Our stake has never participated in trek before so there was a LOT of planning and preparation for almost a whole year. It all paid off big time! (You can read my daughters’ perspectives at the end of the post) We met early in the morning to load everyone’s gear before heading to Battle Mountain to meet the rest of the youth and leaders going on trek.

In Battle Mountain everyone found out what “families” they would be in for trek. Four girls and four boys (it worked out almost perfectly!) were assigned to be a family with a ‘Ma and Pa’ which was a married couple from church. Most “Mas and Pas” knew months ago that they would be a Ma and Pa. Joseph and I found out the Friday before trek. We were already going as trail walkers. We LOVED being a Ma and Pa! We received general instructions and then loaded up in our vehicles to travel to Utah. We traveled with our trek families so we had time to talk and get to know one another on the six hour drive.

Everyone traveled in church clothes because we were going to the Payson Temple in Utah first. After the youth did baptisms we changed into our pioneer clothes and that’s when trek officially started.

We did our trek at the Mosida Trek site near Elberta, UT. In total we pulled our handcarts for around 20 miles over two and a half days. I won’t do a play by play of each day. Mostly because I don’t have many pictures. Another couple were the official trek photographers and they did an amazing job! Everyone else were supposed to give up their phones and cameras and electronic devices while on trek. Joseph and I did not because we had one young man with muscular dystrophy. We needed to be ready in case of any medical emergencies.

A special rickshaw was used to pull M. Our kids did double duty taking turns pulling the handcart and M along the trail. It was so amazing to see them come up with their own rotation system! Joseph and I just stood back in awe at how great they were watching out for each other making sure M was a part of everything.

It was hot and dusty and flat, much like Nevada. No one got dehydrated! There were blisters but no major injuries.

 

Here’s a little glimpse of what it was like on the trail.

 

The evening the youth played pioneer games was by far the best! Stilts were the first to be brought out. The boys especially enjoyed them. They created their own system for stilt wars.

 

Stick pull was also a great hit. Boys against boys, girls against girls, and girls against boys. A HUGE ring of youth gathered around to watch each match. They had so much fun!

 

Amazingly, there were no arguments or fights. Everyone who participated were good sports. They just enjoyed being in one another’s company playing and having a good time.

The last day was the women’s pull and river crossing. The women’s pull at Mosida was 1/2 mile long through at least 8 inches of powdery dust. It was hard! Only the girls and women pulled and pushed the loaded handcarts while the men and boys lined the sides the last 1/8 mile of the trail. Dust was swirling all around making it hard to breathe. We all had to cover our faces with our bandanas. Every handcart mad it without extra help from others. It was amazing.

The young men and men then got to help the women and girls cross the “river” by rescuing them.

Look at the happy, tired, and dusty faces!

Finally home! We arrived home close to 11 pm. By the time we all took showers and visited with Marie who stayed with the younger kids it was almost 1 am when we went to bed.

Trek was an absolutely amazing experience. But don’t just take my word for it.

Debbie (15): One thing I really benefited from in the whole trek experience was learning about my own pioneer ancestors. In preparation we were supposed to find a pioneer in our family and learn more about them. What a rewarding experience! I love learning about my ancestors, and where I come from. Knowing their blood flows in my veins really does help me, and I know I can do hard things just as they did. If you don’t know much about your own family history, please do learn!

Another thing I really enjoyed was just associating with the other youth, especially the ones from our ward. It was so fun to get to know everyone!  The last night was when they finally got out the things for us to play games. We had so much fun we didn’t even notice dinner was late. We did tug-of-war, stick pull, had stilt fights, a little bit of arm-wrestling, and some other game I don’t remember. I can’t go into detail because it would take too long, so I’ll just say we had a great time and I think I will remember it for a long time.

The last day we did the Women’s Pull and the River Crossing. These two were a lot of people’s favorite, and they were simply just powerful. Even though I lost my voice from all the sand and dust I got in my lungs, I can definitely say that I don’t regret doing it.

All in all I can say that trek was a really great experience, and totally worth it. I don’t have anything bad to say about it, it was all really good. I don’t know one person who didn’t have a good experience. The youth of the Winnemucca stake are amazing, and I love them so much! Although I can hardly believe it is possible, I love the pioneers even more than before, and am ever grateful for their sacrifice. Come, Come Ye Saints has since become one of my favorite hymns and now each time I hear or sing that song, I cry, especially at the last verse. If anyone who reads this post ever has the opportunity to go on trek, do it, it is so worth it!

Abby (17): I must have been dehydrated on trek because I can’t seem to remember a whole lot of it. It seems like such a long time ago, but I suppose most good things do. For some reason I wasn’t as excited about trek as everyone else seemed to be. I wasn’t afraid of all the walking, in fact I was looking forward to that; but I just didn’t seem to have the positive attitude I should have.

When I look back on trek, I realize that I was happy the entire time. It was weird, I was just happy. There was something there that made everyone happy. Everyone loved each other, everyone was kind to one another, everyone smiled, everyone just beamed with happiness. We didn’t know everyone by name but we knew each other by the fact that we are all children of our Heavenly Father. I think I saw that the most when we played games the last night, everyone had a good time and no one seemed mad when they would loose a game. Even I lost some stick pull, but it was fun. It felt so good to be constantly happy for three days.

It was wonderful to experience a small amount of what our ancestors experienced. It is so much easier to understand the quote by Eliza R. Snow, “None but saints can be happy under every circumstance.” If trek was a small ounce of what my ancestors experienced, and if the happiness was a small ounce to the happiness they felt, then they must have been the happiest of people. Of course they had trials, extremely hard trials, but they did what they did because they believed in Christ and it’s wonderful to think that if we believe in Christ or want to believe in Him enough, we will do anything to believe in Him, and eventually do anything for Him, and have the ability to do it.

It’s kind of funny how I wasn’t very positive before trek, but afterward I was just beaming on how wonderful it was.

Laura (13): Going on trek was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my entire life. It was so fun and yet so faith building at the same time. My trek family and I were like real family at the end.  Not only were all the individual trek families close but everyone. All the youth seemed more friendly to each other and everyone knew everyone by the end.

My favorite parts out of the whole thing was the women’s pull and the river crossing. Because the women’s pull was so hard and it just made it all the better at the end to think “Wow, we did it!”  And the river crossing was so cool, Ethan got to carry all of us girls over. So many people were crying because the spirit was so strong.

I’m so glad I was able to go on trek! And if they do another one in 4 years, I’ll be able to do it again!!!

If you’ve made it this far, great! Here’s the first trek video put together by the photographers. We came home late on a Friday night and the trek fireside was that Sunday. Brother Dave Munk worked HARD on the Saturday in between to put this video together to show at the fireside.