Our Pioneer Trek

Jeff and I had the opportunity to be a Ma and a Pa for our Stake Pioneer Trek last week. I was so excited when we were asked, because as a youth I went on a trek and had a fantastic time. Our day started bright and early at 5:30 AM on Thursday morning, where we met at the stake center for a quick devotional and prayer, and then headed out to our starting point. We were divided into families, and then off we went to start the 11 mile journey for the first day, pulling our heavy (I heard estimates of 600 lbs!) handcarts. We had a fantastic group of 6 kids and one aunt.

The scenery was absolutely beautiful with yellow, purple, and blue wildflowers all over the mountains. It was hard to appreciate the beauty as you really needed to keep your eyes on the trail to keep you from triping over big rocks or holes.

Our boys were fantastic, they all got along so well. We had a comedian in the group, who kept us laughing for the entire 3 days.

Our girls were so sweet. We're missing our Aunt Tiffany in this photo. We discovered along the way that my dad was her Single Adult Bishop, which was so fun to make a connection.

We took little breaks along the way to stay hydrated and have potty breaks. This is usually when our comedian would say something funny and we would all burst into laughter.

When we went down big hills, we would tie ropes onto the bar and turn the handcart around so we could slowly lower it down.

The last four miles of our first day were all up hill, which took forever as we were all exhausted from our long day. We finally pulled into camp late, and had a great dinner of stew, cornbread, and salad.

Our second day started off a little wet as we were rained on the night before. It was a new experience for most of the youth (as well as adults), as we were sleeping under the stars. We scrunched down into our sleeping bags and pulled them over our heads to try and stay dry. Breakfast tasted especially good that morning, as we didn't sleep very well.

It rained for most of day 2 - which was surprising. I almost didn't pack our rain ponchos, but am so glad I threw them in.

The boys were all called off to join the Mormon Battalion, leaving the women to pull the handcarts for a few hours. This was a really neat experience for both the boys and the girls.

Day 2 also brought blisters and sore feet. Luckily there were a few medics on our journey, who came prepared for everything.

Jeff and I with a couple other Ma's & Pa's and friends.

Our last day was bittersweet. Everyone was excited at the reality of being home by evening to take showers and sleep in their own beds, but Jeff and I had a rough morning as Elvis was feeling sick and had been throwing up most of the night. The medics wanted him to quit the trek, and hang out at base camp for observation. Jeff and Elvis' trek Pa were able to give him a blessing before he left, which was a wonderful experience.

The last day we crossed 3 streams. It's all snow melt, so the water was freezing cold. Eugene was amazing for the entire trip, helping other families that needed help, but for the last day, he specifically went back to help his brother's family get across the streams and up the moutains. It was such a sweet act of kindness.

We had so many amazing experiences during the three days of our trek. The physical exhaustion, spiritual experiences, and close contact made us grow together in a very special way. We loved our trek family and every experience we shared.