Cowboys and our best trek yet!

Monday for Family Home Evening we invited the ranch cowboys and their families for a BBQ and fun and games.  It was so fun to see lots of little and not so little ones playing and having a good time.  It was a bit windy (as it always is in Wyoming) so they had kites in the air, bubbles flying, and other fun activities.  One of our treks left these cute buffalo targets and bows made out of PVC and arrows out of dowels, pencil erasers, and duct tape.  They threw axes at a wooden stump and everyone seemed to enjoy the evening.  It was fun to watch the cowboys rope the little kids as they ran away squealing only to be caught by the foot and brought to the ground.  It brought back memories of doing the same thing with my Dad when I was young.

A 3 year old cowboy lassoing bubbles

Cowboy dinner

Tuesday found us getting ready for our trekkers.  One of the not so fun parts of this mission is cleaning the port a potties.  They are pumped on Monday and then we go in and spray down the walls and wipe them down..  Even though there is not stuff in them they still are in need of cleaning.  That seems to be the sisters job as the elders get the water buffalos ready to go.  I think I would rather do the buffalos!
Wednesday we were ready for our group to arrive at 10:30 but alas nothing.  We got a call that the "old" school buses they were coming on were having a hard time getting here.  They were overheating and would have to stop often.  While we waited Bob saw this little moose right in the area where the trek was about to begin.

Bob's moose at staging on trail 23

 This was also on the hottest day of the year so far and right after the death of a "Ma" on a trek in Oklahoma.  We did hear from many about that, and it was a very sad thing for them, but gratefully we had no major problems here.  It was very warm but they also had humidity to deal with and we do not.  The kids finally got here at 1:30 and it was worth the wait.  We trekked trail 23, which is one we have 4 times this summer.  They came from the Murray South Stake, and were very organized and prepared.  We had 9 handcarts with a Ma and Pa for each family with a handcart. They loaded everything onto their handcarts that were piled 2 stories high and headed out.  We made sure they stopped and drank and rested a bit about every 30 minutes.  It worked out well that cows were in their first day camp, Crane Hallow, so we stopped 2 miles short on day one but had to make it up on day 2.  These kids used big blue tarps instead of tents and it was very fun to see how creative they were in building shelters to sleep in.

Blue tarp city camp

The next morning we started out after each family did their cheer.  This was something they did at the beginning and end of each day.  They would make up a cute chant or song and do it for all the "families".  There is an area called "the Nordic drop" that drops about 250 feet in a short time and is a real challenge for the kids and the handcarts.  When I first saw it I said I would never take kids down that, but this is the second time we have done it and it was great.  The kids really learn how to work together.  We tie a large rope to the back of the handcarts and the kids pull back on both sides. There are only 2 up front to guide them down the drop.  To listen to the kids later it was one of the highlights of their trek.

The first part of the Nordic drop

We got into camp about 3 PM and then they did pioneer games.  It was so fun to watch and even participate in some of them.  They did stick pulls, leg wrestling, hoop game, three legged races, knife throw, bow and arrows, log cutting, a circle game on buckets, kind of like musical chairs.  All the trekkers bring 5 gallon buckets with their personal gear and then they sit on them at camp and for eating.  That night we had a hoe down and this was by far one of my favorite things to do.

Elder Call (L) Elder Barton (R) "sawing logs"

Bob even got up and danced.  These kids loved it and it was easy to see why the pioneers would sing and dance at the end of a long day of trekking, it truly lifts your spirit and energizes even old missionaries like us.  We stayed the last night at the Dairy Bowl, one of my favorite camps.  It is a big open area.  We had a great talk by the Stake President, President Childs, and then the kids were given an hour of solo time where they read their scriptures, wrote in their journals, prayed, and wrote on a Popsicle stick the sin or weakness they wanted to give up and remove from their lives.  They went off by themselves and there was absolute silence for one hour.  There was plenty of room in this large meadow and we even participated in the quiet time.  I think Bob mostly slept, but I filled my stick with things to change in my life.  That night they all threw their stick in the fire symbolizing how we can repent and give it to the Savior who has already paid the price for our sins and weaknesses.  Our last day out on this trail is one of the shortest.  We always love the kids and treks but we also like to get home a bit earlier than usual and this trail is one where that can happen, but they got notified that their "old" school buses would not get there until 1 or 1:30.  So much for an early out.  What they did, however was, they wanted to do a service project for the ranch.  Yeah!  we got shovels for them and they filled lots of badger holes with rocks and dirt.  It was fun to see the young ladies fill their aprons with rocks to throw down the badger holes.  It was great fun for them and great service for us.  One thing that made this trek so special, I believe, was all the music they used every day.  Music always brings the spirit to me and this was definitely a spirit filled Trek!

