Adult/Leader Preparation

Introduction

Trek provides an opportunity “to take the youth out of the world in hope of taking the world out of the youth”–Elder Jay E. Jensen.

What is trek this year?

We will be trekking at the Wyoming trek sites Sixth Crossing & Martin's Cove. These sites are 7-8 hours a way from us, but provide a great experience to be in the same places many early pioneers walked on their way to the Salt Lake valley. We will be spending 4 days/3 nights during this trek experience. One point we want to make though is that trek is more of a months long experience rather than just a few days activity in the summer. We will be having multiple activities in lead up to trek. We will preparing physically and spiritually for this experience and that preparation is a big part of having a great experience also.

The Trek Family

Each trek family will be made up of 6-8 youth and some other adults also. We will try to keep each trek family to no more than 12-14 people. Each person coming on trek will be assigned to a trek family, even all the adult leaders. Each trek family will use one handcart on the trail. Each individual will have a bucket to put their "stuff" in and all of these buckets from each family will go in the same hand cart. Families will be involved in a number of activities together on the trail. Each family will trek together during the hiking, have family prayers together, morning and evening devotionals, etc. As an adult leader going on trek, we encourage you to get to know the members in your family and assist the Ma & Pa of your family with some of the responsibilities, such as looking over the well being of each youth, and helping with teaching and encouraging the youth.

This is the official Trek calendar with all the Pre-trek activities we will be doing. Do your best to make it to as many activities as you can.

Before Trek, each participant must fill out and sign a registration form. Click on button below for the form.

Committee Responsibilities

Each Trek Committee's responsibilities can be found below

Trek Daily Schedule

Physical Preparation

Physical preparation will be very important in order to have a good experience at trek. You can develop the strength and stamina needed by obeying the Word of Wisdom, eating a healthy diet, and exercising regularly. You should be prepared to walk two miles an hour and be capable of walking 6 miles a day. Don't procrastinate! Start to prepare physically as soon as you can for trek by increasing physical activity steadily over the months leading up to trek. If you are not currently active, we would recommend you start taking short walks 2-3 times a week as early as February or March. These can be short 15 - 30 minute walks. As each moth passes try to increase your walking time and distance. You may also steadily increase how many days a week you go on a walk. Try and be consistent with this and you will steadily develop more stamina and ability to handle longer walks. If you can eventually get to where you are doing 6 miles of walking every week during the few weeks leading up to trek you should be well prepared to go on the trek experience without problem.

Another important aspect of physical preparation is your feet. It's important you prepare your feet for hiking that much by having good shoes with a comfortable sole. Any hiking shoe or boot that feels comfortable to you should do nicely. It's important to make sure the shoe stays comfortable while walking for longer distances also which is one reason why practicing walking before trek is important. As you continue going on walks, your feet will get used to the long distances which will help reduce your risk of having pain in your feet while you walk on trek and reduce your risk of blisters. If you get new hiking shoes between now and then, please remember to use them multiple times before trek to wear them in. New shoes that are unfamilier to you can often contribute to having foot pain or developing blisters.

Medical

• Wilderness Medicine

While we will have a good medical team there to handle all medical issues we would ask you to try and be the eyes and ears for the medical committee. It will be important that you help keep track of your family members and any potential medical concerns they may have. We will have a large first aid kit available for the whole group, but it would be helpful for you to keep your own small kit in the handcart for any simple medical ailments such as blisters. Please click the link at the bottom of this section and read through the Safety and Health section of the trek handbook.

• Water management

Appropriate water management will be critical to the health and well being of all those involved in trek and as a Ma & Pa we ask that you keep track of the youth in your family and make sure they are drinking water regularly and of adequate volume. We will stop every 30 minutes or so on the trail and have a water break. Please make sure each youth takes the opportunity to drink water. While everyone is going to be a little different with how much water they will need to stay hydrated a good general rule of thumb is to make sure hikers are drinking at least 1 liter of water for every 2 hours of hiking.

• We will be having an activity night where we will be learning about different medical conditions we may see on trek and treatment recommendations for them. This should be a very helpful activity to help everyone be ready for any medical problems we may encounter.

More to come!