Once Upon a Trek...

I wish I had taken the camera with us on Trek, because I have about six thousand words to type, if I want to do the story justice, and I would much prefer to just post six pictures rather than type all those words. So I'll try to give you the condensed version.

Here's a photo of Doug and I before we went to Trek.

After we came home from the Trek, we looked pretty much the same, but with dirt caked on every surface and bloodshot eyes from lack of sleep. Maybe a little bit of crying added to the red eyes, but they were not sad tears--just emotional ones. It was an incredible experience.

We left on Monday morning, about 150 of us, including over 100 youth between 14 and 18 years old. We were loaded onto three chartered buses. It typically takes about 4 hours to cross the state of Washington and enter Oregon. However, that day, the bus that Doug and I and our little "family" happened to be on had a few technical challenges, and ended up breaking down, twice. Short story version: we ended up condensing all of the youth and a few adults onto the two working buses, and the rest of the adults had to rent minivans and take turns driving for the rest of the week.

We arrived at Martin's Cove, Wyoming, about seven hours behind schedule on Tuesday afternoon. We hiked with handcarts to our campground, and started setting up the tents in very gusty windy conditions, as it was getting dark. We didn't sleep very well that night, worrying that tents were about to blow away in the wind.

The next day, we walked through the Cove. Then we loaded up the vehicles again and drove to the Willie Center (aka. Sixth Crossing). While dinner was being prepared, we had a big tug-of-war competition, and I'm very proud to announce that the Larson Family came in 2nd place. We were so tough! (And I still have bruises on my arms to show for it.)

Thursday we were supposed to hike 10 miles, but they shortened our planned trek because of our experiences thus far. Things were taking much longer than we had hoped, and we were concerned about the kids getting dehydrated and exhausted. After crossing the river, we encountered the "Women's Pull". The boys and men were taken away and had a discussion about the Priesthood and womanhood. Meanwhile, the girls and women had a separate discussion about the same topics. Then the men stood silently and watched as the girls pushed the handcarts up a hill without their help. It was a moving experience.

That afternoon we packed up camp again and drove to Rock Creek Hollow. This was one sight Doug and I had not visited during our last Trek in Wyoming, four years ago. It is my new favorite spot there. It was an amazing, dedicated, holy place. We didn't do any more trecking with handcarts. The last evening and the final day were dedicated to spiritual learning and reflection, and it was a very powerful time.

We were so blessed to have every member of our stake presidency and their wives with us, as well as every bishop from our stake and their wives, plus we had the special priveledge of Elder Nash of the Seventy with us on our Trek, along with his wife and daughter. Elder Nash addressed us Wednesday and Thursday evenings, and we were also taught by our stake president. Friday morning we woke up and had a testimony in the Hollow there, which has monuments and actual gravesites of the Willie Company in this beautiful little meadow. It was a very special thing.

It was amazing to me to see the couple missionaries who host those sites, and how emotional they become about the stories and experiences they share with us, even though they do it every day, and you would think it might become routine for them. It doesn't. It was amazing to me that we had virtually NO complaining from our youth, despite the adversity and challenges they faced during this Trek. And it was amazing to feel the tangible spirit that permeates these places that are so full of history and sacrifice.

After the testimony meeting, we loaded up again and began the long drive home. We stopped in Evanston, Wyoming, at a Rec Center, where we had less than two hours to swim and shower (not to mention, use flushing toilets!) for the first time in days. Our next stop was Temple Square in Salt Lake City, where we had dinner at a park and then watched the new Joseph Smith film. By the time the movie ended, it was dark, and we sat on the grass near the Church office building, looking up at the temple, which was lit up against the night sky. Elder Nash spoke to us one more time, and it was the perfect ending to our week.

It was almost midnight by the time we were all loaded up again and on our way. We drove through the night and day, and finally got home to our families at 5:00 Saturday evening.

Clark and Liesel and the girls were there at the church parking lot waiting for us, and I was so happy to see them all! We were completely exhausted, but we didn't have time to rest. We went to dinner and tried to briefly catch up with Clark & Liesel before we had to take them to the airport for their flight home that night.

It took a couple of days to catch up on our sleep and feel like our normal selves again. And we jumped right into our next adventure of the summer on Monday morning....but more about that in my next post!