Hiking and Horses are the two primary methods of moving through the wondrous back-country of Yellowstone, the worlds first national park. In fact, the same goes for most western wilderness areas, although rafting, canoeing and back-country skiing are other popular modes of back-country transport. Horses, though, do pose some unique safety issues when they encounter backpackers and day-hikers.
The last thing we need on a narrow mountain trail is a quasi-rodeo! Bucking horses and/or mules plus gear and humans flying through space and rolling down steep mountainsides can ruin an otherwise peaceful day in the wilderness. That’s right, although a hiker could certainly get stomped or kicked, the biggest danger of a hiker/horse-packer encounter is to the horse-packer and his/her animals, rather than the hiker. After all, it is not the Yellowstone backpacker who sits atop a thousand pound four-legged sometimes skittish beast! Narrow trails that cut across steep mountainsides pose a particular danger, for there are no passing lanes in the wilderness. So if you don’t want to be responsible for the untimely demise of one or more of your fellow two-leggeds, you need to follow a couple of easy protocols.
Simply put, the best way to avoid a wilderness rodeo is to get out of the way. Way out of the way! Make sure that you get off the trail to let the horses pass, preferably at least 15-20 feet, which sounds easy, but can be problematic on a steep slope or in dense timber. And don’t create a gauntlet for the string of horses and mules to pass through. Make sure that everyone in the guided Yellowstone hiking group moves to the same side of the trail so that the horses don’t feel surrounded. Most horse-packers also like hikers to talk to the animals as the pack-string passes, to let the beasts know that you are just a bunch of funny looking humans with big things on your backs. Say anything. The specifics don’t matter to the horses, though they might to the folks riding them.
