Pioneer Trek 2013

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and live in Utah.  150+ years ago Latter Day Saint (LDS) pioneers walked over 1,000 miles to cross the plains to settle Utah.  Every few years the youth in our area get the chance to see - even if just a little - what it was like for those pioneers for 3 days.  They pull handcarts for 3 days in the plains of Wyoming, and sleep out under the stars (or under a tarp).  It's a great experience for the youth and leaders as we remember the hardships our pioneer ancestors went through to get to a place where they could worship in peace.

The first day of the trip the youth are split up into families, each of them being a brother or sister in a family.  They try to put them with "siblings" that they don't even know.  My wife and I got the chance to be "Ma's and Pa's" of 5 teenage boys and 4 teenage girls.  We were so excited!

We had the best kids!  We walked a total of 20 miles, and cooked our own food (mostly, there was a food committee that prepared stuff and gave it to us in boxes for us to cook to simplify), and slept on the hard ground with no pads, and we never heard a complaint!  They were awesome!

10 Mile Hike for Hiking Merit Badge

I had a scout last week ask me if I could do a 10 mile hike with him for his Hiking Merit Badge.  He has the 20 mile hike done, and 3 of the 10 mile hikes done, so we only need to do 2 more.  I told him I would have time Saturday morning from 5:30AM to 11:00AM before a family reunion, thinking he might not want to get up that early on a Saturday, but he said that sounded good to him!  So I was able to get another scout leader to join us, and we met at my house at 5:30 am, and drove to the trailhead an hiked 10 miles in 3 hours!  We were done way before 11, but really got to enjoy the sunrise, and quiet serenity of the mountains in the early morning.
I really enjoyed it!