About 20 years ago or so, the private pack station in Mineral King closed. The Park built a corral and their own tack shed. They usually bring up stock so they can resupply the trail crews in the backcountry, but this year we hadn’t seen any evidence of Park stock.

Last year the Park brought their stock up in spite of the Mineral King closure, just to get the creatures out of the heat. It gave me an opportunity to find a couple of great subjects to draw.

This year we saw stock at the pack station that was definitely not Park animals. (Yep, we knew it wasn’t Park stock even in low light at this distance.)

The next morning we were delayed leaving on a walk for various reasons, and then were glad because we encountered the packers, Che (from Montana) and Dylan (from Wisconsin), two best friends who work for a private pack station on the East side. (That’s how we refer to the other side of the Sierra.)

Che rode this horse; Dylan rode a striking paint called Emmy. I didn’t get a good photo of her.

We walked ahead, and then saw them coming in the distance.

We stopped in the shade, waiting for the perfect photo when they emerged from the trees.

I thought that would be more impressive than it actually was.

So, I went crazy snapping pictures.

We followed them to Crystal Creek. That’s the best shot I got of the beautiful paint horse, Emmy.

Each packer led a string of five mules. They even look picturesque from the back (but I won’t be drawing or painting any mule heinies.)

You can lead mules to water but you can’t keep them from drinking.

Bye-bye, pack animals!