I'm the Mommy, Thats Why!: Blessed, Honored Pioneers

Trek - where do I begin??!! What an AMAZING experience. It is just too hard to sum it up in words, but I'll do my best. Chris and I didn't have the Pioneer Trek experience growing up so when we had the opportunity to be a Ma & Pa on our Stake Youth Trek, we jumped at it. We were able to go along with both Tyler and Lauren. The trek was for youth 14 and older but if your parents were coming, you could come if you were 12 or 13, so Lauren was able to come too.

We all had to dress in pioneer clothing, pack everything we'd need for 3 days (except bedding) into a 5 gallon bucket that weighed no more than 17 pounds, and walk around the wilderness pushing a handcart for nearly 20 miles. Sounds like fun, right? It was.

Our Stake decided that they wanted the youth to have a more spiritual experience rather than focusing on the harsh physical conditions. Not to say that it was easy by any means, but it was easier than a lot of groups that go.

I heard of one group who actually had to catch their own wildlife for dinner! We were spoiled and the Stake cooked most of our meals for us or provided us meals to cook that were mostly done. We ate fantastic! They also had trucks that hauled all of our tents, bedding and cooking stuff from site to site so we didn't have to lug that around in our handcarts.

The weather was brutal, over 100 degrees most of the time or right around there. There was no shade or trees to be found anywhere and everything was covered in dust. The only shade to be had was under the handcart. There was so much dirt! I had visions of sleeping on nice, soft grassy park-like areas each night, but nope, literally dust bowls! We had so many great devotionals, talks, music and a fantastic fireside given by Brad Wilcox.

Each day we trekked anywhere from 4 to 8 miles, set up camp, tore down camp, had our meals, had devotionals and vignettes along the way, a hoe down, camp games, lots of visiting, shared pioneer stories and more.

Two of the highlights were the women's pull where all the men "left with the Mormon battalion" and the women were left to pull the handcarts on their own.

We had to pull them a 1/2 a mile in ankle deep dirt which was like flour. It was so hard. The conditions were so dusty that you couldn't see the group in front of you. We ate a ton of dust being kicked up by the carts. As we neared the end we could hear the men singing softly and it was so beautiful. We couldn't see them through the dust until we were right there but it was very touching to hear them singing.

It was so hard on them to see us struggle so much. We were so relieved when it was over and our strong boys could take over pulling the handcarts again. The other highlight was the river crossing. We had to cross the river in thigh-high water. The boys could carry the girls across but ours didn't because all of our girls wanted to get wet since it was so hot. I think they were kind of disappointed. Again, it was a very spiritual experience.

I feel very blessed to have been able to participate and hope the kids enjoyed it as much as we did. Tyler and Lauren both had a great time and did fantastic. Tyler was assigned a different family as they mixed up all the kids so that each family group had a variety of ages, wards and about 1/2 girls and 1/2 boys. Lauren was in our family because she was too young. I suspect they did that so that if they struggled or whined that their parents could deal with them. However, she did amazing and would have been fine anywhere. Oh, and on the 2nd day of the trek each family "lost" loved ones, just like during the real Treks. Our family lost Lauren. They got to ride ahead up to our next campsite and hang out, play games and have treats while we all trekked some more. Later that day they got to come back. It was just such a great experience and we totally want to go again next time.

Our Trek Family