Martin’s Cove Trek – June 11-14

Watch out this is a novel!

Wednesday June 11 -We had to be at the church at 5 a.m. – so early! We just walked over about 10 minutes early. The Elder’s quorum was there loading the buckets on to the 5 chartered buses. Then the youth started to arrive. We waited for some of the late comers, then Pres. Roberts (stake pres.) gave a morning side devotional. Then about 6 am we loaded the buses and headed for Wyoming. As we were driving through Park City it was snowing really bad, I thought great, it is going to be freezing! Each person was assigned a pioneer name, of an actual person that was in the Martin or Willie Handcart companies. They gave us wristbands to wear with our pioneers’ name on it. My name was Zilpha Loader Jacques. The stake asked us to bring a "baby" (I just brought a doll) and we named it on the bus. We choose Alpha, because my pioneer lady, Zilpha, had a baby on the trek, like in August and he lived. She also had a two-year-old daughter that died about 1 week before they got to Salt Lake. So the rule was that the baby had to always be held, it could never be put in the handcart. The girls were really good to tend him and they even kind of fought over who got to hold him.

We stopped at Independence Rock and some hiked to the top. It was really windy and cold. It was super windy at the top, Ray said probably 60-mph gusts of wind that hurt his ears. Then we finished the ride to Martin’s Cove; it was about a 7-hour bus ride. When we got there it was SO windy. We went to a log building and had a presentation by a missionary and watched a movie. He told us to drink plenty of water and to stay on the trail because there were rattle snakes there. He also said if we saw any snakes in the campground to let the missionaries know and they would help them cross the veil (that drew a lot of laughs).


Our family consisted of Ray and I and 6 girls and 3 boys. We received our handcart and loaded our buckets, pillows, and water jug in it and headed towards the campground. Somehow we were the last handcart to leave. It was about a 2-½ mile trek to the East Cherry Camp ground. Then we set up our tents. We had a GIANT tent that all 6 girls stayed in and it was a PAIN to set up in the wind. It took practically all of us to set it up because we had to stand on all the corners to keep it from blowing away. It took us about an hour just to do that one. Then Ray and I set up ours (this little orange one) and the boys did theirs(red and black / yellow and black) The girl's tent has the handcart tipped up next to it.


We had a food committee that cooked all the food for everyone. Then we just took our cooler over to them and they filled it with our families dinner. It was really nice to not have to worry about cooking too. So for dinner the first night we had mashed potatoes and gravy, corn and chicken. Each item was in a gallon size Ziploc bag, which made it awkward to serve because we just had little plastic spoons. So I used some of the cups to scoop out the gravy and corn and two little spoons for the potatoes and chicken. It was so windy and cold that the all the kids just ate in their tents. But since our tent was so small, We just tipped the hand cart up and that provided a little bit of a wind brake, so I just put my bucket next to it and sat there. I was so happy that I brought gloves, an ear warmer thing and my big winter coat because I needed them – it was cold!

After dinner we went to a pioneer story presentation by the missionaries then walked to a gravel parking lot for Square Dancing. We walked back and had our family devotional on journals. We had it in the girls’ tent to be out of the wind, but it was so LOUD in there from the tent flapping in the wind that it was hard to hear each other. I encouraged them all to write in their journals during the trek and then we all got ready for bed and went to sleep. Well, I got in my tent and tried to sleep. It was so loud with all the wind and tents flapping, that I did not sleep well that night!

Thursday we got up and the wind was still blowing hard. We had a number 10 can given to us and we filled it with water and put it on the fire to heat up. It got so much ash in it but we just added the hot coca to it and you couldn’t see how GROSS the water looked. We had our morning devotional, it was an idea from the stake about when the Martin Company’s flour rations were cut to 4 ounces of flour per day per adult. I passed around a baggie with ½ cup of flour, it only provides 450 calories, and that is all they got for one day! The kids only got 2 ounces a day. It said that in order to pull the handcart a man needed 4000 calories a day. I can not even imagine how hungry they were. Several of the fathers gave their rations to their kids, and then the dads died because they didn’t have the strength to keep going.


After breakfast we loaded up our cart and trekked to Dan Jones Cove. We sang songs as we waited for everyone to arrive then Pres. Vogel of the stake presidency gave a talk about what took place there, I didn’t know about any of it. They had all the ma’s and pa’s and aunts and uncles stand side by side along the trail as the youth left, to represent the 50+ people that died in Martin’s cove. From Dan Jones Cove we walked up to Martin’s Cove, the actual cove where the pioneers stayed for 4 days. It was a SILENT walk, to reflect on what happened there. I kept thinking that the wind was probably as bad and instead of being 59 degrees like it was for us, it was freezing and there was 18 inches of snow; they also didn’t have warm coats or even good shoes if they had shoes. I also thought about the real Alpha, he would have been 3 months old in those conditions, it’s a miracle that he survived when so many did not.

