Pioneer Trek

Steve and I had the amazing opportunity to be a Trek Ma and Pa for 4 days and 3 nights. On Wednesday morning July 8th we met at the stake center at 4:30 am and anxiously awaited the arrival of our Trek kids. We were excited to meet each one of them, we had 4 boys and 4 girls. We took them in a room and got acquainted as a new Trek family. We had a group hug and then a family prayer. We then got on a bus and traveled 9 hours to Martin's Cove which is just past Casper, Wyoming. When we arrived everybody was tired but very excited. We got our handcarts and trekked about 6 1/2 miles to our camp site. The wind was blowing like crazy and dust was flying in our faces but it helped cool us down. It is hard to explain how we felt walking where the pioneers walked, sleeping were they slept, and visiting the area where they buried their loved ones. It is a feeling Steve and I will never forget. Our second day we walked about 7 miles to the actual cove were the pioneers sought shelter from the winter storms. We then hiked 2 miles into Martin's cove. Our Stake Pres. asked us to walk it in silence. This cove is were the saints took refuge from a big winter storm and it is where they buried a lot of their loved ones. It was unbearable for Steve and I to imagine having to bury our children there like they did. After walking through Martin's Cove, we then trekked about 4 more miles and got on the buses to go to our second camp site. Our second campsite was at Sixth Crossing which is where the Willie company got stuck in the big winter storm. There we had a Hoe down with all the youth which was pretty fun, but we were eaten alive by mosquitos. Our Third Day we packed up camp and walked about 4 or 5 miles, at that point a Man in an Army uniform called out to have all the men come with him and join the army "the mormon battalion".. He marched them a 1/2 mile up a hill, when they reached the top the Stake President spoke to them about honoring their priesthood, and honoring woman and what is means to be a real man. At the bottom of the hill the women we listening to a Woman missionary talk about honoring our men and their Priesthood and having faith in them. The women then started up the hill without our men. This is called the woman's pull. I had two Trek daughters that were not feeling well, one was already resting back at camp and the other one was being pulled in the handcart because she hurt her hip. That left me and my two other Trek daughters to pull the hand cart up a hill filled with 12 buckets and 2 five gallon water coolers. I was lucky enough that one of the trek medics was a women (who was actually the mother of one of our Trek sons) and offered to help my girls and I pull it up that hill. Right before we started up that hill my Trek daughter (that had a bad hip) had decided that she was not going to miss out on this opportunity. About half way up the hill I can tell that she is crying because she is in so much pain, I told her to get on and I would pull her but she refused. My arms started shaking and I really thought that I would not make it up that hill, but the family in front of us started singing Come Come Ye Saints, hearing that song kept me going. We were almost to the top, but just then I heared the Stake President yell out to the men "go help your families". Three of my trek sons came running down the hill and they kept saying "you did it Ma" "let go we will pull it the rest of the way". I was an emotional wreck. It was an amazing thing to experience, it was really hard and I am grateful we got to do that. We walked about 3 or 4 more miles that day and we were able to cross the sweetwater river three times. We then got on the buses to go to our last camp site which was Rock Creek Hollow. We got there at 10 pm, we were wet and we were ready to eat anything, we were pretty hungry. We went to a fireside in Rock Creek Hollow the actual place where the pioneers had buried their loved ones. There is a grave there that has 13 people buried in it that died on the rocky ridge trail. This was the coldest night by far, we had frost on our sleeping bags when we got back to camp. Our Trek family tried to warm up by the camp fire before going to sleep. Our Trek sons slept by the fire to keep it going all night. Morning came and we were very anxious to get home. Our bus was having trouble but eventually it was fixed and we made it home in 10 hours. Yes I said 10 hours it was supposed to be six but we had a special bus, so it took ten. We we so excited to see our girls and take a long long shower. Steve and I will never ever forget our experience on trek we feel very blessed that we were able to be a part of it.