May18,2019 - We have been here for 2 1/2 weeks now and beginning to get familiar with the 6 trekking trails and their support routes. Most of the handcarts, porta johns and water buffaloes are cleaned up and ready to go. Our 5th wheel trailer has been fun to live in and we enjoy working with the 10 other missionary couples that are here. We have experienced sun, rain, snow and wind, just like they told us we would. The ranch is a beautiful place, and last week we had dinner with the ranch manager, the wildlife manager and the Cowboy boss, all who gave us presentations on their responsibilities and how trekking fit in to the ranch's purpose. I never thought much about herd management, land management and wildlife management before, and they gave us a good overview about all of it. We also took a field trip into WY with Jolene Allphin, the author of the book "Tell My Story Too" which is all about the people who were part of the Willie and Martin handcart companies and the Hodgett and Hunt Wagon companies who traveled the plains in 1856. It also contains info on many of the rescuers that came from Salt Lake into WY with food and supplies for them. We visited a memorial Mormon trail marker outside of Evanston which included the grave marker of Archibald McPhail (Willie Co.), then further into WY we stopped at a portion of the combined Oregon/Mormon Trail and walked it for awhile. Jolene told us the story of rescuer Joseph Young, who was called the Blue Angel, because he rode in during a storm on a white mule and wearing a big blue coat. We ate some homemade bread with butter and honey, and imagined what it would have been like for those starving saints to have received food and comfort from the rescue parties. We then went on to Rock Creek Hollow, just a few miles from Rocky Ridge - the site of the worst part of the journey for the Willie Co. At RCH there is a picnic area and memorial plaque and a gravesite marker with the names of the 13 people that were buried there in late October, having succumbed to the freezing weather and the difficult journey. Jolene told us a little bit about each of those buried there. It is surely "sacred ground" and we could feel it as we walked thru the area.
Today we had 2 route reviews with the leaders of 2 of the stakes that will be coming on trek this season. On the RR, we drive the support road with them and point out the campsites and other stop sites they need to know about for their trek. We go over details and show them some of the items that other trek groups have used in the past, to give them ideas for their treks. It's usually a 2-3 hr. process. Tomorrow we will go to church in Evanston and sing a special hymn in Sac Mtg called "A Pioneering Heart". The words are beautiful and especially more meaningful to us after our field trip with Sis. Allphin. We are really beginning to get the spirit of the pioneers in our blood now - their faith, courage and sacrifice - in following the call to come to Zion.
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