As far as the chaperoning went, we had a pretty great gig. Our only complications were these: One daughter kept taking off to hang out with another family (boy), and taking her pioneer skirt off (leggings underneath, little turkey), but even after all the reminders to put it back on and come back to the family, she was not upset. Her heart was right, so I just gave her love. It worked out ok. One son wouldn't touch the handcart and all he did the whole time was walk along and mutter (but that wasn't a big deal). One daughter kept having physical complaints so that she could ride in the medic truck (but then a kid broke his collarbone and opted to stay at YC, so he got the medic truck, and she found him to be annoying so she miraculously healed). She was also the one who woke me up at 2am to walk her to the latrines because she was afraid of bears. But she had a good attitude throughout the whole thing and I have to say that on the second day when she was miraculously feeling better, she pulled her own weight. And those were our only chaperoning issues. EASY! I feel blessed with the kids we got. The remaining 8 kids were fantastic in every way. Except for a lot of complaining, but who can blame them? I murmured too. We've been raised in a different time.
The Trek was organized by a professional trekking company owned and operated by the Riley family of Riley Farms. Two brothers run a huge ranch. One is a member of the church, and his side of the ranch does Pioneer Treks. The other brother is very inactive, and he runs weddings, and civil/revolutionary war reenactments. They have their whole family involved, and have found some real characters to act out the parts of Brigham Young, Porter Rockwell, and other people from Church History. When we weren't pulling handcarts, we learned all about church history and life in those times. The history buff in me was fascinated.
Because we only had 2 days for this Trek, they crammed every single minute full of experiences. We did not have time for all the niceties of Youth Conference - no getting to know you games, parties, or down time. It was go, go, go. The first day, we left the church at 6:00am and rode for two hours on school buses. When we got there, they split us up into families and we got all our stuff loaded on the handcart. Paint buckets full of clothes and gear, and sleeping bags for everyone. It was pretty heavy but the guys in our family took on the pulling and the girls did most of the pushing. There were a few hills but it was all doable. A lot of stopping while carts ahead of ours (and us, a few times) had to re-load stuff that had fallen out of the cart (I came up with a better system involving lashing a tarp around it all).
Then we pulled again for another half mile and ended up at our camp for the night - where we parked our carts and had dinner. And then there was a hoe-down. We were exhausted and tried to get everyone to bed as soon as we could…difficult because half of our kids went off to sleep with friends that weren't in our family and didn't tell us. The boys were in buggy barracks that were separated from the girls, who slept on a grassy field under the stars. The stars were beautiful. Other than the girl waking me up at 2am to go to the latrine, it was an uneventful night. Cold, though. 95 degrees during the day, 50 degrees at night. I wrapped my ground cover tarp around my sleeping bag, that helped with the cold. All part of the experience, right?
One of the most annoying things about this experience was the dirt. The trails consisted of fine dirt that was almost sand, and rocks. When following behind the carts, the dust would choke you and cake on every body part. That night I got out my wet wipes and wiped down my face - when I looked at the wipe, I was shocked at how dirty it was! My legs and feet were even worse. My pioneer clothes that I worked so hard on were FILTHY. I could feel that dirt all over me and it itched. I just had to do the best I could with the wet wipes. Somebody found some soap and put it next to the spigot where we filled our water bottles…it was like Christmas! Seriously.
The next day, after breakfast and a talk by Captain Riley and Brigham Young, we lost all our men to the Mormon Battalion. As they left, the girls and women gathered together and sang "God be with you til we meet again". It was really touching, and I admit, I teared up. I knew what was coming…we women were going to have to pull/push that stinking cart up and down some hills and based on how little work we had done the previous day, I didn't know how we were going to do it. We got started and I'm not going to lie, it was hard. Especially when we looked up on the ridge on our left and saw the men climbing down - we thought they were coming to help us. Some of them did show up but they weren't allowed to help us, they just watched while we struggled. When I saw Chad coming back, I was so happy! Funny, but just seeing him gave me extra strength.
I think the worst part of this sisters-pull was the disorganization. Getting the carts up the hill required help from everyone, and it took awhile to figure out that some of the sisters were going to have to leave their carts behind to help the others ahead to get to the top, and then go back for their own. Of course, there was the downhill too, which also required extra help. We had to pull back like crazy in order to keep the cart from running away and dragging all of us with it. And crashing into the cart in front of us. I think I hated the downhills worst. My toes got hammered on the downhill. They still hurt!
The guys didn't like watching us but not being able to help. Eventually they just started cheering for us and calling out encouragement. We sang "As Sisters in Zion" and other songs while we pulled and that was fun.
