Martin's Cove, Wyoming

In November, 1856, about 500 Mormon emigrants in the Martin Handcart Company were halted for five days in this cove by snow and cold while on their way to Salt Lake City. These courageous pioneers sacrificed much to follow their faith and join the saints in Utah. Today a 900 acre park marks the site of their struggle. On June 20, 2011, the Utah Salt Lake City Missionaries from the Wyoming Zone visited this historic site. We spent the afternoon listening to the stories written in the journals of those pioneers, walking on the same trails they walked, pulling handcarts like those they pulled, and recommitting ourselves to be as stalwart and true to our faith as those early pioneers were. It was an amazing experience, and along the way, we had a lot of fun, too!

Elder Calderwood, Elder Burkard, Elder Avery, Elder Hancock, Elder Ross, Elder Kemendics, Elder Harvey, Elder Tse, Elder Healey, Elder Judd, Elder Christiansen, Elder Ahlstrom, Elder Yancey, Elder Montgomery, Elder Byrd, Elder Salisbury, President and Sister Winn
First things first though: LUNCH!

And the trek begins!

"Stay on the trail. Do not climb on the rocks."

Recommitting to excellence

Proudly holding the Wyoming State flag

The Assistants decided that this was a good day for dressing alike

One of these Elders is obviously looking in the wrong direction

In the middle of the park was a statue of Napoleon of all people!

Hmmmm....

In the huddle, discussing the next play

It was actually a beautiful day, and because of an unusually wet spring, Wyoming is green and lush

Getting ready to cross the Sweetwater River.

Far better to do this in June than in November!

And I didn't even get dumped in the water!

I really, really wanted to get a shot of these flowers

Elder Burkard took this as a marvelous opportunity to reenact scenes from

Animal Planet: Crocodile Hunter with Steve Irwin.

Like the crocodile, I was completely unaware of what was going on.

Actually, it was a pretty good reenactment!

And the picture of the flowers turned out fabulous.

As did the day.

If you want to see more pictures of Martin's Cove, click here:

2011.06.20: Martin's Cove