Pioneer Trek

Jared and I took on nature as we ventured off with the youth in our stake to see what a pioneer trek is all about. For those of you who don't know, a pioneer trek is where you go out into the mountains dressed as pioneers and pull handcarts across a trail doing as much as possible to reinact what the pioneers went through as they crossed the plains. For us, this included wearing pioneer clothing (long sleeves, bloomers, and bonnets in 104 degree weather). We also slept under the stars, prepared to make shelter with tarps in case of rain.

Jared and I were a Ma and Pa for a family of 9 children.


Here is our handcart.

Our company captain was President Crabtree. The youth cleverly thought of the name Sebastian Spruce for our company name.

They gave all the families a colored bandana to wear. Ours was tourquoise. It was a fun idea until the colors started rubbing off onto our clothes and skin. Notice the blue forehead.

The handcart wasn't too hard to pull, I'm not sure why Jared is pulling the Mr. Incredible strength face.

this one is even better

Well, the handcarts weren't too hard to pull as long as we were on flat ground. Going through rivers and uphill or downhill were definitely more difficult.

the kids liked to run...... that was against the rules.... shh...

This is where the men were called away for the Mormon Battalion and the women were forced to pull the carts all on their own. We pulled the carts up the steepest parts of the trail and it was really hard, but a good experience. At points some had to leave their carts and help another cart up the hill, then come back and all retreive the next cart. Lots of teamwork, prayers, and even tears.

One night we set up camp in this grassy meadow. It was really pretty and fun to sleep under the stars, but that tall grass and weeds made anyone with allergies miserable, myself included.

A small storm blew in, see the pressure clouds in the background.

A view from the top.

We played lots of fun games. Check out our amazing lap sit.

4 legged races

It got a little dirty.

repelling

Here's the Millpond Ward crowd.

All in all we had a great experience. It was neat to hear the youth bear their testimonies about the impact that this experience had on them. Jared and I were glad to be a part of it.