Pioneer Trek - 2013

I am terribly behind on blogging. Our summer has been one thing after another with little down time in between. Now that things have settled a bit - I hope to do some catching up.

Addie and I were home from New York City for 3 days before we had to gear ourselves up for the next adventure - Pioneer Trek!  Wes and I were so excited to go as grandparents this year - especially because both Addie and Isaac would be on the trail with us. 

We met the month before with our "family" to decorate our trek buckets.  I couldn't believe the creativity! 
This is "M's" work in progress.  Wait until you see the finished product!

There will be an entire post devoted to Weston's beard!

The finished product!!  Isn't it amazing?!  All done with spray paint and stencils.  She is an incredibly talented artist...in real life too!  "M" was the "Ma" for our family.

Isaac did the trail sketch on Weston's bucket.

Another work in progress. "D" was the "Pa" for our family.

Finally it was time to hit the trail! 

That's better - more realistic.

Here we are looking fresh and clean - it wouldn't last long!

In four days we walked/hiked over 32 miles.  It was a tough trail with many hills similar to this one.

This kids in our "family" were such troopers!  They worked so hard - mostly with smiles and without complaint.  I was amazed at their fortitude and good attitudes.

Camp #1

We went on trek four years ago and we were hit with a hailstorm within the first twenty minutes on the trail.  After that we were hiking in several inches of mud.  This trek was mostly dry and hot which meant we hiked through thick, heavy dust.  I'm not sure which was worse.  We had to put on our bandannas in order to breath!

Someone who opted out of the bandanna idea.

On day two we had the traditional women's pull.  It was tough but we did it!  It felt a lot steeper than it looks!  

What a relief when we got to the top!  These are amazing women!

The dust seeped into everything - even if we had clothing on, our skin was still coated with dust.

Poor Addie has been suffering from a joint condition called Osgood Schlatters which has caused her pretty severe knee paint.  We were so nervous that she wouldn't be able to make the trek.  Wes gave her a blessing before she left and she was very determined to stick it out.  She did amazing!  It wasn't easy but she hiked all but 1/4 mile of the 34 miles - even the women's pull.  This is a picture of the one and only time she rode in the cart.  She only lasted about 15 minutes and then decided she wanted to join her family in pushing the cart again.

Our girls - setting up their tent.  Something they had to do every night when we arrived at camp.

Stopping for a water/snack break - time to relax for few minutes.

One morning we woke up to a few sprinkles and this beautiful rainbow.

Our "boys" setting up their tent.  We had such a great family!!!!

Bucket pyramid stacked the morning before we left on our final trek out.

All of us.

Our "family."

It was an amazing experience with some incredible people.  I love trek!!!