Eastern Washington - Trek Prep

This summer our Stake's youth, including both Mackenzie and Brooklyn, are going on a 4-day pioneer handcart trek and guess who was asked to lead the planning of this adventurous activity? Yep, partner, yer right - me and Steve. We were called a few months ago and although the rest of the youth leaders visited the location last year, we hadn't been. It has been hard to visualize how it was going to work out without seeing the location. Well, we were finally able to make time on Friday and drove out to the trek site in eastern Washington after we dropped Mackenzie off at the church for seminary. We got there around 11:00 a.m. and two men, who are taking care of the property and help setup for the hardcart treks as part of a mission assignment, took us on a 3 1/2 hour tour of the property. We took our Sequoia and I had fun 4-wheeling through the sage brush and up and down the hills.

These are the actual carts that the families will use to haul their gear in. They seemed pretty light without four days of gear in them. ...Pioneer children sang as they walked and walked and walked and walked....

This is what the property looks like where we will be treking. It was a beautiful day and in the mid 70's. Our Trek takes place the first week in August and the temperature in August are usually in the upper 90's! Now that's HOT!

During our four days of trek these will be the only bathrooms in sight! These will be at evening and lunch stop spots along the way. The pioneers did not have these luxuries... Oh well, it's either these nice potties or the sage brush along the path!

Steve and I had fun spending the day together. It was a gorgeous drive and after seeing the Trek site we are even more excited about our assignment to plan this fun adventure together.