Pioneer Trek

 We just got back from a youth Pioneer Trek. It was a fun experience. We went to Riley's Farm, in Oak Glen, California, and spent 3 days recreating the Handcart Pioneer experience.

  David and I were Ma and Pa to 12 young men and women.

Jordan and Kallai were in other families.

. I've been on 2 treks before in Wyoming, at Martin's Cove, but this was definitely a different experience. The Martin's Cove treks were very spiritual, and somewhat physically challenging. This one was more historical, and extremely challenging.  There were several actors that played the part of important Mormon leaders, including Porter Rockwell and Brigham Young. They did a great job.

 There were lots of period activities, such as stick wrestling, log sawing, square dancing, archery and musket shooting.

We crossed the "Platte River", although it was really a pond filled with muddy water.  The boys carried the girls across.  When the real handcart pioneers went to cross the Platte, it was freezing cold, with chunks of ice floating in it, and the pioneers were starving and didn't have the heart to cross it, so 4 teenage boys who had come to rescue them carried most of the pioneers across. 

The terrain we covered was very challenging. We had to lower our carts by rope down into a ravine.

We had to go up and down super steep hills, and we had ropes attached to the front/back of the cart so we could have extra people adding their muscle to push to the top, or keep the cart from running out of control to the bottom.

 At one point, the menfolk left us and went off to march in the Mormon Battalion, and the women did some pioneer activities while they were marching.  We made candles and butter, we learned how to crochet, embroider, and write letters with a feather pen.  Writing with a feather is harder than it might appear at first.

While the men were gone, the women had to push the handcarts further along the trail.  At one point we had to descend a hill so steep that our stuff started falling off the top of the cart.  Our water cooler fell off and all the water spilled out, and we had to beg water from the other families until we reached the next filling station. We had to push up another hill that was extremely steep and sandy, and it took all the women from 2 carts to get each cart to the top. It was on that hill that my foot got ran over by the handcart wheel. I was on the front right bar, pushing the cart up the hill. It was becoming very steep and sandy, and I was really leaning into the bar to put my full energy into it. My right leg was back, and I was about to take the next step with it, when the sand around my foot fell away, and my foot was sucked into the pocket under the wheel. My foot was upside down, and I was sure my toes were going to be broken, but I jerked it as hard as I could, and it came free. Luckily the deep sand cushioned my foot, because I just came away with a small amount of pain in the joint of my big toe.

The final challenge was Testimony Hill. It was extremely long and hard and steep. It required putting two ropes on each cart, then filling each rope with men and boys, pulling each cart to the top, and then sending people back down with the ropes for the next cart. I made it to the top the first time, pushing our family cart from the back. By the end, I wasn't pushing much, just trying to keep up with the cart. After resting at the top for a while, I decided to go back down and help, but I only went part way. When a person on the back would get tired, I would jump in and take their place and push until I was too tired, and then someone else would jump in and take my place. David, Jordan and Kallai each went down to the bottom and helped 4 carts to the top. I'm proud of them. It was a lot of hard work.

 When we made it to the valley at the end, we were tired and sore, but proud of what we had accomplished.

Our reward for all that hard work?  New and deeper friendships with our ward and stake members...

 and Carls Jr. Cheesburgers!

I've added a lot of posts lately.  You may have missed some.