Stake Pioneer Trek

The Stake Pioneer Trek finally came and went! It felt like I had been preparing for this for months and months. Peter kept wondering when I would have a sewing-free evening because I really did sew quite a bit. I ended up making 2 bonnets for myself, three more for other people, a skirt, two aprons, a pair of bloomers (refashioned from some old white pants), and altered a petticoat for underneath. I also hemmed up one dress I already had and extended the length on a dress that Peter's aunt let me borrow. I also was working on the Trail of Faith award and go out and get some of the things on the list we were supposed to have. We were only allowed to bring what was on the list (deodorant was not!) and it wasn't too bad. I think the thing I would have liked to have had was mascara or something, but everyone looked pretty haggard by the last day and no one cared.

Here I am at 6:15 am, all ready to go. I look like a deer in the headlights. Don't know what I'm getting myself into.

Saying goodbye to the kiddos

First we met at the Stake Center and they organized us onto buses. The youth hung out in the gym. I was happy to have some time with my girls before they split us up into families. We look so clean and happy!

We watched 17 Miracles on the way up (highly recommend!) and had a pretty good ride up. Finding your own stuff after getting there took some time.

Here we are before getting put into our families.
Me and Alex
Haley showing off her cute bloomers!
Me with Kemra and Jamie
Next they split us into families and those families into two different companies. Here is my family, the Nuchols. Our family was made up on a Ma and Pa, one big brother, one big sister (me) and 13 kids.
We had lunch together, which was a meat sandwich, chips, and a juice box. Then we got to know each other a little bit before building our cart, packing, and getting ready to head out.Here we are on our first day.
The smiling didn't last!
The first day was brutal. It wasn't too hard at first; the terrain wasn't horrible. But we walked/pulled the handcart 14 miles the first day. We started after lunch (I don't know what time because watches were not on the list). We must have arrived around 11:30pm because the moon was about directly in the center of the sky. Some of the kids in our family got some really bad blisters and could barely walk. We hadn't eaten anything since we left, and as it got later and later, I don't think any of us were thinking about food. We just were all so tired. There seemed to be a million stops that night. We would walk for a minute, and the train would stop. The youth were so tired that they'd just walk to the side of the road and just collapse. It was brutal. We finally did make it into camp, and they were serving "dinner." A cup of broth, a small roll, and an orange. Even with all that walking, I didn't even care. I just ate everything, trying not to eat too fast. I peeled away part of the orange and just ate it like an apple.

It was dark, although we did have a full moon, and we couldn't really set up camp that well. Plus, we were all so tired that most of us just crashed. I ended up sleeping on a huge rock, so I didn't sleep that well. Everyone was really cold the first night.

The next morning, we made our oatmeal, did the dishes, packed up and were on our way. One of our boys twisted his knee a few minutes in and had to go with the Stake for most of the day. About a half hour out, they asked us all to gather on a hill beside the trail. The boys and men were asked to go serve in the army, and gathered down on the road to form the Mormon Battalion.
We watched them march away as we listened to a fabulous talk from our Stake Young Women's President. She spoke about each of our Divine Nature and that we can get through hard things if we rely on Christ. Very fitting for what was about to happen next.

The girls got ready to pull the carts by themselves. We didn't know when the boys would return, and we had to get moving.

The women's pull ended up being on this huge hill that people were saying was a mile long. We maybe got 50 yards into it before we had two girls pale and dizzy, about to pass out. Our Ma took got them out from in front of the cart and got them hydrated. With those girls not pushing, we only had five girls left. We could barely even get that 1000 lb. cart moving. Some girls from the cart behind us came up and pushed the back of our cart to help us get a good start. We could barley pull the thing forward. I was just praying and praying that our girls could make it to the top of the hill. As we got further up the hill, we saw our big brother jump out of the side of the road, as well as President Ray and a few others. They came down the hill and basically rescued us.

