Grand Canyon Mules To Stop Delivering Packages

It’s a long way from the rim of the Grand Canyon down to the bottom where the Colorado River flows. Since the 1920s mules have delivered mail and care packages to the boatmen and backpackers at Phantom Ranch, a small outpost on the floor of the canyon. But now the company that runs the mule train says it’s too much of a burden. The last day for package delivery will be April 15. On a recent chilly morning the packers were up at 3 a.m. getting the mules ready for their seven-mile trek down into the Grand Canyon. They brushed and fed the mules, then strapped each one with 150 pounds of saddlebags filled with boxes. They worked quickly so they could leave at first light. The mules supply Phantom Ranch with what it needs 365 days a year. Phantom — as it’s called — is a modest resort, about a dozen cabins, two bunk houses and a restaurant nestled in the trees beside Bright Angel Creek, a tributary to the Colorado River. The company that runs the mules, and all the hotels and restaurants in the park, is Xanterra. John Berry works for the company and is in charge of the mules on the south rim. "We pack everything from food to bedding, pillows, windows, everything, Christmas trees during Christmas and the mail all on the back of a mule," Berry said. "It got too big for us," Berry said. "We just could not handle how many boxes were being sent down." And Berry says they also had to haul a lot of boxes out...more