Handcart Trek Preparation Notes

You don't need to stress about the finer details yet, but you'll need to start organizing your committees and having Bishops call your Ma/Pa's from each ward.  You probably won't have any idea how many trekkers you're dealing with, but if you find out how many kids have attended previous youth conferences in your stake, you can probably use those numbers.  7 months before our trek, we guessed we'd get about 220 (including adults) and by trek time, we ended up with 220.  Good guess work. You'll have plenty of dropouts and add ons, so you will need a capable registration couple in charge of that to be on your committee.   We had a counselor from the Stake YM presidency and his wife over trek registrations and family formation.  You will work closely with them.  We held a kick off fireside in January to get everyone informed and excited about trek so they could start getting prepared.  It was jaw droppingly well attended - over 600 came.  So that gave us a really good idea how excited our stake was about trekking.   (Publicity is really important)

About the trekking schedule:  keep in mind that although you'll have a schedule, you must be flexible.  Never try to meet a deadline.  Just let the trek move at it's own pace.  You will need to visit your trek trail many times prior to your trek, to map things out exactly in your mind - where you'll have stops, camps, potties, etc - that will give you a really good idea about timing.  You will also need to take your trail boss there ahead of time so he can become familiar with the trail and your ideas.  But don't make your trail route public information.  The kids and Ma/Pa couples really don't need to know  your exact trail or any surprises you have planned.  For example, we told our trekkers that we were trekking on the Kaibab, near the Grand Canyon.  They had no idea they would actually see the Grand Canyon until we took them on the surprise forced march Saturday morning.  Most of our trekkers had never seen the canyon before, so it made an important impact on them.

It is a good idea for you to carry a clipboard with you the first morning on the trailhead, which shows what you need to be doing or saying and when.  After you get everyone organized at the trailhead, you probably wont need a clipboard any more.   

Here's how our schedule looked in a nutshell:  1st day we pulled our carts 8 miles.  2nd day we pulled our carts 5 miles.  3 day - no pulling - but they were forced to march 2 miles without their carts. 

Day before:  potties were delivered and placed and we brought the handcarts to the trail and left them at the support camp where horses and other support members would camp.  Our trailboss camped the night before and looked after the carts for us. 

6:30 - 7 am Thursday - trekkers met at the Stake Center dressed and ready for trekking.  They entered the chapel where someone was playing pioneer hymns as a prelude.  A member of the Stake High Council conducted the brief 8 - 10 minute meeting in the chapel which consisted of hymn, prayer and brief instructions.  Then everyone loaded up and carpooled to the trailhead.  We didn't tell the trekkers they'd have a short chapel session.  It was a nice surprise for them.  It really set the mood.  (Much better than the typical parking lot chaos).   

Your biggest challenge is the trailhead arrival.  My husband and I arrived at the trailhead before everyone else, to ensure someone was there to greet trekkers and direct traffic.  Our trailboss arranged to get the carts at the trailhead before everyone arrived.  It is a really good idea to have your activities directors arrive before everyone too.  That way they can get the kids busy right from the start. 

As people unload their gear, the activities directors helped the kids mark their names on their sleeping bag (in garbage bags) .  Used duct tape and sharpies for this.  After that, the activities directors entertained the kids with simple pioneer games such as stick pull, calf roping, pinecone baseball. Meanwhile, some of the support crew was busy getting cars parked at the final destination and shuttling drivers back to the trailhead.  You might need to allow as much as 1.5 hours for this. 

While the activities director is working with the kids, I held a short Ma/Pa prayer meeting where I went over the day's schedule and answered questions.   

As soon as all the shuttling is done and everyone is present, we started.  I assigned someone from the Stake Youth Committee to conduct - and gave him a short historical message to read which related to our theme.  We had prayer, allowed a member of the Stake Presidency a few minutes, then we had a very short message from our medical team (who, in one hand held up a bottle of water, and in the other hand held up an IV bottle and needle and simply said - it's this or this - it's your choice).  My husband then gave a few cart handling safety instructions after which I introduced everyone to our Company Captains and their wives.  Then I introduced the rest of the Ma/Pa couples.  After that, time was turned over to our registration couple who announced the families and issued carts. 

FYI:  We decided to name our companies after the 1st 5 handcart companies to cross the plains.  Company captains were instructed to lead their company and watch over each family in their company.  Also, each company was assigned to present a very brief vignette at a specific time during trek.  For example, Bunker Company's vignette was 'Giving Life On The Trail',  Martin Company was 'Death On The Trail'.  There was a hidden benefit to having companies.  They traveled along our trek route in the same order the original companies crossed the plains.  This automatically eliminated any 'jockeying for position'.  Nobody tried to pass other carts or race.  I gave each company captain a flag representing a different country which the pioneers came from. 

Each trekker was given a small pioneer pouch containing their trek journal/songbook, trek necklace to wear the entire time, some pioneer candy, a pioneer toy,  and a small bag of trail mix.  And they were instructed we'd eat lunch at the 1st stop. 

At the first stop (about 1.5 miles down the trail), a vignette was presented while the pioneers rested and waited for the chuck wagon to bring in their lunch.  As they waited, some bandits came into the area, yelling at them to 'go back where they came from' and wielding weapons.  The bandits (mob) stole one family's water, some personal belongings and hijacked the chuck wagon.  So the pioneers were forced to move ahead without lunch.   

