Martins Cove

I had the wonderful opportunity to join the youth in our ward on the Trek at Martin's Cove. It was a great experience, and one that I will never forget. Chad was supposed to come with me, but he couldn't get work off at the last minute, so I went by myself. I ended up being a single mom to 2 decons, 1 beehive, and 1 laurel. Let's just say that it was interesting. No seriously, my kids did such a great job, I don't think they complained and we had a great time. We were lucky enough to not get rained on at all, and had warm weather for most of the time.

We started our trip at 3:00 am at the church (this is where I was asked to speak in church - not fair to ask someone when they are half asleep!). We headed out for Wyoming with a car full of sleeping kids. I drove for about 5 hours and then turned the wheel over to another leader so I could get some sleep. We made it to Martin's Cove, and had our orinantation, and then got our handcarts. The kids were great and so excited to pull that we made it to camp easily. We set up camp, and discovered that there are rattlesnakes there - not my favorite thing.

The next day we actually treked to the Cove, and had a wonderful experience. We also did the women's pull where they take all the Priesthood leaders to the top of a hill and let the women do it themselves. It was a very humblying experience especailly knowing that I was treking for a woman who had 13 kids (wow!!), and her husband died in Nebraska!! I don't know how she did it.

We packed up the next day and pulled our handcarts out and went to a place called Independance Rock. It is this large rock that pioneers would stop at and carve their names on. We found some really old names, and had a great time. Then we drove to the site of the Willie rescue and stayed the night. We got to see the grave of the 13 people who died before being rescued, and walked in the willows where they sought rescue. We also discovered that there were ticks there (lot of them!!), which caused many of the girls a lot of fear, but I think almost everyone made it out tick free!

The next day we made it home, and I was so excited for a shower and to see my kids. Thanks mom and Chad for taking such good care of them!! I will post pictures later. We actually had two photographers there with us and they got some amazing pictures, when I get the CD I will share a few.