What was supposed to have happened, we they were supposed to come up from behind and help push as the girls got further up the hill, representing the angels that people could feel pushing their carts. However, we couldn't even get our cart up to that point, and they had to come down and help our poor girls out. I was really trying to hold back my emotions at that point. It was really hard, plus it was hard to see the girls working so hard and not making much ground. The relief was so appreciated, I couldn't contain my gratitude.

We finally made it to the top and got a good rest. We had to get moving though, and walked about another 100 yards before we saw our brothers walking down the road toward us. They had been watching us from the forest on the side of the trail and weren't allowed to speak. The girls were so happy to have them back!

And we needed them, because the next part of the trail was Rocky Ridge, representing the hardest part of the trail that the saints had to travel over. This part of was insane.The rocks were huge and the trail was steep most of the time. I don't even know how they got it up some of those hills. One of the downhills was so steep, we had to turn the cart around backward and walk it down, pulling with all our weight backward. They wouldn't let anyone in front of the cart in case we lost control.

After we all made it up Rocky Ridge, everyone was beat. They let both companies have a long rest and decided to bring our lunch to us instead of making us walk the rest of the way to camp. First they brought each family a crumb cake. We were so hungry! We divided it up evenly and savored every bite. Since it was a crumb cake, pieces were falling off the whole time we were eating it, and we'd just eat the fallen crumbs straight out of the dirt. There was a pile of crumbs left on the plate and we even passed the leftover crumbs around! Finally our lunch came, which was 2 biscuits and some gravy. We waited for quite a while here and everyone got a good rest and a short nap of they wanted.We finally got moving, and this time, they let our company move out first. (We had been in the rear previously.) Not too long into that stretch, our cart hit a big rock and our water jug fell off and emptied onto the ground. The Stake was great and came to our rescue. They pulled us off the trail and got us another cooler of water pretty quickly. We got it on our cart and kept moving. It wasn't too long of a walk to camp. I was concerned about daylight slipping away, but we happened to get there with maybe an hour of daylight left, which was great. The adults quickly went about setting up camp while we still had light. We cleared the ground really well, and our pa and big brother built us a nice little "hotel" out of tarps. I have to say, it must have made a difference, because everyone slept much warmer the second night.

While we were setting up camp, the youth got to play some pioneer games with some leaders who had come up for the day.
That night for dinner, we had chili (which was really good), and fried some scones in a dutch oven. The boys loved the scones and just kept making and eating them all night. The youth headed up the hill to a hoe-down where they learned how to square dance. Some of us just stayed back at camp and got warm by the fire. A few of our girls hit the sack early that night.

The next morning, we got up and made our oatmeal again and washed our dishes.
We went up the hill to have a testimony meeting and hear from our Stake President. It was interesting to hear what the youth had learned from their experiences on the Trek.

After cleaning up camp, we got moving. We were supposed to walk about 6 miles that day, but they cut it down to 2.3 (we never had any idea how far we were going on any of the days). The youth in my family were so excited to make it to the end, they started running! I totally teared up when I saw that we were finished. It was a long, hard journey. I think for me, one of the hardest parts was not being able to help. The Stake instructed the adult leaders not to help the youth with the cart. I did help out a few times, but only for a few minutes.

They gathered everyone together for one huge picture. Then we got lunch- the best meal we had the whole trek- hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, apples, oranges, juice boxes, and a cookie. I couldn't' stop eating and totally got a stomachache!

We got plenty of down-time before the buses showed up to get us and take us home.
The Trek was a great experience. I'm really glad I ended up going, although it was definitely uncomfortable! I don't recommend camping in a dress! It was amazing to see what these youth are capable of.

Here's our family:

Me (big sis), Brittany, Brandi, Brian (Pa), Makenna, Emmy, Danielle, Kenzie, Meg (Ma), Tyler, Jordan, Ben, Brent, Dallin, Brad, Bret (big bro), Victoria