A MULE PERSON
PUBLISHED IN THE WINTER 2019 ISSUE OF PACK ANIMAL MAGAZINE
Matty Bishop had no experience with large animals before Richard, the 1100-pound mule originally owned by Basque sheepherders, came along. Building rapport between handler and mule is essential, and it took the two of them a year to develop the mutual respect required for a successful partnership. Now they haul two hundred pounds of nitro cold brew coffee and assorted gear up to the trails of the Boise foothills every Saturday, May through September, to give hikers, runners, and bikers complimentary caffeine fixes.
Bishop, originally from Wyoming, served both as a Marine Corps officer and in Army Special Forces. When he left the service for the final time, in 2015, he and his family landed in Boise. Bishop started designing outdoor gear and pitching his designs to manufacturers, and he also organized a mountain race in the area.
A year later, he launched Café Mulé as a way to build deeper community among all sorts of people, but especially those at the Reuleaux triangle (where the circles overlap) of his own personal Venn diagram: coffee drinkers, outdoorspeople, and families with young children.
When asked why he chose a mule as his pack animal, he responded that, once he decided he wanted to offer trailside coffee, he went to the library and checked out every book he could find on all the different pack animals. He studied up on strengths and weaknesses and ideal applications, but what it ultimately came down to was compatibility. “Personality-wise,” Bishop said, “I just know I’m a mule person.”
Richard is a john mule and stands at fifteen hands. When Bishop first met him, Richard had been pushy on his trial hike and was considerably underweight. Bishop was unimpressed, although he did like how unflappable the animal was in the presence of a large and recalcitrant dog. Bishop had brought along a friend who had significant mule experience, and this friend saw Richard as calm and personable and chalked up his pushiness on the hike as merely a test. So Bishop bought Richard, with a condition in the contract that he could return the mule for a full refund within two weeks if it didn’t work out.
The mule worked out, but he ran into other problems. There were a few hiccups with his plan to serve coffee on public land, and they centered on BLM permitting. Bishop took advantage of a loophole for a while, serving coffee at no charge to less than seventy-five people, but once he and Richard gained some notoriety, he needed another solution. Two private land owners whose properties abut the city’s open space offered access to the trails on their land, and now he serves about twelve gallons of cold-brew each Saturday during the season.
Bishop’s roaster left the area in late 2017, so he reached out to Colin Seeley of Ironside Roasting Co. The two of them ultimately partnered on cold brew and specialty roasts, forming a company called Iron Mule. They found a production space in the Boise Bench neighborhood in the fall of 2018 and started setting up shop at the Boise Farmer’s Market. Their coffee and cold brew is now carried by a half-dozen local shops, is served in two dozen cafes and restaurants, and can be purchased online.
As the partnership between person and pack animal has grown, Bishop has used Richard on family camping trips into Idaho’s mountains. He is always on the lookout for new skills the two of them can work on together to build their bond.
