By KIMBER KAY
Thursday night I put on my heavy-duty hiking boots and borrowed my friend's Indiana Jones hat to accompany BYUSA on their Pioneer Trek.
The theme for this activity was 'Suffering Builds Character.' This should have tipped me off.
We began hiking after midnight. This was pretty fun at first, but after a few miles, I realized it was getting colder and darker, and we were not getting any breaks. We only stopped when the wagons broke down. That was tons of fun. I huddled on the ground, trying to keep warm and sleep a bit.
At 6:30 in the morning, after hiking six miles, we reached our temporary campsite. We had three hours for breakfast and a nap. That was a crust of bread, fruit, granola bar and a spot on the ground. I woke up from a two hour sleep to discover I was being dive bombed by insects of unusual size.
After a brief training meeting I was looking forward to a hearty lunch. We got ONE peanut butter sandwich! That was it, unless you count watery Crystal Lite. I ate more for lunch when I was in grade school. It could have been worse. Pioneers didn't eat peanut butter. They probably spread lard on bread.
I hiked ahead of the group in the afternoon to get video of them coming up the mountain. They took forever fiddling with the handcarts. Flies persecuted me, trying to suck moisture off my body. My lungs and muscles kept telling my brain to stop the insanity, but I kept hiking.
Once we struck camp, spontaneous napping broke out while dinner simmered on the campfire. I didn't even complain about the food, as long as there was lots of it.
Getting up at the crack of dawn to eat oatmeal isn't my first choice for a Saturday morning, but I did do it. I grabbed my big bag of camera stuff and started climbing the final leg of the hike. It was STEEP! I knew I couldn't die from a BYUSA activity, but they did have me sign release forms.
We were tougher than we thought, because everyone survived and we were hours ahead of schedule.When the hike was over, we had a feast of turkey and Dutch oven potatoes. Frisbee, football and lying in the shade took up the slack time.
I learned a lot on the Pioneer Trek. BYUSA people are friendlier and nicer than I am used to. If 'Suffering Builds Character,' then BYU has the most unusual collection of officers in history.?LBRV?66 ?LBLG?MARGARET ?LBCD?07CD061B ?LBCT?0A090E1C ?LBAU?DEFAULT ?LBMD?07CD061E ?LBMT?14242F3F ?LBRP? ?LBPJ? ?LBCM? ?LBKY?
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