Many months ago Our church youth decided to join Vancouver Stake for a Trek on the Barlow Trail. This trek was to be done by hand carts and to be well over a 30 mile journey. Mark and I were a Pa and Ma on the trip and we were in charge of 11 youth ranging in the ages of 12-18. We were ready to conquer this adventure having no idea what to expect, who are kids would be, how far we would go, what time it was nor what to do as a parent on the trail.
Upon arrival we had to get our hand cart packed and ready to go so that when our children arrived we could start our hiking. My mother made my beautiful pioneer dress and I loved the colors (it hid the dirt really well-my goal). I found many things I liked about the dress as a pioneer and many things I would have hated. It is hard to run in, you are always having to lift it when walking up steep hills, and your bonnet is a great sun protector but a terrible rain guard. I loved having this time with my husband and being able to think about different ways to approach different situations. We both walked away from this experience a little wiser and a little happier.
Our family arrived and we were the leaders of the pack on our Purple company. We had all the kids make up names that started with the same letter as their real name. We had Radiant Rachel (also my second cousin-who only was able to stay 1 day), Manly Micheal, Jolly Joel, Awesome Ayden, Active Allison, Wonderful Whitney, Musical Megan, Kicken Kyel, Radical Rhett, Aristocratic Alex, and Super Shaila. The first day we spent really getting to know these kids and all of their likes and dislikes. You can tell right away how your journey is going to be from the get go.
I of course am as goofy as I always am and wanted to make sure the kids had a good time. I tried to be light hearted and encourage them to do things that they might not otherwise do. I also tried to get them to think of different things in their lives along with different stories of our ancestors. We had plenty of ongoing jokes regarding signs, the yolk, extra baggage, etc... but I think these kids walked away knowing a lot more about their heritage and all that the handcart pioneers went through. (We had plenty of candy enticing quiz questions.)
On the 2nd morning there we were lazily getting ready and we just finished breakfast when out of nowhere these men come in on horseback and tell all the Young men that they have to leave with them to go fight in the Mexican war. So our brave Mormon battalion set off to help in saving California while us women folk had a devotional, cleaned up camp and started packing up our cart. We really did grow to appreciate how much these young boys help out.
After many whacks from the bungee cords Allison and I finally got the cart in order to leave and the other girls prepared to help pull the cart for a long few miles up terrible hills. In fact Mark and I weren't allowed to help on the adventure of pulling the actual hand cart but on the womens pull day we were given permission to help on the hills. I am so glad or some of my tiny 12 year old's would have been squished into the road by now. Allison and I got on the front of our big terrifying hill and the other girls hopped in the back and we were gasping for air. At one point one of our girls almost threw up and I was hyperventilating. I can't imagine the earlier settlers going up these mountains without having lost many lives. They traveled 1300 miles and over 3 months where we only traveled 30 miles in 3 days.
As much work as we were doing it was really hard to enjoy the scenery but there were moments where you set the cart down to grab a drink of water, breath and then you could look around and soak it all in.
After a bit of time the boys rejoined us on the "eternal" hill, Actually I think it is called "faith" hill. Either way it was so terrible and so very long. At this point it was back to not helping pull or push again and it was really hard to watch these youth have to work so hard to go up these hills, down these hills, over terrible ruts without laying one finger on the cart. I was so proud of their efforts to work together.
On our second day we stopped for a late lunch and had a great blessing of getting our feet washed, our hair washed, down time and a place to relax. I am sure the real pioneers enjoyed their parties too.
Pa was so exhausted after day 2- The kids were getting dinner ready and he was not about to move anywhere he didn't have too.
Ma and Pa after 3 long hard days of walking, talking and being almost real hand cart pioneers.
We really had good weather the entire time we were away. On the last day we had some down pours in the morning which made us all a bit dirty, wet, muddy, and ready to get on the way. After walking for a little bit the rain subsided but our clothes were pretty wet. Mark kindly dried my bonnet off on his hat (it was like a drenched wash cloth). I was so glad he was able to ward off any of eligible pioneer boys.
These 3 boys really carried their weight. On our second and third day they pulled that hand cart like it was no bodies business. There were funny tricks that they learned to get the hand cart up with their feet, and different ways they learned to carry the handcart. I hope that all of us can carry our own hand carts in life with the "I will succeed and I will even do better then succeed." attitude.When the candy bag fell off these boys were quick to stop the fast going hand cart to save our precious treats so we could have them for the entire time.
We were given some time for reflection on our journey, read real hand cart stories, read scriptures, write in journals, and bare our testimonies of the gospel. I loved seeing all the kids in the fields and woods pondering and being quiet. They weren't even tempted to sit by each other. AMAZING. See no tv, No computers, no texting, no phones is possible.
Need I say anything-I loved my family, I really, really loved these youth. They had a good head on their shoulders and taught me so much.
We had 4 water crossings on our last day. The first one was easy, Second one was a mud pit and we really had to navigate it the best way possible, third was easy with running water but a hard muddy hill afterwards and the last was waist deep and extremely gross too. I had to go through bare feet because my shoes were packed funny and I am not a sensory person so it was pretty challenging mentally for me. I just had to make myself go to another place for a few minutes. Plus anything after a marathon isn't that bad. I was able to watch a few groups come across before ours and it was so fun. There were men who would carry their wives across and fall completely in, kids trying to avoid getting too wet but ending up getting soaked. I took a picture of this crew since it had some of my real YW from home in it-yes it was gross.
Little house on the prairie song kept coming to mind here.
One of the most amazing parts was along one of the fields to watch all of the hand carts in front of us tromp along the trail. It was such a great experience for all of us and emotional too. We worked as a family and really enjoyed our journey.
I wont forget my first trekking experience and I hope there are many more to come. Who cares about sleeping on the hard ground, not sleeping hardly at all, taking care of kids who really don't want to be there, the pains and aches-it is all worth it. I will remember these kids for a very long time and hope that we were able to leave something with them that they will never forget, particularly the stories of their hand cart heritage and why they traveled 1300miles for religious freedom.
We were given some time for reflection on our journey, read real hand cart stories, read scriptures, write in journals, and bare our testimonies of the gospel. I loved seeing all the kids in the fields and woods pondering and being quiet. They weren't even tempted to sit by each other. AMAZING. See no tv, No computers, no texting, no phones is possible.
Need I say anything-I loved my family, I really, really loved these youth. They had a good head on their shoulders and taught me so much.
We had 4 water crossings on our last day. The first one was easy, Second one was a mud pit and we really had to navigate it the best way possible, third was easy with running water but a hard muddy hill afterwards and the last was waist deep and extremely gross too. I had to go through bare feet because my shoes were packed funny and I am not a sensory person so it was pretty challenging mentally for me. I just had to make myself go to another place for a few minutes. Plus anything after a marathon isn't that bad. I was able to watch a few groups come across before ours and it was so fun. There were men who would carry their wives across and fall completely in, kids trying to avoid getting too wet but ending up getting soaked. I took a picture of this crew since it had some of my real YW from home in it-yes it was gross.
Little house on the prairie song kept coming to mind here.
One of the most amazing parts was along one of the fields to watch all of the hand carts in front of us tromp along the trail. It was such a great experience for all of us and emotional too. We worked as a family and really enjoyed our journey.
I wont forget my first trekking experience and I hope there are many more to come. Who cares about sleeping on the hard ground, not sleeping hardly at all, taking care of kids who really don't want to be there, the pains and aches-it is all worth it. I will remember these kids for a very long time and hope that we were able to leave something with them that they will never forget, particularly the stories of their hand cart heritage and why they traveled 1300miles for religious freedom.
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