Utah Trip: The Handcart Trek

The main reason we went to Utah was for the Hawkes Family Reunion. Grandpa Hawkes organized a Handcart Trek to help us understand our pioneer heritage. Seriously, the trek did the trick! We only did it for two days, and boy oh boy, I was not meant to be a pioneer. Just those two days taught me a lot, and gave me a huge respect for those who crossed the plains to Salt Lake City.

Oh, and did I mention we were allowed no cell phones, IPods, or makeup? No makeup??? I'm sure the pioneer women wanted to look nice. Well, maybe they didn't wear makeup, but I'm sure they wanted to. Thankfully deodorant wasn't banned.

Before we left we had lunch while listening to some pioneer stories. They also gave us an idea of what we would be doing and went over safety (did the Pioneers have talks about safety? Probably...or else they had way more common sense then we do these days).

Ma and Pa Kettle.

Here are Stina and me. Clean and rested, and getting used to wearing bonnets! Seriously, I was against the whole bonnet thing. They aren't the most attractive things. But they sure came in handy! I wore mine all the time (except in the shade) so that my head didn't burn. And it shaded my face which kept me cooler than if I wasn't wearing it. My bonnet and I became tight friends.

Stina, Kristen, Jordyn, me, Cindy, and Janalyn. We make cute pioneers!

The group of girls. I know we are missing somebody, but with that many people, it's hard to tell!

Technically, the kids weren't supposed to ride in the carts, but after a while they got tired of walking, and we got tired of the whining. And they looked so cute in the carts!

Rix is the perfect little pioneer boy! He never complained, and was always at the front of the line (as usual). He loved every second of it!

Bryce guarding the cooler

Dave was the "rover". He helped at whatever cart needed him, and was awesome with the kids!

Cole and Bryce

Pom Pom + Trail Mix = Good Buddies

Oh, and water became oh so important to us! I don't know how the pioneers did it without coolers and CamelPaks and stuff! We drank and drank and drank....you get it.

My kids were so cute (I'm biased, but really they are cute). They found tons of wildflowers on the trail, and kept giving them to me. Here is a little bouquet I got.

Cole is wearing the bandanas Karen had made for everyone. They were so cute, and really kept the boys necks from burning.

Cole "helping"

After the first day of trekking, we stopped by a creek where we were going to camp out overnight. Luckily, we had Honeybuckets and a big barrell of water at our disposal. And sticks. There were lots of sticks too. And rocks. And dirt. It was like a boys paradise.

Rix surprised me by getting in the water. He is usually pretty picky about what water he plays in (he prefers clean and warm) and this creek was dang cold!

It sure was nice to cool off after a hot day on the trail!

Dave was brave and went out in his boots and clothes. Don't think I wasn't praying that he would fall down in that water! That would have been picture-worthy!

Some of us preferred to cool off on the bridge.

Cole had a love-hate relationship with the water. He really wanted to be in it, but really didn't want it to be cold. Darn creek.

And in case you were wondering, no, I don't think the pioneers had sunglasses. They also didn't have sunblock, Honeybuckets, or catered meals. But we TRIED to be pioneerish!

Dave trying out pioneer-era toys, including these stilts that he got pretty good at.

Bryce and me

He is sooooo cute!

The kids got so dirty. It wasn't even funny. Okay, it was funny. I didn't even recognize Brady!

See? Dirty. It got to a point where I just stopped telling them to stop playing in the dirt. They were so dirty that it really couldn't get any worse. I was just grateful for OxyClean and bathtubs.

That night we played some games. This on is Steal the Bacon. So fun, except I was terrible at it. Or Kristen was just awesome. I'll go with the latter. Here Robyn put husband against wife. It was pretty funny.

The next game was to have two people stand on a bucket about 20 feet apart, and each one held onto the end of a rope. The point of the game is to pull your opponent off the bucket without falling off yourself. It was also fun! Geez, the pioneers really knew how to party!

My opponent was Kristen. I got payback for how awesome she was at Steal the Bacon.

The next morning. Weird. If you go to bed with a dirty face. You wake up with a dirty face. Words of wisdom from one who knows.

The trek was beautiful. The scenery really was breathtaking. If only I wasn't so sick and tired (you know, not "sick and tired" but sick, like not feeling well, and tired from walking so much) I would have noticed it more while trekking.

I'm pretty sure this in not in pioneer fashion, but he was pretty cute. And dirty.

Cole fell asleep in the cart. This is so not like Cole. He didn't sleep once in the car during the 15 hour drive to Utah. But he falls asleep in a handcart? No fair. And see me in the corner brushing my teeth? I was so sick the next day, nauseated and yucky, and then I threw up. Yuck. I definitely felt for the pioneers who were sick or injured or whatever. But I was proud of myself. I had the option to go in the medical truck or to go back to the vans, but I kept going! Maybe I would have been a good pioneer.

We made it! A group shot at the end of the trek!

Overall, it was a great experience. While on the trek, I was so tired of walking. And walking uphill! At times it was maddening! But when it was all said and done, it was such a great learning experience. It was fun for the kids to learn about pioneers and to learn about hard work.

And we got so dirty. And sweaty. It was so bad that I just didn't try to stay clean. Well, I brushed my teeth and wore deodorant and washed my hands before I ate, but my skirt was a mess. It was dusty and dirty. And my skin was so gross. You could see a line on my legs from where my socks were! And my hair was dirty and yuck. I really wanted a shower! I understand now why the pioneer women looked forward to stopping near a creek so they could bathe (and bathe their children!).

But it was fun! The company was fun! It was awesome to be with our family, working together, to accomplish something difficult. Some of those hills were so long and hard. But we all worked together to push and pull them up, or to watch kids so they didn't get run over. We patiently worked together to make sure we all made it. The games we played gave us a chance to have fun together and be all together, instead of broken off into small groups. Even the kids had fun with the games!

I'm so glad the pioneers did what they did. Part of me thinks that, yes, it would have been hard and lots of people died along the way. But to be there at the end, when they finally made it, what kinds of feelings they had. It must have been a huge testimony building experience, and I think, in a weird way, they were really lucky. But, seriously, Heavenly Father knew what he was doing when he didn't make me a pioneer!