Sporting attire better befitting the 1850s than the 21st century, 94 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spent three days and two nights over the weekend forging ahead on the hot and dusty trail across the Santa Cruz Mountains to learn about the history of their faith.
Pulling peddler’s handcarts, the participants hiked 12 miles in commemoration of the 3,000 pioneers of the Mormon faith who traveled — on foot — the 1,300-mile trail from the Midwest states to the Salt Lake Valley between 1856 and 1860 to escape religious persecution.
According to the information guide for the event, though the Mormons had been migrating to what is now Utah since 1846, there was little money left by 1856 for new travelers to acquire oxen and proper wagons, so human-pulled carts were substituted.
“I’m excited to try and imagine and experience what (the pioneers) went through,” said 16-year-old Dallin Scott, a Ben Lomond resident.
Each group in the trek was designated a family unit, with five to seven youths led by an adult married couple to serve as “Ma and Pa.” All were assigned the names of actual pioneers to travel the Mormon Trail.
Each person in the family unit took turns pulling the carts said Boulder Creek resident Kirk Williams, the “Pa” for the family unit representing the San Lorenzo Valley.
“We all share in the burden of it,” he said.
The 12 wagons left from the southern end of Swanton Road in Davenport at about 3 o’clock Thursday afternoon, loaded with each individual’s 17 pounds of allotted baggage.
The pioneers hiked 2 miles — mostly uphill — the first day before setting up camp for the night on property owned by Big Creek Lumber.
The day ended with scripture study before stories and songs similar to those their ancestors would have enjoyed.
Media representative Wes Sims described the first night’s celebration as a hoedown, complete with fiddle players, square dancing and songs around the campfire.
The second day, the travelers pulled their wagons eight miles to the church-owned Lehigh Park, near Empire Grade Road, before making the descent into Little Basin in Boulder Creek the next day.
Williams, whose sons had participated in previous treks, said he hoped to find a greater appreciation for what the pioneers had gone through to escape persecution.
“You can read books, but until you get out and pull one of these carts, you just can’t visualize it,” Williams said. “There was a lot of heartache crossing the plains; a lot of people didn’t make it.”
This time, at least, all the pioneers completed the trek.
“Save for some poison oak, everybody came back safe,” Sims said.
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