I hope they had a lot of food for the kids. It's true that the pioneers had to pull their carts while not having much food, but they had had several weeks of pulling their carts before they ran out of food. To take kids "off the street" and require them to pull carts while not eating much food is unwise.

Shiesh! I love how people like to do reenactments of torture. Those times will come again soon enough.

Preparedness is always good. Every ward should have a drill team for this kind of stuff. They could do ward projects like this and build handcarts for each ward member to put in their food storage.

Tina and dont skip th food You are both wrong. Took a group of youth from California to Martins Cove a couple of summers ago. The trek was planned a year in advance and the youth and leaders were encouraged to train for the June trip starting in January. We had food but not what we were use to at home.We ate like the pioneers and cooked over fires and in dutch ovens. We had to be creative for some of the meals but it was no where near what he pioneers had to do. This was one of the greatest experiences our family and stake has ever had.It was not a reencatment of torture but one that was was very spiritual and fun for all envolved. I saw youth and adults whos lives were changed for the better by our trip. It wasnt easy for this grandma but I would do it again in a minute. I still have youth who were part of my handcart family who still call me "Ma" and keep contact with my husband and I 3 years later.

How silly. I would be impressed if they walked a few hundred miles with their cars full. This is just another church publicity stunt.

That looks like dry ground to me. Where is the snow?

Um, I think this is kind of dumb too. If people just want to go camping then do it. But don't dress up and try to be silly looking, and think you are truly acting like REAL pioneers. LAUGHING!

I would expect this kind of behavior from people living in Tootle town, Woods Cross, and West Valley, and few other places included in Utah, but never classy SLC. Also, some California areas most definitely!

This looks like a mascaraed party to me. Mascaraed party's can be a lot of fun. I once went to a masquerade party and I dressed up like the Road Runner, and my sister was dressed as a blue tailed lizard.

Of course the youth can't experience the entire trek in 3 days! However, for 3 days they leave the modern world behind, and their electric side-kicks. They adjust to new people, learn that they are essential if the group is to get through, get to see in a small way what the early pioneers went through, and reflect on why these people persevered. Our stake did their very first trek this last summer. The preparation was intense and took a lot of volunteer work and commitment, plus time off work for the adults during the trek. Some kids didn't want to go, but without exception, every single one of them came back wanting to do it again the next time we do it. The youth were assigned an actual pioneer name, and during the trek events were read about them. 'Babies' died on the trail, people got 'hurt', the men had to leave the women/girls behind when they went to the Mormon Battalion. Boys carried trekkers up a hill at the end.A neighboring stake is going to benefit from our 'pioneering' effort in putting this on, and wants to have their youth do a trek either this year or next.

What a waste of time.