Trek Day 2

I was really discouraged the first day and in fact doubted that a good night's sleep would improve the situation, I may have been correct, but as it turns out a bad night's sleep was just what I needed.

There were hardly any stars overnight as the clouds were thick overhead. Sometime during the night I began to feel a cold splash on my face. I tried to ignore it at first but then they fell more regularly, I dragged myself out of my sleeping bag and laid tarps over the girls who were all sleeping in a neat little row. I looked at the boys who were sprawled every which way on their tarp and just shrugged my shoulders and went back to sleep, they would manage.

In the morning during breakfast time the rains finally came full on. There was a scramble in the camp sites to try to get everything packed before it got soaked, we were not successful in that respect. Still we began our trek. I was somewhat apprehensive as I knew what laid ahead.

A short distance up the trail we were stopped and all of the men were "enlisted" in the Mormon Battalion. This meant we would leave all of the women to pull by themselves in the cold, muddy conditions of the day. The weather made the separation all the more poignant for me as we left. The women looked so miserable as we marched away. I really hope that the boys appreciated that fact. While the women were left to pull solo we were marched through the brush to a meadow where the stake presidency spoke to the boys. The talks were all wonderful but President Foote's words stuck out the most for me. He spoke of women and all that is asked of them and pointed out that as men we really get the best of it. His eyes were full of tears as he spoke of how he loved his wife and again I looked around me at those boys and just prayed that they were getting the meaning of these messages. I was reminded of just how much my wife has done for me and how much she means to me.

The day continued after our families were reunited with lunch and more vignettes. At lunch the youth received letters from family via the "Pony Express" and were given time to read and reflect on them in their journals and then we continued on our path.

There was one other big event planned for the day the infamous Rocky Ridge, the idea was to really push the youth and to really try them physically. It was meant to be grueling and hard and I personally feel that it was successful in this respect. As we looked upon the hill it looked hard, as he hiked it with the handcart in tow it exceeded what we had expected. I knew the vignette that was planned, I knew that there were to be "angels" who would come out halfway up and help us out but even knowing that I still was not sure if I was going to make it. I looked at my youth as they bent down and pushed the strain evident on their faces. Then one of our youth began our family cheer and I could have cried at the way he mustered us to push on. "Who leads the camp!" he yelled, to which we all replied, "The God of Israel!" It was what we needed, when we needed it. When the angels began to pull it was all I could do to hang on, I felt then that the cart was pulling me. It was a great experience.

Camp that night was a little less than great, we found ourselves in a beautiful lush meadow, with tall, soft grass all around and an abundance of cow pies. I think the number one complaint or criticism of trek afterward was the presence of the cow pies. It was gross getting into camp and it was even worse after dark when you couldn't see where you stepped.

I want to be clear that by day two my heart was in it all the way. I felt then and continue to feel today a sincere gratitude for the opportunity to participate in the trek.