Pioneer Children Sang As They Walked!

Bryce and I had a great opportunity to go on a pioneer trek this past weekend with our church youth group. We take the kids on a trek so that they can feel what the pioneers felt like for just a few days. I was quite anxious about this trek because I have never been on one before. I was worried about blistered feet, hot days, cold nights, being extremely dirty, snakes, lightning storms, and having to wear pioneer clothes!

Our Family: We were asked to be a Ma and Pa for our family of nine: We had 5 guys; Curtis, Luek, Mark, Trenton, and Bart. We also had 4 young women; Keirsten, Shelby, Melissa, and Sarah. We were in the Zito Company(our bishop was our captain) We had a great family and we loved our kids.

Day 1

We left Henefer, Utah at 11am and started on the trail. We soon came to an uphill climb that nearly wiped us out. It took all of us to push and pull that handcart up the hill. I thought I was going to pass out...probably because I am in such great shape...right! We walked 8 miles the first day. We came into our camp to start setting up our tents, when a mob of horseman came down the hill telling us to get off their property(this was a re-enactment) They had a mormon extermination letter in their hands and they were yelling and shooting their guns to get us to leave. So, we loaded up our stuff and walked further. We set up camp a half mile away and the first night, our boys decided they would sing country songs all night until someone came and "De-Tented" them. They preceded to get out of their small tent and try to put it back up. They kept stepping on the thistles and yelling and I was sitting in my tent laughing so hard at them. I then said, "Sons, is everything OK?" They replied, "Maaa, someone detented us." It was pretty funny.

Day 2

We started our trek on the original Donner Party/Mormon Trail. The last time someone took handcarts on this path was in the 1850's. So, needless to say, it was overgrown and crazy to get through. It was a single walking path that we pushed the carts through. The men in our family were very strong and they pushed the cart most of the time, because they did not want the women to have to push. We walked for 3.5 miles and then stopped for lunch. A

fter lunch, a guy came up to our company and said, "I am General Christensen. All men, pick up your stuff and come stand in single file order. We are gathering the 'Mormon Batallion"(another re-enactment). The men left and the girls had to pull for the next 2 miles all by themselves. It was very hard and there were times I thought are cart was going to fall in a ravine. The men had a hard time (emotionally) knowing that we were down the hill pulling and pushing these carts. They wanted to be there to help us but they were not allowed to. When the original pioneers came over to Salt Lake, many had lost their husbands to the war, cold, sicknesses, and fatigue. Many women were left alone to take on the task of getting their families to Utah. The re-enactment that we did was a neat experience and really touched alot of us, even to tears.

After the women's pull, they told us a few more stories of the pioneers and then we finished the pull up the mountain. When we got to the top, we were overlooking Salt Lake Valley and it was beautiful. We then walked four miles down the hill to our campground. We set up our tents, ate dinner, and had a great devotional where the youth got to express their feelings about the trek. Many of them will never forget this experience. It was a wonderful opportunity to get to know these kids and to help them feel what it was like to be a pioneer. The most important thing was that we helped them feel the Spirit as we worked together as families and went through tough obstacles together.

That night, we had a bad lightning and rain storm come through our camp. It rained and rained and the next morning all of our stuff was wet and muddy.

Day 3

We hiked four miles to our buses and they took us to a park in Salt Lake called "This Is The Place" Park. We took pictures, looked around, ate lunch and came home. It was such a great opportunity for us. We grew to really love our kids. We are very thankful that we were asked to be Ma's and Pa's for this trek. Hopefully, we will be able to do it again in four years.