Hello,
Just a note upfront. For those of you who read this blog to hear about music and movies, today's entry is going to be a completely different topic. I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons). Our religion has a history of western migration, leaving behind persecution. One notable example of this is 4 groups of pioneers that set out in the winter of 1856. The first two are the Martin and Willey handcart companies. The third and fourth groups are the Hunt and Hodgett wagon companies.
All four groups traveled separately from each other. The Martin Handcart Company and it's about 600 members left late in the season. They departed Iowa City, Iowa on July 28th with their goal being Salt Lake City, Utah. Also it was a place they referred to as Zion. On November 4th they ran into a terrible snowstorm. Things had mostly went okay up to that point. Unfortunately they ran into that snowstorm, which lasted for 5 days. They had no shelter other than what they had brought with them. Fort Seminoe was in the area, but the small fort could only hold a small percentage of the about 500 remaining members of the Martin Handcart Company. (Sadly about 145 people of the original 600 person company died.) Fortunately someone knew of a ravine that could give them some protection. They were able to camp out in what came to be known as Martin's Cove, Wyoming. It's a ravine where they were able to get some protection from the elements. They were at the ravine for 5 days before the storm finally broke. Brigham Young, who was in Salt Lake, sent out people to help them. The survivors eventually made it to Salt Lake. Rescuers had arrived to help on November 10th and 11th.
Anyway as LDS people, we honor our ancestors. We have a deep reverence for the sacrifices they made so that we can live our great lives. To simulate what they did back in 1856 we have units of the Church that go to Martin's Cove and reenact many of the things that our ancestors went through. That's what I did this past weekend. My son and I left early Wednesday morning and got back Saturday night at 6:00. The blog immediately preceding this one shows what our schedule was. Walking in the steps of our ancestors was an amazing experience. This particular entry is my Top 10 moments, with three moments tied for first place. This blog is about the many amazing things that happened while we were on our own Trek.
I've made the above chronology as accurate as possible. Sometimes there were conflicting viewpoints, any error is mine.
Our theme was Reason, Response, Rescue and Remember. I want to note the true beauty of Wyoming. In fact it's one of the most beautiful places in the world from 8:00 pm to 8:00am. I loved seeing the big sky and the clouds. There was a cloud that seems to have a hole in it with the sun piercing through creating quite a beautiful view.
10) Handcart Company recreations aren't just thrown together in a few days. The preparation for this was started more than a year in advance. From how the trailer bringing food to Wyoming was packed to how fresh and fantastic the food was were only two of the many considerations to be made. One could literally see the hundreds of hours of preparation that went into making our experience amazing. One of the groups I want to thank the most is the Food committee highlighted by the Jacksons. The Bangerters, Clarks and many others also provided valuable support. The food was amazing throughout. Two of my personal preferences were the pulled pork and pancakes. (Alliteration alert <- dang it I did it again :)
9) Honestly actually visiting Martin's Cove itself was a bit of a letdown, but it was still good to see. We made the same walk these pioneers did, but without our handcarts and supplies. Martin's Cove did afford them that 5 days of protection, but it was a steep climb for the temporary relief. When the storm finally broke they had to backtrack some before proceeding on to Salt Lake.
8) Seeing the true depth of the people in the West Bountiful 5th Ward and how great they are. They welcomed my son and me with open arms and enhanced our experience. I loved how the campground felt like a true neighborhood, with everyone looking out for each other. That same feeling carried over to Sunday and that powerful sense of camaraderie was at church the following day. Church was especially awesome on Sunday, July 15th.
7) Crossing the Sweetwater River. We crossed it on a day that was about 100 degrees. The actual river itself was just below knee depth and is only a few feet across. Even on this hot July day, the river was still extremely cold. Back in 1856, the Sweetwater River was waist deep, wider and had big pieces of ice floating down it.
6) We only received a small amount of appreciation for what the early pioneers went through. Frankly driving the six hours from West Bountiful, Utah to Martin's Cove gave me an increased amount of appreciation for the pioneers. Six hours in an air conditioned car and where I could stop for food and gas many times. That's compared to the nearly 3 week trek pushing handcarts into SLC. They had little protection from the elements. Any food they ate they had to bring with them or hunt on the way.
5) Because of all the natural challenges that arise even in a well prepared Trek recreation, there are still issues that arise. Tents were blown apart, people used to a comfortable existence had to rough it for a few days and other challenges. I saw how the West Bountiful 5th ward became even closer, that was an amazing experience.
4) Seeing how much of a man my 14 year old son is becoming, that same boy earned the nickname of Moose. I was a very proud father this weekend and sad my other three children didn't take advantage of this life changing opportunity. I tried to explain the amazing experience that we had at Trek to my daughter. Sadly she looked at me with no comprehension.
3) Being rescued myself. I'm terribly out of shape and didn't prepare enough before the ordeal of Trek. On our second day of trekking we were going to visit Martin's Cove. After trekking from our camp to the pavilion right below the actual Martin's Cove, then sitting out in 100 degree weather for a half-hour and making the 2.1 mile loop up and around Martin's Cove I was absolutely wore out. I survived that but we ran into a steep path on the way back to camp. Climbing up the easier of the two paths back to camp my body conked out. I could barely get myself back to camp walking, let alone pushing the handcart. Thanks to the amazing help of Brett Peterson, Rob Kemeny, the entire Joey and Maren Hilton family and Bishop and Zac Anderson they took over for me. Maybe that was suppose to be a lesson of this whole experience too? Thanks to Val Leary and Garth McFarland for walking back to camp with me. Truly no one was left behind. They all rescued my sorry butt. (Although I was a bit embarrassed when people lined up for us stragglers and applauded.)
2) The youth pushing the handcarts up the more difficult of the two paths mentioned above. This harder path is the so called women's pull. When these amazing young people, ages 4 or 5 to their early 20's, were done pushing up their own cart they didn't stop. Many of them ran down the hill to help their peers. This was an extremely difficult hill to push these handcarts up, but yet many went back for more. Climbing up this path, the ground is very sandy. That makes the handcart pushing all that more difficult.
The top three experiences are all equal to me so I can't make a distinction between them.
1) The sacrifice of Dave and Ginny Wood, who were the leaders of organizing this amazing Pioneer Trek. They are the parents of 5 rambunctious kids who they brought with them. The Woods also had many other responsibilities and were a powerful leadership tandem. Who knows how many hours they put into this endeavor? I've joked that I'll bet they are glad that their full-time, unpaid job is over.
1) Walking the same path that my great, great, great grandmother walked back in 1856. Only she and her family did it in heavy deep snow with very little food and protection. Again much love and respect to Elizabeth Simpson Haigh Bradshaw, her very strong daughter Sarah Ann Haigh Miller and the rest of their family. Elizabeth was promised in her patriarchal blessing that all of her children would make it to Salt Lake alive and that's what happened. Sarah is my great, great, great grandmother. Seeing her name on the wall at the Visitor's Center really brought the whole weekend home for me.
1) Thanks to the Hilton and Rodabough families for sharing their children's baptisms with the rest of the ward. I loved the setting, the nice breeze and the similarity between the area around theRiver Jordan and the Sweetwater River. That was a fitting culmination to an amazing, butt kicking weekend.
Those are my Top 10 most amazing experiences on Pioneer Trek 2012. Thanks to everyone in the West Bountiful 5th Ward for making this one of the greatest experiences of my life.
themusicaddict
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