Ever haul a handcart across the lonesome prairie? Mile after mile, day after day?
The pioneers did.
And more than 700 Clark County teens, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, did, too.
In July, the young folks, mostly 14 to 18, engaged in what’s called The Trek, a re-enactment of the westward journey undertaken by pioneers who were driven from their homes by religious persecution in the 1850s and 1860s. The so-called “Mormon Trail” extended from the Midwest all the way to Salt Lake City — a journey of well over 1,000 miles.
This summer’s young pioneer re-enactors hauled hand trucks across 20 to 30 miles on foot over three or four days in the Bing Canyon area near Plymouth. No cell phones, computers, texting or makeup. (Many kids brought musical instruments to provide their own entertainment). Each pioneer was sorted into a new “family,” often with just one or two familiar faces. The girls had to pull their handcarts up steep, dusty hills to recall the time when most pioneer men were enlisted by the U.S. government to fight a war with Mexico. They crossed a river on a pulley-drawn ferry and experienced many other hardships.
“Challenges help define us,” said organizer Carol Maynes. “This pioneer trek helps the young people learn they can do very hard things, and be successful.”
