It is the summer of 1995. It is still dark outside and they have already begun their day. They wrangle in the horses and mules, gather their supplies and set out on a dusty trail. They ride for six hours into the middle of nowhere as they admire the beauty of nature.

Religion teacher Peter Bennett took up an odd job in Bridgeport, California that summer. As a mule packer, he spent long hours in the wilderness where the carefree lifestyle existed at best. But Bennett also faced dangerous and unexpected situation.

Now you may be wondering, what exactly does a mule packer do? At their packing station, the mule packers perform various tasks. One day Bennett may take some campers to an unknown place in the woods. Another day, he may lead the fisherman. Other days, he may drop off supplies for backpackers and hunters. And on some days, he may give tours to people who want to experience the joys of nature on a trail ride.

Bennett has his friend to thank for his life changing experiences in the backcountry of the Sierra Mountains.

“I had a friend who had done it before and the friend knew me pretty well,” Bennett said. “And he said ‘Hey, you’d probably be pretty good at this. This is something you’d enjoy. So why don’t you come check it out?’ Sure enough, I did.”

Bennett was still new to his job and oblivious to some important rules of the job, such as how to tie a proper knot. However, this seemingly trivial task put Bennett in a life or death situation.

He and some other mule packers were each leading a train of about three to five horses and mules along a steep hillside 800 feet above the ground, and only wide enough for the animals to walk single file. He was unaware that he wasn’t supposed to tie the rope connecting the pack where the horses can feel it against their bodies because they will go ballistic.

Sure enough, Bennett did just that and when the mules began trotting up the hill, the horse, Crystal, felt the rope against her body. She was enraged and began kicking. This caused all of the mules to run. If one would have fallen off the hill, everyone else, including Bennett, would plummet to their deaths as well.

Fortunately, Bennett jumped off his horse, grabbed onto a bush, held on for dear life and let the mules and horses pass under him.

Again, Bennett faced an uncommon yet life-threatening situation as he was working hard while chopping wood.

“I hit myself in the head with a blunt end of an axe,” he said. “It was pretty scary. I was in the back country, and we were maybe 20 hours away from help on horses.”

Surprisingly, Bennett ended up only suffering a mild concussion. But physical harm was not the only struggle he had to face, Bennett also found some challenging to adjust to the different lifestyle.

“I was exposed to a lot that I had not, up until then, been exposed to,” he said. “Lots of different kind of people, different styles of living, different ways about thinking about life. I don’t think all of [these influences] were very positive. That was a real struggle for me.”

To deal with this negativity, Bennett turned to God. His faith had been strong, but during times of trouble, he needed God most.

“I carried a tiny little pocket Bible that I could just fit in my backpack or the saddleback of the horse,” he said. “So I would read that some mornings. And I think that kept me strong in the midst of all these things that were new, or different, or conflicting.”

Although Bennett dealt with multiple struggles during his job as a mule packer, he would love to have this experience again.

“A lot of times I was out alone,” he said. “I was isolated. I was by myself. No human beings allowed at all. [The isolation] was very powerful. Being alone in the midst of nature, with the combined danger of being out their alone and the beauty. That’s something that I think I really enjoyed about the job.”