(horses walk)
- [Steve] I fell in love with the mountains
when I was young
and met my first packer
when I was 18.
And it just fit
between the horses and the mountains.
It was just a natural fit for me.
And kind of said that's what I'm gonna do.
I've been doing it pretty much ever since,
30 years now.
(crow caws)
This country is pretty special.
(water falling)
Yeah, the Eagle Cap's
the biggest wilderness area
in the state of Oregon.
It's got a little over 360,000 acres.
(horse snorts)
Come on, girls.
Yip, yip!
When I started packing,
I worked for outfitters all over the West here
and I've never seen the diversity
in a wilderness area that I see here.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure there's places out here
people would never set foot.
There's a whole bunch of country
I haven't seen.
(horse snorts)
Come on, mules.
We can cater to anybody
from the non-rider
who's never rode before,
to people who've rode quite a bit.
Yeah, we're kind of a small outfit.
It's just me and my daughter
who pretty much run the thing.
And she helps me pack
and helps me
with the full service trip.
Right now, we're trying to get these two
to match in weight.
Not get too heavy
and not get too bulky.
They can carry 120 pounds
no problem.
They can carry more,
but we try to keep it
at that because they're working every day.
What I want to do is rock it
and make sure it's rocking center
and it's rocking nice.
It's kind of unlimited in what we do.
- [Daughter] Come on!
- [Steve] We're gettin' gear
that people can't carry
up the trail where they need it to go.
I think we did five wheel loads
for a family.
Two people rode
and five or six of them walked in.
We can drop you off,
leave you there for a week,
come back and get ya.
Or we can drop you off
and you'll walk out.
Or you can walk in
if you don't want a ride
and we can drop your gear
and meet you in there.
I do quite a few of those, actually.
Backpackers will kind of hike in here
and it takes all their energy
just to get here.
So they get walked in and set up
and then all they want to do
is sit down and rest.
We bring ya in,
you're ready to go explore
where you just worked to get to.
So it's, it's a way better deal than hiking,
as far as I'm concerned.
I've never been much of a walker.
I'd rather ride if I can.
You don't have to watch
where you put your feet
so you can look around and notice a lot more.
Plus, you're about three feet
up off the ground higher.
So four feet, five, six,
depends on who you're riding.
So you get a hell of a better view.
We've got a lot of people
who never been in the mountains.
So they're a little nervous about it.
Older backpackers that have been backpacking for years,
but they're tired of carrying
all that extra weight.
So we pack it up for 'em.
We start with the bottom.
A lot of guys want to come in here and hunt
but they don't have the equipment
or the stock to do it.
So that's where we come in.
It's gotta be fairly tight.
'Cause everything always loosens up on you.
Nothing better than a tight rope.
It's more of a traditional deal.
They've been doing it
for I don't know how long,
way back in the mountain man days.
Everything's gotta balance.
We want to rock it.
Make sure it's gonna ride.
Your loads have to match.
Not fair to have one side
hanging down on him
as he's walking.
You see, you roll load
on some of these trails.
It's adios, they're gone.
It can get ugly.
You don't want bad loads.
It's an old part, I guess.
Come on, down the trail.
When you're riding,
you're constantly listening,
and you're checking 'em
about every five or six minutes.
You want to make sure
everything's riding right.
As soon as somethin' starts to shift on you,
you better get off and fix it.
We try to rotate 'em around a little bit
so we don't overwork 'em.
Our stock's gotta last all season
and be fresh and workable in November
as fresh as it is in June.
If you were working that hard every day,
you'd want to lighten your load a tick, too.
And they're my friends.
I don't want to rub holes in 'em
and all that good stuff.
Usually we've got so many miles to cover,
even stoppin' to tie up for a few minutes
is kind of out of the question.
We're pushing to get out by dark.
I hate riding in the dark
if I can help it.
And it's always, always go, go, go.
If something goes wrong,
you're the only one that's gonna get it,
get it right.
You can only count on yourself.
Come on, mules!
A guy gets to know himself pretty well.
You're sitting that long thinking about things,
you know, and it's amazing how fast the days go.
But you know,
you look around here,
who's got an office and view like this.
It's amazing!
Because your scenery's changing every day.
Every few minutes, everything's just rolling by.
You never know what you're gonna see
around the next bend.
(water dripping)
(wind blowing)
(bacon frying)
Wilderness is open to everybody.
And if you physically can't get in.
there needs to be a service
to get you in.
So that's why we actually operate.
We've got to respect the rules
in the country and hopefully,
we make it a little better when we leave
than when we came in.
And when you're doing it,
you get sore and tired.
It's kind of a weird deal.
It gets in your blood.
And as soon as you get rested up,
you're ready to go back.
Odd thing.
When it's all done,
hopefully you got some stories to tell.
Come on, mules!
(horses walking)