Trekkies

(published 5/2/24)

The day after Cat and I left for the Philippines, Jack and Liza went on Trek! It was the first trek for our ward in several years, due to Covid. Cat and her fellow HS grads were invited to participate, since they'd missed the typical time when they would have gone, but Cat and I already had our Philippines trip planned when trek was announced. Cat was disppointed that she couldn't go (especially with Jack and Liza) and I honestly would have loved to go and be a chaperone also, but oh well.

Ironically, Jack and Liza weren't very excited about the prospect of trudging around in the blazing sun wearing Pioneer-ish clothes for the better part of 3 days. But in the end, they absolutely loved it.

The trek began early in the morning on Day 1, meeting at the church at 6:15 for a short devotional, then a drive to Mosida Handcart Trek Site in Elberta, UT (just on the west side of Utah Lake). The group started trekking at about 8:15 and continued for the rest of the day, camped that night, trekked all of Day 2, camped that night, and trekked until 2pm on Day 3, then drove back to Lindon.

You'll see that the trek site had markers posted along the trail, showing where specific areas represented real places along the trail west and explaining what happened in those places, particularly for the Martin and Willie Handcart Companies. There were a few places where the leaders created experiences to help the trekkies appreciate what the Pioneers did. There was a women's pull, helping the young women get a small taste of what it was like for Pioneer women to push and pull handcarts on their own while hundreds of men were away, serving in the Mormon Batallion. And at the end you'll see that they re-enacted the Sweetwater River crossing and rescue (albeit in extreme summer heat instead of a terrible winter storm).

They took breaks for devotionals, dancing, and Pioneer games. A talented cook in our ward made all the meals, and I understand there were no complaints about the food. In fact, I don't remember hearing any complaints about anything. In spite of the sun and heat and bugs and dryness and physical exertion, Jack and Liza both had wonderful experiences.

Liza with her trek family sisters.

Jack ready to go with his trek family.

Women's pull. Liza can be seen on the left of this handcart;
Jack is in the foreground on the right.

Men and boys were given the opportunity to carry female members
of their family across the river. It all started well...

But this is one of my new favorite pictures of Jack and Liza.
I love that they could laugh it off and have fun together.

I know I'm not doing myself any favors by writing about this 9 months after it happened, but I did try to ask them what they remembered and what the highlights were and they didn't have much to say. Luckily, Ben made a video for me while I was in the Philippines, where they talked about their experiences. (I asked him to do that because I knew they wouldn't feel as strongly about it or be as eager to talk about it if I waited to talk to them after I got home from HXP.)