Stories from our Trail — Our Women's Pull Experience

Megan Bradshaw
Desert Sage Ward

For many attendees, including our own little trek family, the Women’s Pull was the most memorable part of the trek experience.  When we reached the appointed place, the men in our family left the handcart reluctantly, not at all certain that we would be able to accomplish the task that had been given, to haul this 600 pound handcart straight up a hill for over a mile.  After much resistance, they took their water bottles and left our wagon on the trail. 

 

The women gathered together for a special devotional by Stake YW President Sister Pugmire, who spoke of the virtues and responsibilities of womanhood, while the YM were similarly instructed at the top of the hill.  Following the devotional, we returned to our handcarts to begin our pull. 

 

As we waited for our turn to set out up the hill, our family knelt together in the dust by our handcart and prayed for the Lord’s assistance.  We pled for His strength, His comfort, and we prayed that we would learn what He wished us to learn from the experience.  As we closed our prayer, I promised my girls that we would receive help that day, that if they would open their hearts and minds, they would feel the angels round about us, bearing us up, and that with their help, we would be able to accomplish the task that had been given to us.  I testified that the pioneer sisters that had gone before us would come to our aid on our trek because they wanted us to not only understand what they did in crossing the plains to Zion, but why they did it.   

 

I took my position at the back of the handcart and as we slowly began to push our cart up the hill, I couldn’t believe how difficult it was.  It was so heavy, it was so hot outside, it was so hard.  We stopped to rest and drink water.  We pushed and pulled some more.  There was no breath for singing, no energy for conversation.  I wasn’t sure how we were going to make it, but we were determined to give our all in the attempt. 
 

About one quarter of the way up the hill, just when I wondered whether I could take another step, I experienced the unexpected.  I suddenly felt the presence of my son Dex beside me, laughing at my surprise.  “Who else did you think would come?” he asked.  And he began to push the cart.  I left a trail of tears in the dust as I continued to push our handcart up the trail.  At our next rest stop, I asked the young women in our family if they could feel the help that we were receiving and with tears in their eyes, they emphatically answered, “YES!”  I let them know that one of our helpers was my son.  A few of them were able to share who they felt had had come for them.  We pushed on, now fully confident that we would accomplish our mission.   

 

As we continued the Pull, there were extra steep portions of the trail that should have been the hardest, but felt the easiest.  The men were waiting for us near the top of the hill, hats over their hearts, forbidden to move, only to look into our faces as we passed.  Once we crossed a certain mark on the trail, the men in our family were allowed to step in to help push the cart, and they did so with great enthusiasm.  It was an emotional reunion for all.   

 

At this point, there was very little room left on the handcart for me.  Just one little corner at the back, where I couldn’t provide much assistance.  I thought about letting go.  I wanted to let go.  I almost let go, and there would have been no shame in it.  In the end, I thought about our little trek family, how much I loved them after just 3 short days, and that I didn’t want to be left behind.  I thought of my own little Bradshaw children that I had left at home for the week with grandma, I thought of my Dex; I thought of all of the ancestors that have gone before that are concerned about our wellbeing.  I didn’t want to be left behind.  I held on to the side of that cart when every physical inclination rebelled against it.  I didn’t let go and we walked into camp triumphantly.  As a family.  For this and many other reasons, I am thankful for the opportunity that I had to attend Trek.   

Stories from our Trail — Should we die

Ted "Pa" Buckwalter
Rose Summit Ward

It is a blessing to be a mentor to the youth, and especially on Trek I noticed youth with strong testimonies, which was a blessing for me as I recently moved back to "Zion" after several years away.  There were many factors which made Trek one of the hardest things I have done in life.  I was grateful for moments when I was able to hold onto the back of the handcart and get pulled along by my family.

By the third day I had lost some exuberance and we had a poignant moment when one of our girls was completely exhausted.  This was after the women's pull and after lunch.  One of her "brothers' carried her to the medical truck and we did not see her again (fully refreshed) until 4:30.  This same brother later staggered into camp under heat exhaustion and it took several hours, a priesthood blessing, and an IV for him to be restored.