one of the many Sego Lilies in bloom right now

Today was Stake conference and it was a great meeting.  Much about missionary work, temples, and service, all things that mean a lot to both of us.  We had a great week and hope all of you did too.

Unforseen challenges and benefits.

Tuesday, we spent getting ready for our new arrivals and mowing the lawn around the depot.

Debra and her new toy

 Debra and I were the lead couple with Elder and Sister Howard from Emmet, ID, as our second couple.  We were on trail #6, which many of us including myself thinks is the best one.  We had 305 total participants from the Orem Heather Ridge Stake.  What a production, I will explain.  They came in 5 large buses and 14 support vehicles (they were only suppose to have 10).  The stake couple that was in charge of the trek activities and spiritual vignettes in camp and along the trail were really fun and good people, however, she had been the assistant director of the Hill Cumorah  pageant for 7 years, and the activities really should have been on a stage rather than on a trail.  We had delicious food contracted and catered by BYU food services, (Debra wants all of you to know that we had lots of BYU brownies and chocolate chip cookies), now I know you are all jealous. They even brought dish washing facilities built into a horse trailer.

Alright, now on to the trek.  Before proceeding I need to mention 3 young men.  Ky is a down syndrome teen, his father was with him and they were determined to walk all 25.8 miles of this trek.  He was slow and easily distracted and would just sit down in the trail.  He had a fascination with the 4 wheeler that we follow each trek with for emergencies.  With permission of his father and Stake President we drove the 4 wheeler past him and just a little ways in front of him.  He jumped up off the ground and continued on as needed.  He finished the entire trek!!

Gabe

 Gabe was abused as a small child and has cerebral palsy and a huge spirit.  He was also determined to make the entire trek.  At mile 14 he checked in with the trek doctor and had 3 toe nails removed and was told that he would have to ride the remainder.  His trek family asked me if they could load him on there hand cart and pull him, I approved it for medical reasons, and they loaded him on the cart and pulled him up the women's pull to camp.  He then rode in a vehicle after that.  He did not stop walking and doing all that the others did while in camp never complaining once!!

Michael Roberts being pulled

We knew before the group arrived that Michael a non verbal, down syndrome with celiac disease and a number of other infirmities would be coming on the morning of day 2. He was to be pushed by all youth that wanted to in his 3 wheeler and was then to leave that night.  However, he was enjoying himself so well that he and his parents got to stay for day 3 also.  These 3 young men and how they were treated and included made quite an impression on us.

Wednesday, we got started on our 10 mile first day.  The sun was shinning and the temperature was nice, but the wind was blowing hard.  35 and 40 mile per hour wind gusts was a challenge, especially the last 4 miles where 3 of those miles was on a high ridge and uphill into the wind.  Camp was in a valley that offered some protection over night.

Thursday, was to be a fairly easy 4 mile day, however this is a working cattle ranch and there were several hundred cows in our second night camp.  The real pioneers would have put up with it but we can't.

The cows were not happy when we showed up

We had to move our camp 2 additional miles, giving us 6 miles and an afternoon "women's pull".  "Women's pulls are designed to be a difficult challenge for women and are almost always held in the morning when the women are not already tired. This particular trail has the most difficult women's pull on the ranch.  The total number of women are divided into 6 or 7 per hand cart and the remaining hand carts are taken up the pull by the men giving the men a sense of the difficulty the women will be facing.  This trek group had the men silently lining the last 100 yards of the pull with there hats over there hearts in respect to the women. It is an awesome sight watching these valiant women pushing and pulling their cart up big inclines with grit and determination on their faces, gasping for air and coaxing each other to make the top.

