This will definately be one of those life changing experiences that I will never forget. I had decided to participate in this event once I learned that the ward was going to be doing this. Bishop Rick Nielson had been inspired to do this since the last "trek" happened 12 years ago and was only a one day event.
For the past three months, those that were participating were making skirts, aprons, bonnets, and vests. There was research done on the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies. Stories were handed out to be told during the great event. Emails were sent out with lists of things to bring, companies were assigned, and the day of the event arrived. Was I prepared? For the most part. Peter wasn't able to come, so I was "widowed" for the trek with five kids. On Thursday, we packed our belongings into our "luggage", which were 5 gallon buckets. Peter John lost his medicine somewhere in the couch just before we left. I didn't want to leave without it, but if we were going to be at the site in time for dinner, we had to get going.
We camped in the wilderness with the sagebrush, cheetgrass, and red ants. About 150 people were participating in this ward activity. We ended up with three companies with five handcarts in each company. Our captain was Mike Hokenson. He is a gentle and kind man with a large family of his own. Their youngest is about 11 months old. My family was with the Bishop's family so there were 10 people for our handcart, while Bishop rode on a horse to oversee the events along the trail.
Rachel, my youngest (3 tomorrow), rode in the cart, but would rather have walked the entire way. The rest of the kids did really well, except when Brother and Sister Marshall showed up on their "horse" (a four wheeler). Then they all wanted to ride it. At one point, Alora (almost 8), got a ride on the horse behind Bishop. Peter John (11) was one of the first ones to reach our final destination on Saturday morning. I am very proud of him for having done this.
Our trail started from camp on Friday morning, heading west. Each company had to stop along the way to learn about events that took place during the original pioneer trek. At one point, the men were recruited to join the army and became what was known as the Mormon Battalion. All the boys were then escorted to another point on a trail that met up with the original trail again. Once the men left, the women then had to push the handcarts up a slight hill for about 3/4 of a mile. We were also told of the strength and trials that these women had to endure. Sickness, food being scarce, loss of children and husbands, extreme cold and bitter winds, several feet of snow, pushing and pulling the carts through the worst terrain possible, loss of limbs, and even their own life. What kept these people going was a great faith and testimony that God lives and loves them. They followed the councels of the prophets because they knew that it was God's words. They had nothing to go back to, and everything to look forward to. Zion.
The men joined the women again and the trek continued. We soon came upon "Rocky Ridge". This point represented the worst terrain that the pioneers had to cross. For us, it was a steep hill about 100 yards long. We also had the help of a rope to help pull the carts up. We all had to walk up that hill to get to our next stop...lunch. There were many men and young boys that helped pull those carts up and didn't even complain about doing it. They all wanted to jump in and help whenever they could.
It was during lunch time that we had our first fatality. We had a reenactment of burying a baby. We used a doll, but this really helped put across emotionally what they had to endure. Because of the time of year the saints left Illinois, the ground would be hard and not easy to dig through. Most bodies were put in shallow graves, hoping that the animals wouldn't disturb them. Once they were buried, rocks were place over the buriel site as the only marker that someone was buried there. The graves were then dedicated for the morning of the first resurrection. Our group didn't actually do a dedication, but we did bury the doll and cover it with stones. What happens to the doll, only those who organized this trek knows.
We then were off to our camping site. We were all in a hurry to get back to shade and a place to rest. By this time, my feet were hurting a lot. I kept praying that God would get me through this experience and that I would learn to depend more on Him. My company actually had left me behind and I was trying to walk with the company that came behind us. At this point, I had Rachel and Alex (6) with me. Rachel was wanting to play in the sandy dirt, and Alex wanted to be carried. Amy Phillips got my kids in their cart along with all the other kids in their company and we walked for a ways. At some point, I looked up and saw Lana Nielson walking back for us. Tears filled my eyes as I saw that I was not being left behind. Soon I was saved by Brad Casper, coming to help those who were needing help. At camp, I soon discovered that I had blisters under my callouses. The rest did me good. I was truly grateful that my kids were being taken care of while I was recovering from the first day of our trek.
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