Stake Youth Trek 2009-Martin's Cove Day Three

On day three of the trek we packed up and loaded the handcarts for the seven mile trip back to the Visitors Center.
The Van Wagoner Family, part of Bishop Lindley's Sub-Company posed for a picture before setting out.

As the persecution mounted, the Saints left Nauvoo for the West. During the same period war broke out between the United States and Mexico. After failing to protect the Constitutional rights of the Saints to worship freely, the federal government had no qualms in going to Brigham Young in an attempt to recruit new soldiers for the war. The Mormon Battalion was formed of 500 men with some women and children. They marched from Council Bluffs, Iowa to San Diego, California. Upon arrival, each of the Mormon soldiers were responsible for finding their way back to the Salt Lake Valley. For more information on them, please check out this website: http://www.mormonbattalion.com/.

As part of the trek they reenacted the calling out of the men for the Mormon Battalion. We left the women and girls behind with the handcarts. With my military service I qualified to serve as a sergeant.

To help us understand the sacrifices made by the sisters left behind and the pain felt by the brethren who left their families behind, we watched as the women pulled the handcarts up a steep hill. The men lined the hill and watched silently with hats removed. It was difficult to watch Rochelle and the three girls in our family pull the cart. They did an amazing job. It made me reflect on the times that I leave Rochelle at home with our four children. She's wonderful and strong.

Claire (in pink bonnet), a member of our ward, was in our group. Here she is pushing the cart up the hill.

Rochelle's great, great, great grandmother, Elizabeth Panting crossed the plains with the Willie handcart company. She along with her two children Christopher (Rochelle's great, great grandfather) and Jane suffered in the early Winter Storms while stuck at Rocky Ridge fifty miles west of Martin's Cove.

Stake Youth Trek 2009-Martin's Cove Day Two

The second day of the trek we picked up our handcarts and started down the trail. We stopped at Dan's Cove for a fireside before heading into Martin's Cove. President Griggs, a counselor in the stake presidency, gave a powerful talk on the spiritual aspect of our undertaking. He encouraged us to seek a spiritual experience while in Martin's Cove. We walked through the cove in silence, each alone with their thoughts. My testimony of sacred places and the power they have was strengthened. It's difficult to comprehend what those Saints experienced while on their journey--such pain and suffering accepted willingly in order to be obedient to the prophet's call.
Rochelle and I with Martin's Cove in the background.

One of the monuments near the crossing of the Sweetwater. As the rescue parties from Salt Lake arrived, they helped get the handcart saints moving again. The Sweetwater was running high and filled with ice. Many of the Saints broke down and wept as they contemplated walking through the water. Three young men in the rescue party stepped forward and carried many of them across the water, each making frequent trips. Each of those three young men later died from complication suffered because of the crossing.

Our handcart as it entered the Sweetwater. Rochelle is behind the handcart with the purple bonnet.

The sunset from the Jackson campground where we stayed for two nights.

Youth Trek 2009-Martin's Cove Day One

Rochelle and I were called to participate in our Stake Youth Trek to Martin's Cove as a "Ma and Pa." We had an amazing experience for three days with young men and women from wards throughout the stake. We gathered at the Stake Center at 5am to divide up into families and board the buses for the six hour bus ride.


Here we are pictured with our wonderful "sons and daughters" early in the morning.


Rochelle on top of Independence Rock. We tried to find Brigham Young's name carved into the rock, but we ran out of time.

Here I am on top of Independence Rock.

Looking up Devil's Gate. Like Independence Rock, this was an important landmark for the Saints as they crossed the plains.

Rochelle and I both had ancestors cross the plains, in wagons and handcarts. I wonder what they thought as these impressive geological formations appeared in the distance and then slowly grew larger.