Part of the Women's Pull

Looking up the Women's Pull

Our new campsite worked very well giving each a fantastic view of the Uintah Mountains and a good portion of the ranch.  That evening on our way back to our trailer we seen a huge cow moose just off the side of the road.  This ranch has about 200 moose, trophy elk, deer and fish. Outfitters will charge you a bundle to hunt here and those revenues also support the ranch.

Friday turned into a manageable 8 miles.  About 4 of those are downhill, those of you who have trekked know that downhill does not always mean easier.  Our 3rd camp is a big meadow with nice grass.  We had a mountain man on the trek that put up a 30 foot tall teepee and did hatchet throwing and leather working.  We had spare ribs and bbq chicken this night. I guess there is no way that I will loose weight, even hiking 25 trail miles per week.

Dave the Mtn Man and water buffalo driver and liked strange headwear

Bob cat head dress

Saturday was a 4 mile hike out to the buses.  Each of the 305 trekkers was given a rock to carry as a burden.  They were as big as baking potatoes.  Just in sight of the buses and a pulled chicken Cafe Rio style lunch.  They stopped the trekkers and had a review of the trek and they built a rock monument with there rocks.  This is a big no, no.  We decided to let the youth go to lunch and there leaders were to take down the monument out of sight of the youth.  We then proceeded to fill badger holes with these rocks.  I only got in a little trouble for that.

The burden monument

 We then took a quick shower and drove to the Ogden Temple. Nice way to end the day.
Sunday our missionary choir made the trip to Woodruff, UT to sing in their Sacrament Meeting.  Nice ward but unless you have a reason to go there it will never happen, it is out in the boonies and not very accessible. All of them went by was of Evanston except us, because we were in Ogden.  Driving from Ogden is a very scenic long hour and 3/4 drive. This road is only open in the summer and tops out at 20' shy of 9000'.  Like I said there are not to many ways to get to Woodruff.

Trekking at the Ranch

Tuesday was a day learning the final things we need to know to help our trek groups have a fun, safe, but challenging trek.  We spent the day filling the water buffalo's (6 of them hold 500 gallons and1 holds 750 gallons). At 8 pounds per gallon these buffalo's are a trial to pull around on the dirt roads on the ranch.  But they are a necessity for eating and keeping people hydrated.  Our 1st trek had 186 people on it and they used about 1000 gallons of water over 4 days. No bathing or shampooing is allowed.

500 gallon water buffalo.  They fill with the spickets at the back

We started trekking on Wednesday morning, our 186 trekkers used 15 handcarts and had a 7 vehicle support group.  The trek group was from the Utah Granite View Stake and we had Elder and Sister Binkerhoff (Emmett, ID) with us.  The support vehicles pull camping equipment, food, cooking equipment, porta johns, water and medical.  Each group has at least 1doctor and a 1 nurse assigned to take care of health issues.  We had a healthy group with only blister care including Elder Barton who someone told wearing nylons under your socks was a good idea - It did not work for me - so I have sworn off wearing nylons!!!  We had one 14 year old girl who came with flu symptoms and ended up having 4 IV's on her third day.  She finished the trek strong.  One of the coincidences , NO, miracles for us was; We fixed our own lunch on the 1st day of the trek and not knowing whether they would feed us lunch on the 2nd day, Debra asked me if I wanted my favorite turkey and swiss sandwich, and for some reason I told her just to make me a peanut butter and honey to carry with us.  We stopped the trek for lunch and one of the adult leaders comes up to the cooking staff and says - we have an autistic girl that will not eat anything but peanut butter - the cooking staff said the only thing we brought for the trekkers is chicken salad wraps.  I said to myself, out loud of course, hey I have a peanut butter and honey sandwich, if you'll trade.  She said deal.  I asked a little bit later if our autistic girl ate it and was told that it was perfect right down to the white bread.  Yeah!

Utah Granite View Stake.  Flags flying

Our first trekkers June 8-11.  Utah Granite View Stake

Debra celebrated her 64th birthday on Friday by waking up to a decorated trailer and Sister Cowan, our trek director, playing Happy Birthday on her Kazoo.   When we joined the trekkers our water buffalo driver, Ronnie, announced to the camp that it was my birthday and they all sang to me.   He did the same thing at lunch and dinner.........I have never had so many people sing happy birthday in one day in 64 years.

