Pioneer Trek

The following really happened.
I just finished participating in a Pioneer Trek. A pioneer trek is when we (youth) dress as the pioneers did and we push a handcart for as many miles as our leaders set for us.
It's hard but it's so worth it. Not to mention it was totally fun. We each had a family including kids, a Ma and Pa, a baby (a baby doll full of rice) and you might even have an aunt and/or uncle.
We had five families and five handcarts. We started on a Wednesday and ended on Saturday. I think we hiked somewhere around 15-20 miles. 10-12 on the first day, 3-4 on the second, 0 on the third (it was the "Sabbath") and 3-4 on the fourth and final day.
First day:
We got together at the meeting place, met our families, designed our flag, checked our stuff, had lunch, put together the handcarts and headed out.
Unfortunately and not unfortunately, we were rained on. Luckily it didn't last for long but it left everyone wet and cold. And our shoes were soaked.
It was a tough first day. We had a lot of uphill and a lot of puddles. My socks that I was wearing were white. They are now purple and brown. (Don't ask me were the purple came from, I don't know and I'm not sure that I want to.)
We arrived at the place designated for our first night and set up plastic tarps to sleep under. We unfolded all the plastic, put the sleeping bags on one half and then folded the other half over.
For dinner we had bread and broth. It tasted amazing.
Day two:

We woke up damp and a lot of people, if not everyone, had partly or fully wet sleeping bags. We had oatmeal with raisins for breakfast and were visited by a member of the US army. The men were asked to join. They agreed because we didn't have anymore food and the army would pay us in it. So the men (excluding the fathers) went and joined the Mormon Battalion. So began what we call The Women's Pull. Us girls pull and pushed our handcarts 1 1/2 miles mostly uphill where we met the boys. We hiked another mile or so to the top, stopped for an apple lunch and went the mile or so downhill. The men stood in front of the bar and us girls held a rope tied to the back of the handcart. (We pretty much got pulled along.)
Below is a handcart so you can get the idea of what I was talking about.

Before we could get to our campsite we had to cross a stream. The water was cold but felt good. The rocks on the other hand were a different story. Then we all unloaded, set up camp and participated in some activities. We each had a different campsite. And this time instead of sleeping in between the tarp we took ours and made a lean-to. Sort of. We tied a rope to two trees and put the plastic over it. Then we pulled out one side, folded part of it underneath. You know what that's just confusing.
Our lean-to looked kind of like the one below but the back was pulled down and duct-taped to the bottom.

We ate chicken and rice with homemade bread and sweet potatoes for dinner. We had a fireside and then we went to bed. And we dried our sleeping bags out next to the fire..
Day three:
It being the "Sabbath," we changed into our second set of clothes and had some of our church meetings, Relief Society/Priesthood and Sunday School. In between lunch and dinner we had solo time. Solo time was where we went into the woods be ourselves for three hours and we were to pray, think, ponder, write in our journals and read our scriptures. After that we dinner and then we had Sacrament meeting. It was also a testimony meeting. After that we had Family Home Evening at our campsites. Then we all just hung out for a while until we were called tot he bigger campfire for popcorn. We ended up singing late into the night. It was awesome.
Final leg of the journey:
After cleaning up the campsites we headed out. We arrived at the last spot in the afternoon and were greeted by our parents.

There are many things that I have not put in; it would take a lot of time to write it all. I can't really make you understand because unless you've been on a pioneer trek, you don't know what it's like. It's like a roller coaster, you can tell your friend all about it but they won't really understand until they ride it themselves. Or a better example might be this: if you went on a camp out and then came home and told your friend all about it they would enjoy listening but they really won't know what it was like and what it felt like because they weren't there.
I'd like to finish by saying that the Trek was hard. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done. But it was also one of the most meaningful things I've ever done.


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I would like to note that a Pioneer Trek is a tradition for the youth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Different things for Trek are done in different places.