On July 22, 120 Mormon youth set out on a beautiful summer day to replicate the trek their ancestors took to the Salt Lake Valley in the 1850s.

The young men and women from the Cranbrook Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints dressed in authentic pioneer clothing for Trek 2009. Each separated into new family groups and pulled with them a large handcart filled with the necessary supplies to survive the mountains for four days and 18 kilometres. No modern conveniences were allowed. The youth were not even allowed to bring along their iPods for entertainment.

Luckily, the organizers made an exception for cameras, and the beautiful scenery was captured for those who didn’t go along.

About 60 adults accompanied the youth to act as ma’s, pa’s, aunts, uncles and grandparents. The pioneers were led by a trail master on horseback.

The newly established families set off from the Mallard family farm up the Fort Steele – Wardner Rd. The 120 trekkers left on a hot day with temperatures reaching into the 30s, kicking up dust as they left the farm.

“This is all for the youth,” said organizer Brenna Mallard, who along with her family hosted the send off and arrival of the trek and helped organize the activities and everything that goes along. Trek is held every four years.

While the temperature was hot, the young men and women did not seem perturbed as they left, laughing and getting to know their new families that they would be hiking alongside for the next few days.

Hannah Astle, 17, from Nelson who participated in the trek, was looking forward to her second pioneer adventure to “hopefully become strengthened in the gospel.”

Hannah said she was looking forward to her second time around. “I’m really excited, it was awesome the first time,” she said. She was looking forward to the chance to make new friends along the way.

Olasha Baff, 15, was setting out on her first trek “to understand more of what the pioneers had to go through,” she said.

Both Olasha and Hannah were looking forward to even the tough parts of the trek, including pulling the handcarts and sleeping on the ground without foamies or pillows.

Besides pulling authentic handcarts over the rough terrain, the youth had to cook their own food – just like their ancestors did in the 1850s when they made their 2,000 km journey along the Salt Lake Valley to religious freedom.

Olasha says the most difficult part was when they had to push the handcarts up a big hill.

“We had to go up this one hill and it was quite steep and rocky, and we had to pull our handcarts up there,” she said. “It probably took about two hours just to get everyone up the hill.”

The pioneers banded together to get the carts up the hill, with many people pushing each cart at once and family groups helping others. “Lots of teamwork,” said Olasha.

They made their own bread and butter, baked cornbread and biscuits on an open fire and evening meals were made in dutch ovens.

“It was fun learning how to cook using dutch ovens instead of fires,” said Olasha. She says it’s a good skill to know for future camping excursions.

Every night, the youth recounted tales of their own ancestor’s trek around the campfire, in between singing hymns and square dancing, The hymns sung were those that the Mormon pioneers composed around similar campfires over 100 years ago.

Olasha enjoyed the campfires and “being able to talk to everybody, sharing our feelings about doing the same thing,”

The youth got to experience true pioneer life as it would have been in the 1850s, with visits from the sheriff, the pony express, First Nations people and famous Mormon historical character, Porter Rockwell.

After the trek, Olasha said it was a good experience.

“It’s kind of like going camping, but a lot more fun,” she said. “You get to do a lot more things that people did in the old days.”

A rather violent lightning storm hit the area during the adventure, but organizer Linnea Mallard says it didn’t faze the trekkers at all.

“You know what? Nobody complained,” she said. “We all got extremely wet, but then we dried off.”

Olasha agreed.

“It wasn’t that bad where we were,” she said. “It was kind of scary.” She says everyone got a bit wet, but it didn’t put a damper on activities.

The storm struck right as preparations for dinner were being made. “We were plucking chickens at the time,” Linnea said laughing.

“I enjoyed it, despite that,” Olasha said.

The trek went pretty smoothly besides a few minor bumps. Brenna says a few people had to get stitches, and one girl suffered fairly severe heat stroke. The girl was being carried by her brother across a river when she began to look ill during a re-enactment.

“I ran in my stinking pioneer outfit about 4-5 kilometres to get the quad to get her out,” Brenna said. The girl was taken to hospital safely, and besides feeling a bit sick still is doing fine.

In the 1850s, 62,000 Mormon pioneers made their way across America to the Salt Lake Valley to their new home. Many died along the way from exposure to the cold, hunger, illness and other problems. One of the first of those pioneers to arrive was Brigham Young, who was instrumental in organizing many of these treks across the American plains.

During the send off for the modern day Kootenay pioneers, a letter by Brigham Young was read before the trail master lead the group out for Cranbrook stake president Randy Reay. The Cranbrook Stake of the Mormon church encompasses most of the Kootenays.

While the modern day Mormon pioneers got only a little taste of the more than 2,000 kilometres their ancestors took, they were exposed to the hardships they faced.

Linnea says the trek was an amazing experience for those involved. “The kids came off of it on a spiritual high,” said Linnea.

“It was definitely something I would do again, I think lots of people agreed that it was something they’d do again,” said Olasha.

Trek 2009 may be over, but the experience and the skills learned will stay with the youth for a long time to come.