We are already into our third week of trekking! This week was nice because we had a group from Layton, UT, of about 250 people and 19 handcarts. They had a great group--good organization, good food, good music, and good people.
We were with Elder and Sister Anderson on this Trek. They are first-year missionaries and are from Heber, UT. It was a lot of fun getting to know them better. They are great people.
We still have water crossings on most all of our trails. Trail #14 has one of my favorite ones because it is nice water coming off of a little reservoir, called Crane Reservoir. It is just before the porta-john stop/lunch on the first day. It was actually nice enough to take your shoes off and wade though, even with the rocky bottom.
It was pretty easy getting the handcarts over, but not without getting your feet wet!
Sister Anderson is driving the side-by-side (used as our emergency medical/haul the photographer up the hill/give a catch-up ride vehicle) across the dike. The kids are always asking for rides in it and I tell them they can have a ride if they break their leg! They don't think that would be too much fun.
What a pretty place to stop for lunch, although the mosquitos were pretty bad.
Elder Howard and Sister & Elder Anderson in their favorite places after eating lunch and waiting for the trekkers to get going again.
We had lots of fun musicians on this trek. A Sister and several Young Women played ukuleles and sang some really cute songs. She tried to called a couple more youth out of the audience one evening and said they were "closet ukulele players" but she couldn't get them to come play. She said she would get them to join their group on the next trek!
Some of the most appreciated support people on the trek are the porta-john drivers. They get to do all of the plugging/unplugging, stirring, and cleaning of the porta-johns. The best plan is to assign the kids in each family a shift, which they did.
The Stake President is practicing for his performance for one of the devotionals. This was a very musical ward.
The men unloaded all of the kitchen supplies and set up the canopies . . .
. . . while the women start cooking the next meal. The food is always good and they are all pretty busy from morning until night, especially because they have to take down and set up each day, even for lunch on the trail sometimes.
We had a casualty on the trail! I offered to help put him in a shallow grave and cover him with rocks, but he had a miraculous recovery! We love being with these crazy kids!
This looks like another water crossing, and it was--but just for the support vehicles. We were able to walk the carts around it and found enough dry ground to eat lunch and play some fun games before heading for the evening camp.
Tug-of-war is always a fun game to play.
An oldie is Duck-Duck-Goose. The kids are never too old to play this favorite game.
I don't know the name of this game, but they put a kerchief in the middle and call out two numbers. Two people go into the middle and try to get the kerchief first, but if the second one touches him before he gets out of the circle, he doesn't get the point.
The Prophet Joseph Smith's favorite game was Stick Pull. It is also a favorite of the kids. We have a hard time getting them to not use the handcart pull bars for this game. We do have some that get broken because of it.
This was a fun game. Each person had a piece of PVC pipe, cut in half lengthwise. They had to put them together to form a ramp for a golf ball to roll down. As it went by each person, they would run around to lengthen the ramp in order to reach a bucket at the end. Two teams raced to see who could reach the bucket first.
Our great Committee Chairman volunteered for the duty of removing cow pies from the hoedown area. Since we trek on a working cattle ranch, with up to 15,000 cows, calves, and bulls on it, some of our campsites get pretty full of cow pies!
We had a great hoedown caller. He taught a couple of line dances first and the kids caught on quickly.
Then he circled them up and they learned several dances. The Heel Toe Polka is a favorite one of us Missionaries. No matter how many miles they trek, they seem to be able to dance. Music and dancing was also an important part of the original pioneers trekking, which seemed to revive them after a long day of walking and helped them to endure to the end of the trail.
Last morning devotional before heading towards the trip back to their homes. The seagulls know they are leaving camp and are hoping for a few mortals left behind. But, our trekkers do not leave them much. We have a "no trace" trekking policy and the trekkers do a good job following that (although sometimes they need a little reminder!)
The support crew is ready to go, too. It has been a great trek, but they are ready to return to their lives back in Layton. Besides, along with the youth, a 4-day shower fast is about all they want to endure!
This group came to Trek in buses, but their parents came to pick them up. We were not expecting that many cars in staging. It was hard to find places for them all to park and still leave room for the water buffalo, porta-johns, and other support vehicles to come in. There was just a small path for the handcarts to come through.
But, it was fun to see all the families (moms, dads, brothers, sisters, grandparents, and even some pets) walk out on the trail to greet the trekkers as they came down the trail. We had some great times with this group and thank them for letting us be their missionaries!
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