Okay, so I know it's been almost 2 weeks now since the trek and I really need to share my experience with you. For those of you that don't know. My husband, and two of my children, went on a Pioneer Trek about 2 weeks ago. We are LDS (Mormon) and this experience gave us such a huge appreciation for what our ancestors went through to have freedom of religion. The Pioneers crossed the plains (from Iowa City to the Utah Valley over 1300 miles) in the mid 1800's. Over 70,000 men, women and children...came across those plains on foot, pushing handcarts somtimes in wagons. You can read more about their stories here.
But here is our story...
I first have to say that we have such a GREAT ward and really had a good time. The kids were fantastic and I couldn't believe their strength! They didn't complain really at all and it was hot and near the 100's the entire time. You can see from the pictures below, we were mostly in the sun.
The first day we all met at the starting point (men, women and mostly teenagers from our ward) and we were put into "families". Ben and I were a "ma and Pa" over a group of teens along with our own two kids and another set of parents. We loaded up our handcarts with the supplies and belonging we would need for the next 3 days, then set out on foot pushing our handcarts. We pushed our handcarts uphill the the entire first day... from around 10:00 am until about 6:00 in the evening. When we got to where we would set up for the night, , there was still no relief from the hot sun. But we set up a couple of really big tarps over the handcarts to provide some shade and a canopy for the kids to sleep under.
I will admit it was so tiring, and there were SOO many times during that first day that I thought there was NO way I was going to make it! I really did. I couldn't believe how draining it was. I kept thinking how lucky we were that we didn't bring our younger kids and then I thought how the pioneers didn't have that choice. They brought entire families of all ages! Most of them didn't have the nice hiking boots or good supporting tennis shoes that we had. When we finally stopped for lunch I was just so grateful to have a little break. But the kids in my group just kept me going. They called me "ma" and always made sure I didn't fall behind. We had such strong kids (mostly ages from 10-15) mixed with both girls and boys. And to be honest... they were pushing the cart so fast most of the time, that I had a hard time keeping up with them just walking!
After lunch on the first day, we came to a pretty steep hill. At that point our leaders told us that all the men and young men.. really any boys of any age, where to leave us and go on ahead. We were told that this would be the part where the women would pull. WOMEN ONLY. It represented the time when the pioneer men were called to serve in the Mormon Battalion and we had to do it all on our own. I was so tired and we were so hot and I almost got tears in my eyes when I saw all the men leave us. But I was SO impressed with the girls in our group and the power we had to make it up the steep climb. It was hot and long and just as we were nearing the top, I could hear cries of joy behind us and I looked back to see the men and boys coming out of a group of bushes and trees just below us. They had been hiding there and watching us do the pull on our own. When I saw the boys that were in our family come running up the hill towards us, I had to catch my breath because I felt such a surge of love and the spirit so strong. It was a very proud and humbling moment for me. I wish I had a picture of that moment.
The first night we stopped for camp, they really wanted us to feel what the pioneers felt. So we only had biscuits and broth for dinner. We were so hungry and tired from pushing all day and that food, as little as it was, tasted so good. We were lucky as we could eat as much broth as we could handle, but it was also humbling to know that the pioneers were given at one point, only about a 1/4 of pound of flour per day, to live on. That is about one biscuit a piece per day. That's all they had to eat, or they would run out of food before they reached the Utah Valley and starve to death.
They trekked usually around 12-20 miles a day on a good day and 8-12 on really rough days (when the snow was 4' deep and the wind was hallowing and it was below freezing). We only trekked 6 miles each day! 6 MILES!! I couldn't image doing 12 or even 20!! Those pioneers were amazing and had amazing strength and an amazing testimony of the gospel to leave their nice homes, warm homes and travel across the United Stated on desert land, over 150 years ago. It's crazy to think about it really. I don't know if I would have had the courage to do it!
We only trekked 6 miles and THAT was pretty hard on our bodies! I mean I thought I was in shape, but i guess not! I got major blisters the first day of the trek and had to cut holes in the sides of my tennis shoes, so my big toes could stick out the sides... just so I could bare walking the next 2 days. Ben made me some make shift flip flops the first night, out of some foam and zip ties he had brought. Pretty cool I must say. It was nice to get my feet out of hot tennis shoes and socks and let my blisters cool off each night.
On the second day I was so dang hot (we stopped for camp in the middle of the day and it was nearly 100 degrees with NO shade.) Ben was busy with other things and I was too impatient to wait for some relief from the sun, so I used some large sticks (about 4' tall) that I found around camp, some rope, a tarp and zip ties, to create a canopy over my sleeping bags, so I could lay and get some relief from the heat! It worked out pretty good. I decided that I really need to include a package of zip ties in my 72 hour kit.. they are great for just about EVERYTHING!
anyhow.. I am so glad I went on the Trek. The last night we had a camp fireside and the kids along with alot of the adults (including myself) bore our testimonies about our experience. It was humbling to listen to the teenagers really open up with how they felt. Just a good time. I was actually sad to go home and leave our little "family". We had grown so close!
Well here are pictures of the Trek. The first ones are of Ben, Braden, Allie and I the morning we left for the Trek. Nice and perky, clean and full of energy. As the pictures go on, you can see the faces go from perky to tired, to exhausted, to very very dirty! but I would do it again in a heartbeat!
The last picture is of our "family".. the group that we were with most of the time. REALLY REALLY Good bunch of kids. Would be proud to call any of them my own. We decided we need to get together and have a "trek" reunion this fall and do something fun. Even though we see them every Sunday at Church.. it's not the same as spending one on one time together.
Well we are off to Utah in the morning for my mom and step-dad's birthday bash! We are going to Roy Water-park in Roy, Utah and then having a fun dinner that night at a near by park. Tomorrow night we will be spending the night with my friend Jamie Soucy. BOY is she in for a treat (all 8 of us at her house!!) so fun!
okay so here are the pics. The first one like I said is of us before we actually left. The second is once we arrived at the place we were starting our trek from.
That's Ben and some of our "family" loading up our handcart. Each family had one handcart to stow all of our personal belongings on (including clothes, eating utensils, sleeping bags, personal items, etc.) We also had a 5 gallon drinking bucket to be able to drink from all day long.
The next few pictures are of our family pushing the first and last day of the trek. I didn't take any pictures of us at actual camp (should have, but was too hot and tired to remember). The last picture is of our family the last day, about 2 hours from our final destination.
Thanks for letting me share!