Amidst all this, with our "family" exhausted and having great concern for their fallen brother, I was trying to set up shade and get dinner going.  As I was pounding in a tent stake, I heard over the PA system these words from "Come, Come, Ye Saints":

"And should we die before our journey's through..."


This is when Trek came alive for me.  Day 3 was a serious day in many aspects.  We were able to cap off the night with many opportunities to share our feelings, and as I recovered physically and spiritually from a day of exhaustion, I appreciated President Foulger's reminder of the scriptural comparisons of the Savior to "living water."

Stories from our Trail

Rich Etheridge
Mill Canyon Ward

I have been dying to tell everyone who was not there this story, but it really needed the photos to go with it so you could see it how I saw it. I'm sure others will share better, more spiritual, stories in the coming days, but this was the first Trek experience I had that touched my heart and so will probably stick with me the longest.

 

On the first day of Trek, staff members set up a pit stop for Trekkers so that they could take a break before continuing on. It appeared that everything was set up by the time I got there so I wandered up a hill to take the first of many lifeless photos that didn't quite capture what I was hoping for. You can see the pit stop ("porta-john stop 1" I believe it was called) on the left side of the photo where the roads meet if you look close.

 

As I hike back to the rest of the group, a sparkle of light catches my eye and I notice something that was not there when I had walked away from the pit stop.

As I get closer I see that a man is setting up something with great care that seems completely out of place in this desert wasteland. This can't be what I am thinking it is.

Yes! It is what it appears to be. Someone, Brother Southwick to be exact, is setting up a powder-room of sorts with a full-length mirror at the end of the girls section of porta-potties, and is currently wiping the glass clean of dust and smudges. 

As I recover from the shock of witnessing one of the most surreal things I may have ever seen, Brother Southwick stands back to admire his handywork before continuing on to hand-spray each of the porta-pottie doors clean. 

StakeTrek on Facebook

It didn't occur to me until today that there might be people who are interested in Trek that did not have family participate in Trek (yes I know, it seems rather obvious to me now too). Because of this there may be some of you who are not aware that there is a closed group on Facebook that our Stake members can participate in. Click here to request to join the group.

If you have pictures to share, I believe that can be done in the facebook group. However, I know that there are some pictures, or series of pictures, that require more explanation than a simple blurb on facebook can provide. It would be better if we had something more conducive to this kind of storytelling – something more like... say... a blog.

Since StakeTrek.com is really just a blogspot site this should be simple. There are two ways we can do this:

1. Request to be added as a Blog Author.
2. Email your photos with your story and instructions on how it should be laid out.

I think the 1st option will give you more freedom to tell your story – but if you are not comfortable with making your own post don't let that stop you, go with the 2nd option. We'll screen all posts for inappropriate comments like I made to Brother Hyer yesterday, but other than that, we'd like to hear your story in your words. In any case, email HSSTrek2013@gmail.com and let us know what you'd like to do.

Update: Comments have been enabled so that we can respond to Trek stories. Click on the red "No comments:" link at the bottom of a post to make a comment.

Thanks Moms & Dads

28th of June, 2013

We thought we might have a sparse reception for our trekkers because we had a difficult time communicating precise arrival times due to a spotty data connection. How amazingly wrong we were. Parked cars stretched from the drop-off point all the way up to the Stake Center and there were so many folk lining the sidewalks with white handkerchiefs and homemade signs that it was overwhelming. After all that our handcart pioneers endured the last few days, they frankly deserved such a homecoming. Thank you to all that got the word out, and thank you, Thank You, THANK YOU to all that came to cheer our trekkers home.

We are home

first bus should be here in moments. it is 3:35pm

The buses have arrived

We are loading up and will soon be leaving. It is 1:18pm

Trek Complete

Trek parents,

Can't post much from here, but we have successfully completed Trek and are waiting for our rides back to civilization. Too many experiences to mention except for one that I believe all of the trekkers would agree with — IT WAS REALLY DUSTY!

Parents of children on Trek

The youth are well on their way to Woodruff, Utah. All you can do at this point is wait and hope they are having a good time. Instead of worrying about how they are doing, perhaps these few days would be well-spent in pleading to the Lord to allow something to happen on trek that would help your son/daughter find themselves, their testimony, and their God.

