There were three options: Use human labor to hike in lumber to repair a bridge along the Gore Range Trail, use mules to hike it in, or don't repair the bridge at all. Thankfully (for the trail teams) ...
ALDER — Not a breath of air stirs along the parched landscape leading up into the Gravelly Range, but that doesn't seem to matter to the pack string of mules moving steadily along the dusty trail.