Grand Canyon puts limits on mules

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK -- For more than a century, mules have been carrying people into and out of the Grand Canyon. Teddy Roosevelt saddled up wearing a black felt hat and a tie. The Brady Bunch rode down with Alice. And today, another group of tourists will hit the trail.

Yet the mules, while iconic and beloved, are brutal on the trails. Their hooves hit the ground like a pickax. The hardened earth crumbles. The paths erode more quickly.

That is why the National Park Service is considering a limit on mule rides into the Canyon.

The Canyon is "the world's greatest erosion project," said Tim Jarrell, chief of the park's facilities-management division. "It doesn't need that much help."

Mule rides already have been banned on the South Kaibab Trail where the Park Service is months into a years-long project to rebuild the 7-mile trail. Much of the damage to the trail has come from mule use, Jarrell said. Now, mules are used only to carry supplies to help repair the damage caused in large part by other mules.

"It's pretty simple," he said. "These are heavy animals."

Nobody is suggesting a ban on mules inside the Canyon, where there are no roads and few helicopter flights. In some cases the animals are the only way to move supplies from one point to another. Rather, the Park Service is trying to measure the effect of tourist trips on the Canyon environment. Last year, 9,600 people rode mules into the Canyon. It's not much, but each trip exacts a toll, Jarrell said.

Grand Canyon National Park Superintendent Steve Martin knows the popularity of the Canyon mules. "There is no question some people love the mules, and they are passionate," Martin said. "But my job is to look at the whole picture."

A mule ride to Phantom Ranch, including overnight lodging and food, costs nearly $450. A day trip to Plateau Point costs about $150. However, few of those tourist dollars are spent on trail maintenance.

Xanterra South Rim, the private company that runs South Rim concessions, brought in just under $2.7 million from mule rides in 2008. By contract, Xanterra gives the park 3.8% of its gross, about $100,000. But the park spent $2 million on trail maintenance last year and says it needed more.