Robyne's Hasn't Got Time...Trek Catch-up!

OUR FAMILY VACATION?

Family on Independence Rock!

My great wife never has time to catch up the blog so I thought I would help her out with August's activities...maybe then she can keep things up to date. She's been very busy lately moving her Dad, keeping up with the girls, and getting back to handling all the library duties at Silver Mesa.

Our Stake had Pioneer Trek and the entire family was able to go. It was great to be there together, and had some great experiences. It was fun to have all of us there even though the girls were in separate "Pioneer Families" while we just floated...some called us the "grandma & grandpa" of the ward (I didn't like that label).

We all came away with a different experience that impacted us and we certainly learned to appreciate the sacrifice of those who did this "for real." I'm pretty confident that if I was a pioneer I would have probably died somewhere near the eastern border of Wyoming. The thoughts of having to walk through the entire state of Wyoming and it's dreary, desolate, and depressing landscape (not to mention windy all of the time) would have done me in quickly. The only redeeming quality about walking through Wyoming is it's much more beautiful than flying over it (even uglier) as we experienced a few weeks later.

CLIFF NOTE HIGHLIGHTS:

Day 1: Left on Wednesday morning (4:45 am...no, that's not a typo), arrived at Martin's Cove, walked five miles around the cove, re-enacted the Sweet Water River Crossing (great experience), then went to our camp ground for dinner, square dancing (okay, I didn't square dance...remember I'm the grandpa), and sleep. By the time we had arrived the wind had destroyed one of our wards huge canopies we use at girls camp and didn't seem to quit blowing the entire time we were there! During the night Nicole had severe stomach pain which appeared to be her gal bladder; medical staff gave some powerful medication (helped her sleep) seemed better in the morning. Coyote's howled most of the night...they were right next to camp. Did have one of our young women leaders wake up on Thursday morning and ask if she heard the "Antelope that were mating during the night." TRUE STORY!

Day 2: Got on bus, went to Independence Rock for a devotional (each ward separate), then traveled to Six Crossing station to begin walking on the trail (and last flush toilet until you get to the Little America rest stop on the way home). This day on the trail is around fourteen miles, with about a mile along the river. Pretty hard day on the trail and we did have a few causalities along the way...one of them being Nicole. She ended up with a re-occurance of the pain from the night before and Robyne & I ended up going with her along with the Stake President to Lander to the hospital. That was one of the hardest things we had to do in our life was to drive by our other two daughters who were struggling with the last couple of miles on the trail, and seeing their faces as they new something was wrong. Hospital took a long time and we decided that since I still had two daughters and a ward to watch over that the Stake President & I would go back, not yet knowing what was wrong with Nicole. I have a niece who lives in Lander and would come and get the "women folk" (pioneer talk) when they determined something. Very hard for me to leave them there and not knowing for the next 18 hours what was going on.

Day 3: Best day of trek! Walked up Rocky Ridge (most elevation gain on the entire trek) and "Women's Pull." When I walked I generally was at the rear..two reasons. 1) didn't want to leave anyone behind, 2) I was generally going slower than the rest for a number of reasons. Before reaching the summit they pulled off the men and made them leave the women by themselves to pull the wagon over a very difficult part of Rocky Ridge. We had several young women with different problems, and some just broke down. My counselor's and I gave some of them a blessing, and then had to leave them. I will admit that my eyes were leaking when I looked back and saw their condition, and to see my two remaining daughters with their arms around each other and their faces filled with concern. This combined with Nicole & Robyne being gone and not knowing her condition was ripping us apart. I waited with the young men who lined both sides of the trail in respect waited for the young women to arrive. I sat watching the crest of the hill they were to come over and was so happy to see the orange flags of our ward finally come into view. It was so amazing to see these young women pull up those hand carts up the hill and see the courage and determination of our young women and their leaders. Again, eyes were leaking most of the time during this also.

Day 3 (continued): After Rocky Ridge I was able to meet up with Nicole (she was released and okay..turned out to be a virus) and Robyne and we walked back a couple of miles from the end (Rock Creek Hollow) with our young women's president to meet up with our ward. It was so neat to see Nicole and her sisters run to each other with hugs and also her "trek family" do the same. Then together we walked the final few miles together (after yet another Bishop's teaching moment...sure appreciate putting up with me during those discussions..my youth are great). Rock Creek is my most favorite part of trek because it has some beauty, there's no wind, and the creek runs through it. We all went down to the creek to cool/clean off and then finished the night with a great testimony meeting.

Day 4: Final devotional with the Stake which was great and then boarded the buses for home. WE did stop at Little America for a bathroom break and ice cream.

Trek is a lot of work, costs a lot of money, and may not seem worth it. However, I learned so many great lessons on this trek and so many lives change. I personally learned how difficult it is to have your family separated and having to decide who needed you the most. I learned how hard it is as a parent to let your children go through struggles so they can grow and develop. I also learned that the spirit has an amazing way of touching lives and teaching some powerful lessons. Among the lessons I saw taught were leaders learn that we can only do so much and then the youth have to decide. How you can accomplish anything if you put your mind to it. How beautiful the end of a journey can be after you've sacrificed so much to get there.

Glad we went, but sure was glad to see the shower, air conditioning and to replace my sleeping bag and thin ground mat for a mattress.