LDS Pioneer Trek

Suggestions for a Better Trek Experience

Based on our experience at Martin's Cove, I would suggest that people going in the future do the following:

Avoid having too many meetings in preparation for the trek.  It's good to be prepared, but too many meetings can exhaust already overburdened parents and leaders and even set expectations of the youth too high.  The youth in our stake were lectured continually about not wasting this incredible, life-changing experience.  Knowing the rebellious mind-sets of many youth, it would work better to simply let them experience it first hand and come to their own conclusions about its life changing powers.  In other words, the really humbling, transformative things are going to happen on the trek, not in unnecessary meetings and long orientations before you go.

Don't try to economize so much on food that the youth end up fixating on each meal's weird or poor quality.  For example, our stake purchased a ton of pre-cooked potatoes from a local university and used them in various ways in four successive meals.  They were already disgusting for the first meal (slimy, slug-like grey masses), and only got worse with each manifestation (undercooked hash-browns and filler material in several fajita mixes).  The food can be simple, even pioneer-like, but don't send the message to the youth and leaders that they're not worth some quality and variety.

Allow the youth some time to act silly and have some down time to socialize.  Overplanning their schedule and trying to enforce a continual level of seriousness can sour the experience for some youth who are eager for the social opportunities that come with youth conference.

Signed,

Anonymous...

Martin's Cove: Don't Make it Too Easy

My husband and I were involved in our stake's Pioneer Trek a couple of years ago. I was disappointed in several of the decisions made. We went to Martin's Cove and although there were many positive experiences throughout the week I would have done some things differently.

The following 2 things I would have changed:

1. The food was prepared & cleaned up by a staff of adults every meal with no pioneer recipes/foods included. Their idea was that if the youth heard that they would be eating only pioneer food they would not come. They also gave them koolaid in their water jugs on the handcarts and the Ma's and Pa's had treats/candy in their backpacks that they gave out along the trail. They never went hungry or thirsty.

2. The Women's Pull was maybe 45 seconds long. The men didn't stay with their families but walked behind talking with each other. When the pull was finished the Stake President pulled the young men aside and gave them a talk on chastity. The whole experience was so disappointing.

On a positive note.....

1. They did square dancing with a fiddler and a caller for over an hour. That involved everyone and was a lot of fun.

2. We had someone video the entire week and then made a movie of it to show at the closing fireside after we came home.

Because we were at Martin's Cove there were some restrictions. It was a good experience, but, after comparing it with my Treking experiences the youth did not get a true and authentic "Pioneer experience" like they could have. Much more could have been learned.

Janet

Planning: The Key to a Great Pioneer Trek

I am looking for comments from those who have participated in Pioneer Treks.  What worked?  What didn't work?  Feel free to post your comments below.

Careful Planning About Beginning of Trek and Family Division

·         Separate friends – it is critical that as you set up different family units you do everything you can to separate close friends; as much as they would like to be together, the problem that will arise is that they have a difficult if not impossible time bonding with the other members of the family and one of the main goals of Pioneer Trek should be to help foster unity among Ward and Stake members, rather than simply reinforcing existing friendships

·         Each family member gets a new nickname – some Stakes don’t do this but we found that it was very helpful and got things off to a good start; the nickname should be something positive or fun and you should let the individual come up with their own name if they can rather than let others assign the name; if the individual can’t come up with something then it is ok for others to suggest something positive or fun

·         Each family should get its own name – the family will bond better if it has its own name, even if it is just something fun like the “Clampetts” – also you might want to consider letting each family create their own banner and letting each person write their nickname and/or real name on the banner

·         Candy, food and electronics – I can’t caution you enough what a disaster these things can be, particularly for the youth who already have a tendency to be rebellious or outcasts; you should schedule a very well-organized shake-down at the very beginning of the trek and train the ma’s and pa’s on how to go through everything the kids have, including each item of clothing and each bag, and place any “contraband” in a separate bag assigned to each family to be returned at the end of the trek