 

Upon arriving home, the parents will welcome us home in a unique way. The buses will actually be dropping us off at the stoplight on Mountain View Corridor and Rosecrest Road. We will walk that final bit back to the Stake Center. We are asking that the parents line the street between MVC and the Stake Center to wave a white hanky and cheer on the youth for the final stretch.

Because of the bus scheduling and fees, we anticipate arriving back at 3:30 Saturday afternoon. The parents will want to be ready and waiting!

WEDNESDAY 6AM

Parents

Drop your Trek participants off at the Stake Center at 6am

Trek Participants
Come dressed for Trek
...and wear a big hat

TUESDAY 5pm to 8pm — Load up!

On Tuesday the 25th, starting at 5pm and going until 8pm, bring your 5-gallon bucket and duffle bag to the Stake Center so we may begin loading up.

Everything you are bringing on Trek should be contained in your bucket and bag with few exceptions. The exceptions are:

• A sack lunch which can be disposed of easily when finished
• Your water bottle
• Pocket items such as chapstick and tissue
• A pen

Check the Fireside Reminders and What to Bring to ensure you haven't missed anything.

Be a camel – start hydrating now.

Thirsty for Trek?

It wasn't on the "What to Bring" list because it won't be among the items in your 5-gallon bucket and duffle bag, but we just want to be sure that you don't miss bringing a water bottle. If you are checking items off the list as you collect them (which is a good thing), it would be easy to overlook bringing water (which would be a bad thing). The Fireside Reminders PDF contains the list of things you should be carrying on your person as we trek.


Your water bottle doesn't have to be huge – there will be frequent opportunities throughout each day to refill – but it should be convenient to carry and continually sip from as we are pushing a cart.

Trek Fireside followup

Many of the bits of information, dates, and wisdom we learned at the trek fireside tonight can be found in these Fireside Reminders.

No particular reason

If anyone happened to snap a photo of our trail boss in his trek clothing tonight...
please let us know.

The Burrito Brothers

I am assured that there is some deep significance to
"The Burrito Brothers" that only the MAs and PAs
know about right now.
I am hoping for a full explanation at tomorrow night's
fireside. For now, we have these two photographs.

Alert! Important Bucket Requirement

In order to get us all to our trek starting point in an efficient manner it is necessary that the buckets we bring be stackable. We've given suggestions on how to make a padded bucket lid in previous posts so this news may come as a shock to some of you. If you've already finished a nicely padded lid, I share in your sorrow – ask me about my rotating lazy susan swivel with heavy duty bearings bucket lid some time.

 

So... does this mean no padded lids? Not necessarily. If you pad your bucket lid, make sure it is something that you can easily remove and put inside your bucket and that it does not compromise the ability of the bucket to be stacked. Please share any good ideas you might have with the rest of the Stake.

Don't be sad that we are de-pressing

The final issue of The "In His Strength" Times was published today. However, there is still much to do to prepare, so keep your ears open for new trek information, and stop by here from time to time for things you may have missed.
 

It pains me to write this

160° for 1 second
=
3rd degree burn

Have you been testing your trek gear? In particular, have you checked to be sure your soup cup and utensils are insulated enough to handle McDonalds-level hot scaldiness? I'm not admitting to any personal experience, but you should REALLY check them out before we go.

 

Stories from the Trail - June

The June Stories from the Trail are here.
Courage! Our company will fare better.

You may want to sit down for this...

[ PLEASE SEE POST ON JUNE 5TH BEFORE CONSIDERING THIS ]

As you probably know, you will be bringing a 5-gallon bucket on trek. Last month we mentioned the joy that comes from having a padded lid on the bucket when you need a place to sit after some hard walking. Not only does this protect you from the hard bucket, but it also protects the bucket from you —sometimes the bucket lid does not take kindly to being sat upon and will buckle. You don't need to spend hours making the perfect bucket, but a little planning may help you and your bucket go a long way.

Here are a few sites you may want to check out...

