youth pioneer trek - rock creek hollow

after packing up camp, we headed another hour or so west to rock creek hollow.  each of the places we visited has a special spirit about it and this was no exception.  rock creek hollow is such a quiet, peaceful, beautiful place.  i seriously could have stayed there forever.

our group listening to the missionaries at the common grave at rock creek hollow.

nathan standing in front of the common grave at rock creek hollow.  behind nathan, 13 people were buried in a common grave in 1856.  look it up here.

our fearless leaders talking to us

our whole group

kent, debbie, nathan and i

nathan and i

after visiting the common grave and a few people sharing their feelings, we walked back out to the campsites at rock creek to have lunch.

nathan spent about 4 years as the teacher's quorum advisor.  he got to know a bunch of the guys really well and it is apparent that they think as highly of him as he does of them.  they were messing around while waiting to eat and i snapped some pictures of them.

tyson and nathan

trevor, nathan and collin

nathan and caleb

collin and nathan

jake, caleb, trevor, bryce and nathan

eating lunch at rock creek hollow

sister colledge, brother demers and brother hillock at lunch

brother neel keeping an eye on things

sister walker and sister smith chatting over some lunch

sister peatross hides in her bonnet

sister walker, sister smith, sister morgan, sister lund, sister and brother harris sitting on the fence

me taking a picture of my reflection

meagan and sister black chatting

bishop lund, brother hillock and sister hillock chatting

sister hillock showing me her sloppy joe stain

bishop mansfield eating a sloppy joe

kyler cooling himself off

hanging out and waiting to head home

cooter and alicia larsen

some of "my girls"

sister smith just can't hold it any longer....

youth pioneer trek - willie center / 6th crossing

 after we left martin's cove, we traveled about an hour to the willie center where we set up camp.  the next morning, we got started.  first up was our water crossing.

nathan and i getting ready for the water crossing

the montgomery "family"  left to right: wyatt, rylie, tessa, dan, angella, lexy, and kynlie

 nathan and i again

brother allgaier and nathan checking out the water before our crossing

i went barefoot across the river and it was cold!  thankfully it wasn't too deep.  once i got to the other side, sister harris, brother allgaier and i played come, come ye saints on our harmonicas while everyone else crossed the river. so sorry, no pictures.

the wind was so bad!  my hair was a mess and full of dirt.

but we were all still smiling!

our committee cart - nathan and brother doel push the cart

brother demers, brother rowley and brother madsen pull the cart.

the rest of the committee walking behind the cart

at one of our bathroom stops, the larsen's decided to try on each other's hats.

 the willie meadow

after lunch came the woman's pull.  it was a lot longer than i had anticipated, but we had quite a few women to pull the committee handcart.  the committee cart was the first cart up the hill.  someday i may post my feelings about all of this but not today.

here is the video that nathan shot of us coming up the woman's pull at the willie center.  i am on the far left pulling the cart.

the mormon handcart facebook site also posted this picture of us.  sister kris colledge is pushing the handcart.  in the front pulling the hardcart from left to right is me, sister andrea peatross, sister anna black and sister stephanie walker.

before starting out for the day, we had given each family a "baby" and asked them to look after the baby.  it was just a cloth doll that sister harris had put together.  during the day, we watched to see which families were really bonding and looking after their babies.

later in the day, after the woman's pull, we separately pulled aside two families, waited for the rest of the group to move on and then told them that their babies had died.  the talley "family" took it pretty hard.  they didn't want to leave the baby, but i told them they had to.  they gathered rocks and sticks so that they could bury their baby along the trail.

after they had the baby buried, brother talley took a minute to talk to his family about how they would feel if the baby had been real and their sibling.  

 

sister talley gives her baby one last look before leaving.

it felt a little morbid taking a picture of their baby's grave, but i thought it was so neat how much time they took to bury their doll.

don't worry, we did pick up the babies after the families had moved on down the trail.

once we returned to our camp, we ate dinner and danced.  no pictures of that either.  i was too busy dancing!