Pioneer Trek -- Day 1

Last Thursday, 4:30 AM snuck up on us pretty quickly as we pulled on our Pioneer clothing. While waiting for our carpool, I decided to make the best of the early morning by taking a pre-trek picture:

 Prim and Proper Pioneer

 But on the inside, this 21st Century girl refused to be contained.

 My Pioneer Man -- who was less than enthused by the early hour.

Can you tell which of us is a morning person? (P.S. I definitely borrowed my Pioneer skirt and bonnet. I don't sew and if I ever decided to try, it would not be this attire.)

After a 4-5 hour drive north to St. George, we headed east through Hurricane and Colorodo City and then south into Arizona, stopping just north of the Grand Canyon.

 "Courageous Kiefers" family pic

Grandma Mortensen (Cindy, Bishop's wife), Abby Sundell, James Salls, me and Dan, Ben & Jacob Bartschi, Kali Leavitt, Maicee Campbell, Sydney Roberts

"Bartschi Bandits" family pic (The other family from our ward)

Ryan Campbell, Trent Marx, Bro Bartschi, Carter Krafts, Raleigh Wendell, Will Groethe, Sis Bartschi, Ashley Leavitt, Emily Groethe



 And we're off!

 Working reeaaally hard . . .

 After less than 4 miles, kids were already getting blisters and injured feet. We decided to make it a more realistic experience by carrying our "ill", which actually balanced the cart in a way that made it easier to push/pull.

 Along the way, there were little vignettes where Pioneer skits were performed to add history and emotion to our trek.

 By the 4 mile mark, we reached the lunch site and enjoyed navajo tacos, gatorade and watermelon. One woman had sliced a tray of watermelon for us but Dan was adamant about slicing our watermelon on his own, with the assistance of James and a short knife. It was a "guy thing" apparently (to make life more difficult, I say.)

 This first day, we learned to wait a lot. The bus trip took longer than expected; there was a delay getting started on the trail; we couldn't over-take the other Pioneer "companies" even though we kept catching up to them; and we had to wait for vignettes to be presented to the Pioneers ahead of us.

 But we sang hymns (never collectively knowing more than the first verse), camp songs, silly-made-up songs . . . Our kids were so positive and hard-working!

 Along the way, some persecutors decided to lure us to California to mine for gold.

 Fortunatey, this gentleman dissuaded us with his passionate speech about reaching Zion.

Overall, we had fun pushing and pulling the hand-cart together. In the Kiefer family, we had two boys and four girls. As we walked, the wind and rattling wheels prevented us from hearing each other as a group -- so as we rotated positions around the hand-cart, this gave me ample time to talk one-on-one with each of the kids. I loved getting to know each one of them and discover their varying
interests.

Finally, we made it to camp!



Starving (ignoring the comparison to the real Pioneers) all of us girls grabbed a fork and dug into this "miracle" apple pie that we found on the road-side. We had no shame. Every bite was delicous.

This first day did not go quite as expected. In addition to our late start and record-high temperatures, by the time we reached the lunch site, rumors started flying that the originally scheduled 8 mile trip might be more like 11 miles. We had also been told that the first day would be fairly easy with level trails that eventually sloped downward into camp. In reality, with plenty of up and down hills, we wanted to know who it was that perceived the trail as "easy and even"! We also grew wary and annoyed by the messengers on horse-back or via truck driver (Stake members checking in with us) who kept saying, "You are so close. It's just around the corner. . . " Liars! Miles later, we finally trudged into cramp, sore, blistered, and a little bit irritated that the first day wasn't close to how it had been described to us. We had not been mentally prepared for how exhausting day 1 would be!

Further frustrating for the boys, due to the major delays and extra three miles, it became dark while they were trying to set up our tents. With very little light to assist them, they struggled trying to figure out these unfamiliar tents. However, they completed the task just in time for an amazing pot-roast meal. (The food the entire trip was restaurant quality in taste and portions. Super delicous and no complaints! 14 years ago on MY trek, we were eating oatmeal with extra ash each meal. Sick.)

Our stomachs full and minor injuries treated, we sat as a family on our buckets around our "lanterns" (no fires allowed) for a closing meeting. We asked each kids to go around and say how they felt about the day. There was lots of talk about feeling proud of themselves for pushing further than expected and than they thought possible. Most everyone ended on a positive note, despite voicing their previous concerns and exhaustion. Dan and I were so proud of them.

We talked briefly about how much this first day was like life and the challenges we come across: it doesn't always go as expected, and even when we go through a trial and feel like, "Ok, God, I've had enough" it's not always up to us. But we do have a choice, and that attitude and decision to proceed and learn from the experience is up to us.

With that, we stretched out in our tents on the hard floor but warm enough in our sleeping bags, and fell asleep to the movie "17 Miracles" playing on the projector in the distance.