Home Delicious: Pioneer Trek Part 4 - The Padded Bucket

Pioneer Trek by Kay Ellett

How I Made 5-gallon bucket cushions for Pioneer Trek

Brigham's lost brother?

As we prepare for trek, I have been researching my genealogy to see where I fit in. In the process, I came across this photo on the internet of Brigham Young and his brothers. Most of them I have been able to identify and label but I am not sure who the gentleman 2nd from the right is. I'm wondering if someone can shed some light on who it might be.


Lorenzo, Brigham, Phineas, ?????, John

 

Fiddle de dee

Brother Ingalls plays... the fiddle?

I asked my wife if she knew of any pioneer stories that included musical instruments and all that she could tell me was that Charles Ingalls had a fiddle. She was just being silly, but put aside the fact that "Little House on the Prairie" is make-believe and she may be on to something — the time period the show is set in is not far from the time period of our pioneer trek. I'm not suggesting we add Little House to our suggested preparation activities... but it does make me want to watch an episode or two.

I'm not sure about fiddles, but I don't doubt that we'll see a few acoustic guitars along our journey. Harmonicas definitely are in — easy to keep out of sight and yet ready in an instant to help brighten the spirts during mundane times.

Do you have a musical talent that may help us through our journey?

... and they'll make two bonnets...

... and sew on.... and sew on...

                    Photos from the Stake Sewing night
                    on May 11th, 2013

Four Hundred Thirty Eight

Today we aquired a few photographs taken by Brother Hyer — 438 to be exact.

How do you pick just a handful of photographs from that many to represent our Temple Walk? You don't – well, I don't anyway. Out of all of those photographs, I didn't find any I was willing to toss. It would be like asking the old woman in the shoe which one of her children she was willing to part with. To be fair, I can watch the 24-hour grass-growing channel because it is in high-definition, so I'm probably not the best person to be making this kind of judgement call. To avoid the agony of decisiveness, all of these pictures are now available. You'll find a link to them near the top right.

Temple Walk - Half Marathon Completed

According to legend, the Greek soldier Pheidippides ran 26 miles to deliver a message — and then collapsed and died. We did about half that with no casualties. Also, our Temple Walk is no legend, we have pictures to prove it – not necessarily good pictures, just a lot of them. These are straight out of the camera so if you find one with you in it, download it and crop or modify it to your liking. There are good pictures coming, probably great ones, and some video too. We'll make those available as we get them. If you have some you'd like to make available to everyone else, email us and we'll put them up.

Temple Walk this Saturday

Pedestrian practice

Have you told your shoes about this Saturday? Do they know that you expect them to transport you 6.5 miles, take a short break, and then do it again? This will be their day to shine or fail, so let them know that you have high expectations and that they will not be accompanying you on Trek if they let you down.

Who should come

Any youth that are eligible to attend Trek, MAs & PAs, and the rest who will be making the trek in June should definitely come. Youth leaders and parents are not expected to come, but we certainly will not turn away such ambulatory support.

Right, Left, and then Right again

We will be making our way to Oquirrh Mountain Temple along as direct a path as we can make it. This means we will be taking Rosecrest Drive East to meet with Mountain View Corridor, North to Daybreak Parkway, East to 4000 West, and then North to the Temple.

Temple Walk - The Musical

Do you remember the hymns and songs we'd like to practice? If not, scroll down a bit and you'll see a prior post with some of the songs we'd like to practice along our walk. "99 bottles" and "The Daybreak is Dawning" are not among them so you might want to take a look at the sheet music and/or download the MP3 to your music player if you are not familiar with them. Remember, we will be walking with high-speed traffic, so reading sheet music while walking is discouraged.

Okay to Go

Don't forget – you need signed permission from your parents to go. Among the navigation links to the right, under "Files", is a link to a PDF that you can print and get signed.

Sitting Pretty

We may not be driving, but we can still travel with padded bucket seats.

Some of the young women are already aware of this multi-purpose storage, sitting, and decorating idea. If you don't know about it, you may want to take a look at this post from a lady in the Whittier Stake – it just might save your behind.

Sew....what?