I helped pull somebody else's cart to the mid-point, and then raced back down to pull our own. There was such a back up and people were in such a hurry to get up that stinking hill. I took the crossbar along with our Stake YW pres. We got about 1/3 of the way up and she started voicing my thoughts - "We have to stop and rest. I can't take one step further! Please can we rest?" Of course, everyone kept telling us that we couldn't stop until the halfway point, or we would just start rolling back down. My feet couldn't get purchase in the sand and I kept slipping and falling to my knees. Not good when pulling at the crossbar. We took a breather at the halfway point and then quickly started again. I didn't want to push again, in fact, I looked around to see if there was anyone else who could take my place at the crossbar. My sweet son Sam stepped inside and joined myself and another girl from our family (YW pres. moved to the back, I don't blame her!) At that point, the trail got even steeper. I didn't look up at the trail, I just looked at the dirt where I was putting my feet, and tried to pick spots to step that would be safe. It was horrible. My arms and legs were already tired and sore from those other hills with the sisters, and this seemed like torture. People were lining the trail encouraging us. It didn't help! It was like pulling a 500lb weight up a ladder. Only without real steps. I can't explain it any better than that.
When we got to the top, I thought I was going to collapse. I don't know if I am just old, or in much worse shape than I thought I was, but I couldn't catch my breath and my stomach was killing me (I think I drank too much water in too short a period of time - my tiny stomach couldn't handle it). The heat was unbearable. Chad found me and helped me find somewhere shady to sit while he went back and helped somebody else. I sat there and watched these teens pull carts to the top, eat a piece of watermelon, and then run back down to pull up another one. Sam was one of them - he pulled up 4 carts! They were amazing. Not one of them quit. How easy it would have been to say, "this is stupid. why are we doing this? I don't have to participate in this and I am done." But they were caught up in the spirit of the re-enactment and they didn't stop until everyone was at the top. In fact, Brother Brigham tried to block off the trail and kept saying, "if you have already pulled up 4 carts, do not pull any more! Get some water and rest!" It was 98 degrees, dry, and oh that dust! Suffocating!
After I caught my breath and started feeling a little less light-headed, I just stood there hugging Chad. It was easy to imagine what it would have been like to be a pioneer, and how much we would be depending on each other to get through the hard stuff. It was such an intense two days. When our Bishop talked about it in church the day after, he said that it was hell. Over the pulpit, he said Hell. And that was accurate.
After everybody got rested, we had another chat with Brother Brigham, yes, he said, "this is the place". Then we pulled our carts to Zion. NOBODY wanted to pull that cart again. Even thought it was only about 800yds. When we finally got to the lawn, we just dropped our darn cart and walked away…to the bathroom, to drinks, and shade. Then we had a testimony meeting. Now this was an interesting phenomenon. I had listened to those kids complain like crazy the entire time we were there. Some were louder than others, but all of them complained. They were justified. What kind of youth conference just about kills you? I was kind of scared to hear what they would say - I wondered if this trek was an epic fail. But they surprised me…and what do you know, they got it. They bore wonderful testimonies! There is depth to this generation that I did not know was there. It was amazing to see. It made me feel so great! Sam was one of the first ones to bear his testimony. It was so cool to see that he got it too, even though he is young (barely turned 14 in time to go) and very immature. After he bore his testimony, he came over and sat on the ground with his head against my side. He was exhausted too. The testimony meeting was almost 2 hours long! Those are the reasons that youth leaders do what we do. Two hours worth of kids feeling the spirit and GETTING IT.
Then we ate dinner and got on the buses and went home. Oh home, it is the best! It took me TWO SHOWERS to get all the dirt off my body. I don't think I've ever been that dirty before…
So yeah, that was an intense two days. And I was surprised, because even though I was a leader, and the youth conference was for the kids, I learned just as much as they did.
1) I learned how much I depend on my husband. I flat out could not have done this trek without him. Not just physically, although that was huge. But emotionally. His support and love made me stronger and able to handle more. If I had been one of those pioneers whose husband died on the trail, I don't know if I would have wanted to continue without him. Plus, Chad was just a good looking pioneer guy! He was pretty great to have around, haha.
2) I identified with my pioneer forebears on a totally different level. I have always loved the history and inspiring stories about the pioneers, but this trek gave me a small taste of their lives and it was hard! I don't know how they did it. I said that about a million times during those two days, and I still mean it. Of course, everyone says that they were born in a different time, and we have our own challenges to face that are less physical but just as hard...and all that…but the truth is, I think we are spoiled. I think our day and age is much easier. I know I couldn't have done what they did. Maybe they couldn't do what I do now…but I don't know about that. They were amazing. The only thing that makes sense to me is that they had a faith like no one else. They had been abused for their faith, and they weren't going to hang around to get abused anymore. They wanted peace and Zion so badly that they were willing to go through hell. And I am hoping that the Lord really did send them physical tender mercies…angels to help push the carts from behind. My heart breaks to think of them going through something like that all alone. It didn't happen that way, I am sure of it! The Lord blessed them for their faith. And it makes me want to be better, do better, so that I can earn a place with them in the next life.
3) Our youth. Wow. I got to know them in different ways - it seems like when you are having to work hard together, the true personalities come out. I will never look at those kids the same again. There were a few that I had some negative feelings about…not anymore. Pretty fantastic young people! It made me laugh - the next day (Sunday), I was talking to two of the biggest complainers, and both of them said, "It was awful, and I hated it while I was doing it, but I wouldn't have wanted to miss that trek! It was one of the best experiences I've ever had!" And they meant it.
I feel the same way.
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