Make Like a Pioneer and Trek

Last week Travis and I went on the pioneer trek with our ward. I'm not the cheeriest camper, but I must say, I absolutely loooved the experience. Those of you not entirely familiar with the LDS church might find this whole thing strange, but it was a great way for me to become acquainted with some of my ancestors' history.

The path we took replicated the journey of the Martin and Willie handcart companies. These handcart "groups" consisted of approximately 980 men, women, and children; 210 of these pioneers died crossing the plains. We were able to walk where these pioneers walked (though their journey was in the winter!). The spirit of these pioneers is very strong there and we truly gained an understanding of their sacrifice and also their joys in traveling the plains of Wyoming.

Travis and I were "ma" and "pa" to 7 teenagers. Each of us had a 5-gallon bucket to pack our things in and carry in our handcart. From the pictures I'm sure you can see that we had some jokesters, but I laughed so hard and enjoyed them so much. We even made them carry Travis and I in the handcart for about 1/2 mile (we traveled approx. 18 miles)!

One highlight of the trip was the women's pull. This represented the time during the pioneer emigration when the men were called away from their families to fight in the war so the women were left to blaze the trail alone for a while. The men and boys lined the trail in silence while the girls pushed the handcarts up a pretty steep hill alone. It was evident that these boys gained an understanding of how hard that must have been for the pioneers. I was exhausted, but we all sang at the top of the hill triumphantly and some of these teenage girls began to understand how tough they really are.

Travis was really cute with the young women. They all wanted him to carry them across during the symbolic Sweetwater River crossing. He always made sure they were drinking enough water and putting on sunblock. We had a blast together. Surprisingly stress-free fun!


This is a long blog, but there are still more stories to come!