Bonnets and Aprons and Skirts, that's what.

There are so many young sewists in our stake that we had to create a separate page for them all.  You can get to these by clicking the Sewing Night link on the right side of the page. A few of these photos are orphans (the 3 at the top), so if you know which ward these belong to please let us know. If you have more pictures please send those as well.

As Zion's Youth in Latter Days

The theme song for our Trek has been chosen:

Music

Music & Vocals

Sheet Music

As we near our pre-trek Temple Walk, we'd like to learn this hymn and a few other songs to get ready:

The Handcart Song

To Be a Pioneer

Pioneer Children Sang as They Walked

Begin practicing these tunes as soon as you can, lest the voice we hear the loudest be that of brother Etheridge.

Stake Sewing “Night”

An additional Sewing Night has been added to the schedule. It is for the entire Stake and actually takes place during the day. It will be on Saturday, May 11th at the Foothills building in the multipurpose room.

There and Back Again

On May 4th, starting at 7am, we will travel on foot from the Stake Center to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. We will enjoy some time with our friends at the Temple, consume some refreshments, and journey back.

 

Bring your shoes. Get some exercise. Experience joy. We should be back by noon.

And yes, we promise you will come back.

Placid Rose Sewing Night

The fine sewing skills of Placid Rose have been documented »»

March - Stories from the Trail

There was a bad link to the March "Stories from the Trail" which is now correct. Perhaps that was a good thing as it opens an opportunity to highlight it now. These stories show some of the great strength and testimony exhibited by the pioneers, though a couple are downright frightening — read on to find out »».

Fully Prepped for Trek award!

Did you know that there is an award just for being ready for Trek?

Don't worry if you are just now getting started — you can still do the preparations listed for February to earn the In His Strength Award. You can start right now by checking out the posts below and by reading what is contained in the red links. Some of these activites are required, while others are merely helpful suggestions. Download the In His Strength brochure for more information.

March Preparations on Testimony & Atonement

Spiritual

	Read the sections Testimony and Atonement of Jesus Christ in True to the Faith
	Read the March Stories from the Trail
	Think about the strength of your own testimony and make a personal goal that can be done daily to strengthen your testimony and to have the faith sufficient for today’s trial, then do it!
	Prepare a talk on “The Atonement” and present it if possible.
	Watch “The Testaments” with your family or class or quorum.

Physical

	Run, bike, or walk 3 times a week for at least 2 miles.
	Select a pair of sturdy shoes for trek and start breaking them in if necessary. (A good pair of tennis shoes works well.)

February Preparations on Faith

Spiritual

	Learn from a parent or relative about your family’s conversion story, whether it was recent or many generations back. Record in your journal how this ancestor's strength has strengthened your faith. Be able to share the story while on trek!
	Read about Faith in the True to the Faith book.
		Read Elder Ballard’s conference talk in the May 1997 Ensign “You Have Nothing to Fear from the Journey”
	Tour the Beehive House
	Prepare a talk on “Faith” and present it if possible in sacrament meeting YM, YW or FHE.
	Watch the movie “Legacy”.

 

Physical

	Start getting in shape for trek. Run, bike, or walk (get your blood pumping!) 3 times a week.
	Be familiar with the Trek Clothing List and start gathering or making what you will need.

The Kick-Off

The pioneers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints made such inspiring personal sacrifices that even today we continue to remember and seek to learn from their faith. The sufferings and trials that the pioneers endured as they crossed the Midwest required them to put their faith in the strength of the Lord for help. Although the trials we face today are different, our trials will require the same faith in the Lord’s strength as the pioneers exemplified on their journey. Today we hope that you will accept the invitation to go on our Stake Trek June 26th-29th. We hope you will have a great time and establish new and lasting friendships. We hope most of all, that you will increase your testimony of the strength you will receive from the Lord as you put your faith in him; so that through his strength you will know you “can do all things” he asks of you. Each of you who choose to go will, like the pioneers, have to sacrifice something. Just as the sacrifice of the pioneers brought “forth the blessings of heaven,” you, too, can feel the strength and blessings as you prepare for and go on trek.