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On Thursday, July 16th we drove to Casper, Wyoming and spent the night.  The next day we drove to Alcova, WY to Martin's Cove.

About 6 weeks ago Derek and I were called by church leaders to oversee/coordinate something called "Trek" for our Stake youth ages 14-18.  Trek is just a reenactment of sorts of the pioneer efforts of our early Latter-day Saints.  It's an effort in remembrance.  A chance to learn and relive some of the faith-inspiring stories of our past.  It occurs every 3-4 years, and will be a 3-day experience next March.  Derek and I have always wanted to participate and are so excited to be involved.

The early Mormon pioneers left Nauvoo, Illinois in 1846 for the Salt Lake Valley.  For the next 10 years large groups (or companies) of Saints would journey west, mostly in wagon trains.  Many of those people were converts from Europe, as we had sent missionaries there early on.  By the mid-1850s there were so many immigrants coming to head west with the other Saints, that the church started an Emigration Fund, that would help the poorer people to come and then they would re-pay those wages when the reached Salt Lake and got established.  Wagons and animals were expensive to obtain for these people who had just crossed the ocean, so the Church encouraged travel by handcart/walking. 

Many of these handcart companies went successfully to their new homes.  But two in particular suffered devastating circumstances when they 1) left too late in the summer without proper communication to Salt Lake of their travels 2) were hit with early winter storms in October and 3) had to got to extreme measures to ration themselves because of a lack of supplies.  These were known as the Willie and Martin handcart companies.  Their stories are well documented in a book that I just read called The Price We Paid by Andrew Olsen.  I highly recommend it!  Some of the neatest stories are regarding the rescue – when Salt Lake did eventually find out about their circumstances, many were sent to rescue these people and bring them food, clothing, blankets and wagons.

When we received this calling, we decided to head from Colorado to Martin's Cove (where one of the groups was stranded waiting out a bitter winter storm).  We spent all day there – seeing the Visitors' Center and hiking 5.7 miles back to the cove, crossing the Sweetwater River where the Saints also crossed and listening to many of the stories of these people.

It was a great experience for us.  The boys were troopers!  It was hot (in the mid-90s) and dusty and long.  And it was not easy.  At one point we were pushing the handcart with all of our might uphill in the sand.  The property is just as it was then – it's never been plowed or built on.  Many people were buried there and it is a sacred and serene place. 

There are stories of them crying when they got to the river (this would have been the 7th crossing of a river for them) and saw chunks of ice floating down it.  Four young men who had been sent as rescuers carried all of the people back and forth so they wouldn't have to cross.  This was my favorite part, I think…crossing the river and thinking of them.

We will be doing our Trek at a local lake, but many stakes in the West take their youth to this very spot.  While we were there, there was a group of about 300 youth (the same as ours) from Colorado.  We walked with them much of the way, which was neat for Derek and I.

 
 
 
 
This was also our 11th Wedding Anniversary!  Last year, hiking in Hawaii, this year hiking again…
 Colorado "trek-ers"

Little Sam had it easy – he would either ride in the handcart or ride on Derek's back (or sleep), but at the end he wanted to get out and push a little too…
 
The Cove itself – where they tried to escape the wind (and it is very windy there)
 
This snake was trying to swim upstream right at the place where we were trying to cross the river – the boys loved it but admittedly it was a little alarming to this mama!
 

We were so tired after a day of treking that we picked up pizza and root beer and ate in our hotel room.  Then we took a dip in the pool and went to bed.