parade that took place Saturday morning, in which he rode Maasai. The Mule Days organizers brag that they have the “Longest Non-Motorized Parade in the World.” Every mule team from the eastern Sierra seemed to be there, including teams for Yosemite and Sequoia/King’s Canyon National Parks.

One of the most exciting events took place Friday night, in the “two mule” packers’ scramble. Here’s how this works. A bunch of packers riding horses and leading one mule each are brought into a rodeo ring. The mules and horses are completely untacked: all bridles, saddles, halters, ropes are removed. Then the packers all have to kneel down by their tack and the horses and mules are intentionally spooked. Once the animals are running hell for leather around the ring, the packers then get up and see who can be the first to capture his horse and mule, tack up, load up, and lead his animals out of the arena. There was also a cattle roping contest (using mules instead of horses), riding races, and costumed chariot race with some folks in pretty goofy costumes and homemade chariots. There was also the typical rodeo clown stunt.

For me, one of the most exciting events took place far away from the manure and the Stetsons, when I saw a good friend of mine who had grown up in Bishop and was in town visiting his parents. He and his wife recently had twin boys and this was my first chance to meet the little nippers. Quite a handful – but pretty darn cute. My friends are great parents.

I did something very stupid when I went down to Bishop. I FORGOT my sleeping bag. What an idiot. Fortunately, I had brought a couple of Jackets with me and it wasn’t very cold anyway. But I still felt nutty sleeping on the back seat of my car covered by the jacket I brought with me. But fortunately, that was only a small part of the trip to Bishop. Still, I learned something important and I just put an overcoat in my car to serve as an “Emergency Blanket” in case my stupidity ever gets the better of me again.

One thing that surprised me was how tight the security was at the fairgrounds. A private security firm had been hired to protect the place and their armed guards seemed to be all over the place. I guess it makes sense – there was a lot of valuable stock in Bishop that week – but it was still a little surprising to see rent-a-cops with guns at an ostensibly family event. I made friends with one of these guys when I correctly identified his accent as Australian – I guess a lot of folks assumed he was a Brit. I then had to ask him what an Aussie was doing in the middle of the California High Desert. Apparently his wife was from the area. Actually, given my understanding of the geography in the land down under, I bet he felt right at home.

There were many nice things that happened at mule days but one BIG disappointment. When I was at mule days the last time, in 2001, one of the highlights was the 20 mule borax team. These 20 mule teams were originally used to haul Borax out of Death Valley. In order to make tight turns, while climbing out of the Valley, the mules were trained to jump over the wagon tongue and all pull on one side. They would then jump back and then the mules on the other side would jump the chain to make it over the second switchback. However, this year the 20 mule team did not come. As a “Replacement,” the Budweiser Clydesdales had been brought in. I am sorry, but for the Budweiser Clydesdales to stand in for the 20 mule team is like Britney Spears standing in for Janis Joplin.

Well, I’ve expanded my knowledge of California-Nevada Geography a little bit, seen some old friends, made some new ones, and had a good time. I start work Wednesday, up in the mountains near Lake Tahoe. If you email with anything after Wednesday, give me some time (AT LEAST A WEEK) before you start getting indignant about not getting a reply.

John East Bay, CA http://thesloop.blogspot.com/