After the walk we ate lunch at a pavilion with picnic tables so that was nice and the sun came out. We were supposed to cross the Sweetwater river, but it normally comes up to a person’s knees and it was waist high, so they decided not to. The weather changed back to cloudy and we could see a storm blowing in. We trekked a bit then they asked the boys to leave to serve in the Mormon Battalion and a SR sister missionary talked to just the women. We got rained on and then it hailed, then just the women pulled the handcarts up a huge hill. We were lucky that there we 7 of us to pull and push the cart. Some of the families only had 3 women total and it was really hard for them. The men lined the hill on both sides of the trail and were silent as we pulled up the hill past them. During the whole trek so far, I had not pushed or pulled the handcart because we were told that the youth should do it. But I helped push up the hill and held on after that. It was amazing how it pulled me along, I can see how it would of helped to just hold on, it kept me going the same pace, where as before I would fall behind because I didn’t have that momentum pulling me along. It is a lot like the gospel, it pulls us along though hard times. If we let go, it is harder to keep up, and you kind of get left behind.

Then we trekked back to the campground. I think that day we trekked 7 miles. When we got back to camp it was still raining. One of the poles on the big tent had broken and most of the girls’ stuff was wet. So Ray helped them take their stuff over to the semi to dry and rigged up the pole so the tent would still stand. It continued to drizzle and there was not much cover. I got in our tent and took a nap for a bit while it rained. It stopped raining so we could eat dinner, then we broke up and went to our individual wards for "ward time". Members of our ward shared some pioneer stories about their ancestors, then we all headed over to the big amphitheater for the Ephraim Hanks presentation. The SR couple did an excellent job with their presentation. They had the Pioneer Express come and they brought each youth a letter from their parents. Then they had a stake testimony meeting. I was amazed at the testimonies of these youth. It got dark and REALLY cold by the time it was over. We headed back to camp, sat around the campfire, had our family time and devotional and then went to bed. Oh, I forgot to mention that the wind died down after the storm -so it was pleasant, but a tad cold.

Friday morning there was frost on our tent, but I slept much better. The wind was still minimal, so everyone seemed pleased. We had our family devotional and ate breakfast then we struck camp (packed up everything) and then trekked back to the visitors’ center. It was actually quite warm, and I didn’t need my coat anymore. We loaded the buses and ate our lunch on our way to Rock Creek.


When we arrived at Rock Creek they sprayed us for ticks – I HATE TICKS- I am paranoid about them. I didn’t see any, but people I talked to afterward did. I still think that maybe some came home with us and I hope they aren’t in our back yard or worse in our house. We set up our camp, it went much smoother because there wasn’t much wind.

We ate dinner, then we went down to the Amphitheater for a fireside. They told stories about the Willie Handcart company. The Willie Company was 2 weeks ahead of the Martin Company. Rock Creek is where 13 members of their company died, just after crossing Rocky Ridge. There are some grave sites and markers there at Rock Creek. Then we silently walked back to our campground, as we stopped at the different graves and markers. We had 2 hours for family time that night, and the stake gave us some things to do. The youth each wrote a letter to their parents. Then they were supposed to write a personal statement of commitment to being steadfast and immovable. Then we played a game as a family – "signs" – I laughed so much, it was fun. We had a great group of kids. They were all willing to do what we asked. I was really impressed with the girls too, they all became great friends. Ray and I went to bed, a lot of kids stayed up REALLY late that night. Our girls sang songs forever, but I luckily acquired a pair of earplugs from my friend Cindy, so the singing didn’t keep me from sleeping.


Once again on Saturday there was frost on our tent. When I got up 2 of our boys were awake and sitting by our empty fire pit. I asked them where our wood went and they said some one took it, I was kind of mad! I wanted to get some hot water going for hot coca. I went over to the Viertel’s camp site and they had a big fire going, we got a can of water going in their fire , two of her boys left with a handcart and came back with all this wood. I had them tell me where they got it, then I grabbed my two boys and we went and got us some wood. They got the fire going, so that was nice. We ate breakfast and had our devotional, then we stuck camp and loaded everything up. This picture is at Rock Creek, yes the white stuff on the hill behind us is SNOW!


The buses came back to get us and we left around 10 a.m. We got back to the church around 4:30 p.m. It was hot back in UTAH! Tennille called me and said she would be to my house in about 40 minutes. She said that Mike and Ashlee had their baby 3 weeks early and he was in the hospital on oxygen and a feeding tube. My parents had come up earlier that day to see baby Jenson. She also said that Kara had gotten an ear infection and Tennille took her to the Instacare on Thursday.


Tennille got here and Kara looked so sad, her eyes still looked like she didn’t feel good. She really didn’t know what to think. I held her and asked her what my name was but she didn’t want to say anything. Trent and Tyler didn’t seem to care if they were home or not. The first thing Tyler asked me was if he could play the "castle game" – good grief child! My parents arrived shortly after that. They had cell phone pictures of Jenson. He looked so cute! We ordered some pizza, then after we ate my parents and Tennille headed home.


Ray left for Scout camp Monday (June 16th) They went to Moab. They got back Wednesday. He worked Thursday then that night Ray and I went to a work audit group BBQ in Springville. (Randy and Keri tended our kids - thanks guys!) Then Friday Ray left for Logan to run in the Wasatch Back. He got back last night at 5 p.m. It has been quite the 2 weeks for him.