Zions Camp

Last weekend was my ward's pioneer trek (we called it Zions Camp). We drove up past McCall Thursday evening, set up camp, and had a delicious dutch oven dinner. The next morning, we divided into "families", dressed up in pioneer clothes, packed up all our gear into handcarts, and set off on an 18-ish mile hike. At times it was hard work pulling the handcart - especially the women's pull where we went straight up the mountain side! It was also surprisingly hard going downhill because the handcart was heavy and we had to keep it from running us over! There were planned stops along the way where we listened to pioneer stories. Listening to those stories while we were trekking made them so much more real to me. It is amazing the trials and struggles that those early pioneers endured. I can't imagine getting up day after day and walking beyond the point of exhaustion. There is no doubt in my mind that the Lord watched over them, as He watches over us today.

Around lunch time, we stopped and the men left to go "find buffalo" (they came back with beef jerky). While they were gone, all the women shook jars of cream to make butter. I have never done that before, and it was kind of cool to see the butter solidify. Once it became solid, we drained off any remaining liquid, added some salt, and enjoyed our fresh butter on some rolls. There wasn't a very good picture of me making butter, so I'm posting this one of my cute sister :-)

The trek finished at the Ranstroms' ranch - what a beautiful site at the end of a long day :-) I was pretty tired, and went straight to bed after the fireside testimony meeting that night. When we woke up Saturday, we broke into groups to do service projects. Our group helped the neighbor across the street set a bridge and chop and haul wood. I tried my hand at splitting a stump using a wedge and sledgehammer... I wasn't the best aim (I kept hitting the wood next to the wedge), but I did manage to split a few pieces of wood :-) Overall, the trip was a success - it was such a great experience and I'm so glad I went!