trek tales

Here is our trek Polish family on day one. We were missing one of our boys. He arrived after we took the photograph. Shortly after this picture was taken, we gathered together as a whole, sang 'The Spirit of God' and a mob arrived shooting, so we had to gather our stuff and leave.

I realized that I had forgotten my memory card for our camera, so not a ton of pictures were taken by me. I thought about it later and decided that it was good just to have enjoyed the experience. (However, loads upon loads of photos were taken and we will be given a disc with them all, so there will be more photos to add.) Day one was MISERABLY hot. I didn't really think about how hot my clothing was going to be until we were already moving. I learned from my mistake and day 2's clothes were alot lighter...no apron or gloves. I rolled up my bloomers of sorts to keep my legs cooler.
So Day one, was hot, dang hot. Due to the rain, the trails that we were going to be going on, were closed and plan b was implemented, which added 3 miles to our journey. We were the 1st of 4 companies to leave on day 1. Our youth were spectacular. The trails were rough, strenuous, hot muggy, and wet. I could seriously feel myself getting woozy due to the heat. Clyde had a rough time cooling down and when we made it to the base camp, had to sit down and cool off with ice packs. A gal from our ward MF, was way nice to come and fan us. She kept asking me if I was ok because apparently was bright red in the face. We gathered all of our stuff, built our family's camp site, and began the dutch oven meal of enchiladas. Not my favorite. (To be honest, I was afraid of having the runs out in the wilderness if I ate it. No bathrooms, or porta-potties either. Not a good woods pooper I am.) It took close to an hour to cook it thoroughly. Our children were starving and were happy to eat the meal, even if it was cooked by me. We had a hard time keeping the coals lit in the coal chimney stack thing. I was too hot to eat the hot meal and ate 1/2 of a PB&J sandwich. It was still just too hot to eat. The first night was miserable. I didn't sleep @ all. My mind kept racing, plus I could hear the bugs landing on the tent. There was also a dance on the 1st nite. Most of our youth were too tired to dance or didn't want to use up their energy, so it was just a sit and chat nite.

We awoke bright and early on day 2, so that we could eat and be on the trails EARLY. Eight people were sent home on day 1, 3 going straight to the ER, so it was decided that we had to leave earlier than planned to stay cool. Day 2 was just as hot but, but we were better prepared with better snacks and kool-aid/ gatorade. Both Clyde and I felt way, way better than the day before. Day 2 was also the women's march up the hill with awesome angels to help. (There are so many stories to tell that I think that I will have to have separate posts to tell them.) We crossed creeks, slid down mud slides, ran up 5 or more hills longer than 1/2 a football field, walked through a dead tree graveyard, which hurt BTW, and enjoyed our company. We returned to camp last that day, as planned and enjoyed another great dinner, an Indian speaker/ fireside and the testimony mtg.

Day 3 started with a bang, literally as gun shots woke us up. I could've/ should've thrown shoes @ the gal by our tent because she just kept shooting. We were inside changing our clothes and so she thought that we were still sleeping. I should've tackled her. Again, we had our breakfast and broke camp. We ended up having to wait, because we were quite efficient in our wanting to get the show on the road. We left as 2nd company and we stayed close. Again more hills, creeks to cross, and good cheer. AND- the high lite of trek walking on day 3 was that I was charged w/ one of my girls by a deer. no joke. I was standing @ the end of our handcart and a baby deer, yells, charges one of my trek daughters and runs against the back my legs, then darts up the revene that we were standing beside. It was hillarious! There were some re-enactments along the way...most a bit cheesy. Again, another post.

Here we are marching into the valley. Clyde and I are in the shot, it's a find Waldo moment...better known as find Clyde and Ashley. We took turns pushing or pulling these handcarts. (I'm one of 4 in the front, pulling the cart along.)

I so swiped these two photos from facebook. The below picture says it all.

I am glad that we had the opportunity to go. I can't say that I am ready to do another one, but in 4 years when Erin and Libby are old enough to go, I'll be ready to tag along.