The first contact that I had from Linda concerning her new mule, Maude, was a telephone message that stated "Dr. Jim what you told me about this mule was not entirely true" ... well my heart skipped a beat ... then Linda's message went on to say "... this Maude mule is 100% better than you told me".
There are many fools out on the trail riding bikes and four wheelers plus a few on goofy horses ... be careful & ride the best of mules! Here is a on the trail story that happened recently:
From: Linda M-N
Sent: Monday, July 13, 2009 10:22 PM
To: James A Gamble
Subject: The Greatest Mule in the World
Hope all is well with you and yours. We just got back from a camping trip (Maude and I and my friend Dawn and her mule Sadie). I had to write to tell you what happened. Let me begin by telling you that Maude is very leery of bikes and atv's. She wants to keep her distance from them (as we well know mule eating space aliens often disguise themselves as bikes or atvs). We left camp about 8:00 am for a 9 mile climb to the top of Spruce Mt to the forest service fire tower. It is a 3.5 mile of steep, rocky, switchbacks. We made it to the top, passing many passersby that all commented on our beautiful long ears. We started down the other side after a rest and scenery eating picnic (by Maude and Sadie), that was longer, 5.5 miles, but not quite as steep. About two miles from the trail head, Dawn and I both noticed that the girls were having muscle fatigue issues, so we decided to get off and walk. The trail was about 3 ft wide, trees on a steep drop on one side and straight up on the other, with rocky ledges and 1-2ft drops and switchbacks. Dawn and Sadie were in front, Maude and I in the rear. I was just stepping off and drop off when Maude slammed into me and knock me down flat onto the rocks. It happened so fast I don't remember everything except I was waiting for her to step on me. I then heard a male voice say "are you alright", which at the time I thought was the stupidest questions I had every heard. I remember Dawn asking me the same, I then asked "Are you on foot or a bike" The man was on a bike and had come flying down around a switch back and around a curve and ran into Maude. I finally came out of my daze to realize that I was under Maude. She was "planted" with her front feet down on the lower part of the trail and her hind feet up on the ledge. Her eyes were huge and I know she was terrified of that bike (after all she was right, it had attacked her). I literally crawled out from between her front legs, and used her breastcollar to pull myself up. We managed to limp down the trail a ways and get off so this guy could pass us. You have to hand it to Maude for keeping her wits about her when that bike came up on her. I firmly believe that almost any other animal would have trampled me trying to get away. When we finally reached the trail head, that guy was there with his bike resting against his vehicle. I want you to know that Maude recognized it immediately and gave it a wide berth. She is the most awesome trail buddy ever. She is definitely the worlds greatest mule (not too mention the prettiest, not that I am prejudiced). I can't thank you enough for Maude. I also sent you a picture of Maude's "older sister".
Printer-friendly version