2nd stop:  the pioneers met a native American  who was in full regalia.  He told them he scalped the bandits and left the chuck wagon next to his tee pee.  He performed a song on his drum and then the pioneers had lunch.  The 2nd vignette was presented.  We were going to have the native American trade for their lunch, but that didn't happen after all.   

3rd stop (about 1 mile from 1st camp).  The Pony Express met the pioneers with mail from the valley.  Each youth received a letter from someone in their ward (not from their family at home).  They were very surprised and excited to read their letters of support and encouragement. They spent some time writing a letter home.  3rd vignette was presented. 

4th stop was 1st camp.  4th vignette in the evening. 

Friday morning, I met briefly with the Ma/Pa's for another prayer meeting and gave them instructions for the day - info on women's pull and where rest stops and lunch would be.  As they were finishing breakfast, the Mormon Battalion rode through camp, and drew much interest from the pioneers.    Next we gathered everyone in for a group meeting (conducted by another member of our Stake Youth Committee), had prayer and our story teller gave a story.  After that, the trailboss called up the companies to start pulling - and were instructed as soon as they stepped on to the trail, they were not allowed to talk at all.  Our women's pull was a very steep hill with ruts and unstable gravel.  They were camped right next to it, but because of the thick trees and configuration of the road, they didn't even know it was there until they started up it.  As they made their way up the hill, the Battalion met them, gave the men instructions not to touch the carts (they could help in any way, but not touch the carts or speak). Some Stakes I talked to, actually have the men taken away by the Battalion, but we felt it would make a much more lasting impact to allow the men to walk beside the carts, witnessing what was happening, and when it became impossible for the women, the men were allowed to  put their hands on the backs of the women and push.  This had enormous power on the message and spirit of the trek.  Words can't describe the testimonies that were strengthened and the unity that resulted.  It was amazing.

Once the women's pull was finished, the trailboss had them rest and the families were able to reflect on the experience they just had.   

Back on the trail for a mile or so, then it was a lunch and potty stop.  

Then back on the trail again until they reach 2nd camp.  Everyone was allowed some time to rest, then they set up their camp.  While they were setting up camp, our activities people were setting up the various game/workshop stations.  We had candy making, candle making, black powder riffle shooting, archery, hatchet toss and the Mormon Battalion did a little workshop.  Everyone rotated around each workshop and had a lot of fun.  While the workshops were going on, families were also preparing their feast.  Due to fire restrictions, we weren't able to use charcoal to cook the turkey, so we used camp chefs instead, and we couldn't bake our own bread without charcoal so the food committee bought the bread.  But the pioneers were able to churn butter - which actually was a really big hit - and we had buffalo and turkey.  After dinner the final vignettes were presented.  After dinner, we thought everyone would be too tired for the hoe down, but not so.  The hoe down was a huge success!  Our attempts to get a live band failed 5 different times.  So we had a sound system, generator, and a professional dj call the dance (very simple hoe down music on a cd).  It was wonderful.  After the hoe down, some games continued and families had simple family home evenings, scripture reading rest. 

Saturday - breakfast - load gear - then group prayer meeting and story teller.  Just about everyone thought it was time to go home at this point.  But after the story teller finished reading the story of the forced march over the rocky ridge, we had 2 rescue riders ride in on horses and instruct the pioneers to leave their carts behind and they'd be led to Zion.  They were led on a 2 mile forced march back up to the vista point to the Grand Canyon, where we held our testimony meeting.  The kids sort of grumped and grumbled as they trekked those final 2 miles, not knowing where the trail would lead.  But they were in awe the very moment the trees parted and they finally saw the amazing Canyon view.  It was "their Zion".   

Because we had the cars all parked near the vista point (but out of sight), leaving the testimony meeting was a snap.   

We had someone in our stake specifically assigned to take professional pictures.  Many other leaders were taking pictures, but unless they were specifically assigned to take pictures, they became  too distracted with the work of actually being a pioneer to get really good shots.  I was the videographer.  I had someone else video tape some of the trek, but because my camera was rolling almost all the time, I really didn't need any more video footage than my own. 

We experience no broken carts - a really good thing.  We had no dehydration - I think our simple object lesson at the beginning did the trick on that.  We had no serious medical issues.  About 1/3 of the trekkers reported blisters - including me and my hubby.  We didn't use any tents whatsoever.  Families slept on their tarps under the stars/ boys on one side of the carts, girls on the other. 

We rented our carts from the Church Farm Management.    They charged $5/cart per day and the carts come on trailers of 10.  That was the very best deal we could find anywhere.   I know the church now sells handcart kits which you can put together.  A stake in our area purchased 14 handcart kits and had the wards put them together as a pre-trek activity.  If you choose to build your carts, don't let the cart building become so much of the focus that your actual trek suffers.

Follow the spirit when selecting trek location.  You'll need a cool place, probably with a high elevation.  Our elevation on the North Kaibab was between 7200 and 7600.  Temps reached a high of 90 (we didn't expect it to go that high) but we had lots of shade available and a pleasant breeze.  Night temps were in the very low 50's.

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