Debra by her birthday trailer

Well it is spring on the ranch.  Baby birds, antelope, and mosquitoes are ever present.  The birds and antelope are quite cute.  The mosquitoes are obnoxious.  Were told that they tend to lessen after a couple of weeks.  You will not believe how close we have been able to get to each of these.  In fact I don't believe I will ever get closer to an antelope in my life, see video.  We also have a resident buck antelope, Redick, who thinks his home is among our trailers.

Redick, our resident antelope

4 hungry baby birds in "Christy's" pavillion

Our trek ended on Saturday with a live band and pizza (a little over the top for us, we would have wished that the band had not been there) before loading there buses and sending this great and changed trek group back to there homes and the world.  The change that comes over each person that endures the hardships of a 25 mile trek is amazing.  They get here with anticipation and energy and leave tired, dirty and filled with the pioneer spirit.
We have a missionary choir that Debra is the director of.  We sang Sally DeFord's, "To Those Who Came Before Me" in a Evanston, WY ward this morning.  It is a beautiful song reminding us of our pioneer heritage, and it went very well.

Rockin at the Ranch

This week started as all the missionaries went in to Evanston for a Memorial Day celebration at an old restored round house.  It has been beautifully restored and was very interesting and inspiring. Evanston was and still is a big railroad city. Two of our Elders marched with the Veterans as they did the flag ceremony.  We are ever grateful to those who came before us, both pioneers and veterans, who have made our lives much more pleasant and free.
After the ceremonies, we did the "river walk" along the Bear River and saw buffalo, elk, and lots of birds. It was about a 5 mile hike.  I am sure it will help us as we walk that much and more each day when treks begin this week., however, it won't be on an improved paths.

Our missionaries on the river walk

We spent 3 days shoveling gravel, dirt and rocks to fill in what we lovingly refered to as the Grand Canyons.  These are areas on the trails that have been washed out by rains and runoff.  Bob made a graceful "tuck and roll" as he fell out of the back of the truck.  He was sore that day but was back on his feet the next day for more work.

Bob on rock shoveling duty.  Debra was doing it too but was taking the picture this time

Bob had fun driving a Japanese Mitsubishi little truck we fondly call "Chip".  The mission has two of them and the other is called "Dale".  It's steering wheel is on the right side and you shift with your left hand.  It is quite an experience.

Bob driving Dale's twin Chip

Mike Meek, the Ranch Manager, came and told us more about the ranch.  It is now 300,000 acres and has 6,000 head of cattle.  It is also dedicated land to have youth and adults trek, and connect with their ancestors.  It is also like a wildlife reserve and has so many animals and birds and some endangered species.  Badgers are not one of those that are endangered and they are not our friends as their holes are everywhere.  Some of that rock was filling badger holes.  We have seen several of them.  They are very interesting and very mean.
On Friday we went with the Moon sisters to tour more pioneer sites and trails.  We started out at Fort Bridger and I was surprised how many things are there to learn about.  We spent about 3 hours there and could easily have spent all day.

Fort Bridger Wyoming

We hiked up to a rock up on a hill along the Mormon trail where Philo Dibble Jr carved his name as he was on guard duty when Johnston's army was heading to Salt Lake City. It was carved on November 24, 1857.  When we walked up that trail I could not even imagine how they got handcarts down there let alone wagons and oxen and horses?  They were definitely a hardy bunch of people.

Philo Dibble Jr Rock Nov. 24, 1857

climbing up to Dibble rock

We went to the Needles, a bunch of rock outcroppings, that were mentioned in many pioneer journals, and several markers locating the Mormon and California trails.

The Needles in Wyoming

We also visited an old culvert built by the Chinese who did much of the dirt and leveling work for the original trans continental railroad.  The trains no longer use that train bed but it was fun crawling through the culvert.  Supposedly we will now have good luck!

The old train culvert key stone arch

Our weather has been gorgeous this week and it looks like we have great weather for our first trek.