When I started this blog is was mostly to keep track of our 'field trips'. It's a good thing I didn't expect more of my self, because I'm way behind on just journaling that. Oh well, I'll try to catch up.
Our most recent trip was a family Pioneer
Trek at Martin's Cove Wyoming. This was something I've wanted to do for quite a while, so I was grateful that Rhonda Wilkinson organized this for Prosperity families. Our kids will never have the chance to all go together if we just go with our stake, and I wanted to be with our real family.
This trek felt a lot like the real pioneers might have been. We didn't have the harsh conditions that the Willie and Martin companies did, thank goodness. Our group consisted of 10 actual families. 3 of the families were there with only one parent. One lady was 8+ months pre
gnant. Our oldest member was 74 and the youngest was 10 months.
Our kids were at a great age to do this trek. They were old enough to help pull the handcart and to listen to the stories of the first pioneers and to understand what they went through. They were also old enough that I am sure this is something they will remember for the rest of their lives.
This was a difficult trip to get ready for. I am used to packing for trips, but this one was very hard for me. Each family was in charge of their own food, except for one meal that we were doing together. One thing I hate is to over pack. I don't like to haul around more stuff then necessary, and I really didn't want to do it in a hand cart. David was in Canada all week and not around to help at all, which added to my stress. We didn't know if he was going to make it home for the trek, but he managed to catch a late flight home on Wednesday night, and arrived in Salt Lake around midnight. We had to be on the road to Wyoming at 6:00 am!
We made it though, all of us ready and all of our gear packed and on the road. I am proud to say that our family hauled in all of our stuff for trek in our hand cart, and didn't need to take any of it in by car! The first day we trekked 3 miles to our campsite with our stuff, set up camp, made dinner (Thank you Mountain House) and did some square dancing. Square dancing was fun and quite amusing. Especially with all of the little people we had who were willing to participate, but had a hard time following the directions. The night was clear and there was no moon, so we got to see the stars amazingly well. London has been studying Astronomy a lot lately and really enjoyed this.
The next day we loaded up our handcart with just the stuff we'd need for the day: mostly lunch, sun screen, cameras and lots of water. We trekked our handcarts to Martin's Cove, where we heard stories of the people that camped there for 4 days and 5 nights in early November 1856. Then we went on a silent walk through to cove.
After lunch we did a re-enactment of the the crossing of the Sweetwater River. Some of our men and boys carried everyone across the river. It was nice and symbolic. I can't imagine how those men did it in a river that had 3 inches of ice on it, and was up to
their waist and much wider than the day we crossed it. After we
crossed the river, when went down to another bend in the river
and got to play in it for a while.
After play time,
we had to get back to work. As we were trekking back to camp, all of our men and boys 11 and over were called out by the Mormon Battalion and left us to go to war. This left the women and small children to pull the handcarts. They sent us on a path that led us up a very steep and sandy hill. This was an interesting experience. All of the men and boys were lining the trail up the hill near the top, but we weren't to acknowledge them and they were just to observe silently.
I felt a bit of pressure being the first handcart. Our family had the lead handcart for the entire trek and were always first. I had planned to pull the hand cart up the hill and then go back to help others. It was very hard work. I guess we made it look like we didn't have too much trouble, but I did strain myself quite a bit and was coughing up blood for a little while. Needless to say, I wasn't able to go back and help others. There were only five handcarts, and they were all up the hill relatively quickly. It was a good object lesson. Sometimes I feel like I'm pulling my handcart through life without my husband, because he is gone so much lately, but I am very grateful that he is not gone for good!
We made it back to camp for the evening, where we enjoyed a delicious stew that Rhonda made for the entire group. Then we had some pioneer stories and a testimony meeting. We had another beautiful, starry, night.
The last day we enjoyed some more pioneer stories from the missionaries, and then we packed up to leave. We ended up bring our cars around to put our stuff in, so we just had to haul the empty handcarts back the 3 miles to where we got them. My boys decided to do a men's pull and they gave Raven and I a ride for quite a while. We got out and helped push when we came to a steep, sandy, hill though. Then David and I did the parents pull and the kids rode the last 1/2 mile back. It was a really good trip for our family. It was nice to spend time with each other with out a lot of distractions and to work hard and to gain an appreciation for our ancestors and to know that we can also accomplish whatever is required of us in this life, and that it will also be worth every step.
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