Foot Care

The right shoe or boot plus the right sock equal happy feet

The most common medical problem that occurs on the trek is foot blisters. These blisters are painful and can hurt your trek experience. Fortunately, you don't need to get them--they are 100% preventable!

1. Use either a good quality walking, cross-training, or running shoe. Light hiking boots may be used, but they need to fit well and be fully broken in (don't borrow someone else's boots or shoes - this guarantees blisters!). Light canvas shoes (boat shoes), sandals, tevas, church shoes, or other shoes not designed for hiking will be a disaster. Do not use shoes/boots that are very old and worn. Even top quality shoes will only last for a couple of years if worn regularly.

2. Break in your shoes/boots. If you are buying shoes for the trek they should be purchased 2-3 months prior to the trek. They should be broken in with daily use, walks, and even short hikes. Do not take new shoes/boots on the hike. Do not use someone else's shoes/boots. Footwear not broken in by YOU prior to the beginning of the trek equals painful feet.

3. Good quality socks matter. Cotton socks absorb moisture and promote blisters. Thick wool socks are too hot and cause excessive sweating. A hiking sock that has polypropylene or a wool wick mixture is probably the best single sock. Stores that sell good running shoes have specialized socks that have two layers. This is the best way to avoid blisters because the inner sock moves independently from the outer sock and minimizes irritation. Bringing several pairs of socks and changing them daily or whenever they get wet is essential. If your feet are bothering you, remove your shoes and socks during a long break or in the evening at camp to let your feet air out.

4. Trim your toenails several days prior to the trek and keep your feet clean and dry during the trek.

5. If you sense early blisters let your Ma or Pa or the medical people know and they can help by applying moleskin or supportive bandages. These bandages will protect your feet from worsening.

Pack It In - Pack It Out

Martin's Cove uses a Pack It In - Pack It Out policy. There is no dumpster service available. Whatever trash we create, we will be packing it back to Lehi. This means that as we work through our planning we need to determine how to minimize our trash output.

Some ideas that will need to be considered:
- Mess kits to be used by all, including knifes, forks and spoons and cups
- No disposable water bottles
- Ensure any boxes that carry food are burnable. There are firepits where some trash can be burned, but we are encouraged to minimize the amount of trash that is burned.
- Use the thicker garbage sacks - minimum thickness is 2.5 mil.

Helpful Websites

The official Church Handbook for Trek.  Go to the "General Trek Information" tab on the left.
http://www.handcarttreks.com/

This is an incredible site on lds.org.  Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel, 1847 - 1868.  You can simply put in a name and do a search, or on the left hand column there is an Alphabetical Company List, and a Chronological Company List.
www.lds.org/churchhistory/library/pioneercompanysearch/

We would love to see our youth use this webwsite along with the http://www.new.familysearch.org/. 

Gordon B. Hinkley Monument at Martin's Cove

"We hope that a spirit of peace and reverence and sacred remembrance will hover over this whole area as a beneficent cloud on a a hot summer day, and that those who here perished will not have died in vain.

I make a plea, go in a spirit of reverence and respect, and know that you are walking on hallowed ground."

Gordon B. Hinkley Monument that is situated at the beginning of the Handcart Trail that leads to Martin's Cove.

Why Do The Trees All Lean in Wyoming?

by Baxter Black

He said “The wind never blows in Wyoming,”
I said, “Mister, where you from?
It'll take the top off'a big R.C.
Or peel an unripened plum!
Wherever you been, you been lied to!

I lived in Wyoming, I know.
I once seen a horse turned clean inside out
From standin' outside in a blow!

You don't have to shave in the winter.
Just pick a cool, windy place.
Stand there a minute, yer whiskers'll freeze
and break off next to yer face!

They claim that a boxcar in Rawlins,
A Denver and ol' Rio Grande,
Was picked off the track
and blowed to the east
And beat the whole train to Cheyenne.

Why, they tell of a feller in Lander
Who jumped off a bale of hay
Before he hit ground the wind picked 'im up
He came down in Casper next day!

They don't have to shear sheep in Worland
When they're ready, they wait for a breeze
And bunch 'em in draws
where the willers are thick
Then pick the wool off'a the trees!

But the windiest tale that I heard
Was about the small town of Sinclair.
It used to set on the Idaho line
Then one spring it just blew over there!

I carry this rock in my pocket
For good luck and here's one for you.
Every little bit helps in Wyoming.
If yer skinny you better take two!

Well, Stranger, you might just be part right.
Though, fer sure you ain't seen Devil's Tower.
Let's say the wind never blows in Wyoming ...
Under 85 miles an hour!

Trek Leaders Handbook

Click here to view the Mormon Handcart Historic Sites in Wyoming leader handbook.

Francis Webster - Martin Handcart Company

It was in an adult Sunday School class of over fifty men and women. Nathan T. Porter was the teacher and the subject under discussion was the ill-fated handcart company [Martin Handcart Company] that suffered so terribly in the snow of 1856. Some sharp criticism of the Church and its leader was being indulged in for permitting any company of converts to venture across the plains with no more supplies or protection than a handcart caravan afforded. One old man in the corner sat silent and listened as long as he could stand it, then he arose and said things that no person who heard him will ever forget.

His face was white with emotion, yet he spoke calmly, deliberately, but with great earnestness and sincerity. He said in substance, "I ask you to stop this criticism. You are discussing a matter you know nothing about. Cold historic facts mean nothing here, for they give no proper interpretation of the questions involved. Mistake to send the Handcart Company out so late in the season? Yes! But I was in that company and my wife was in it, and Sister Nellie Unthank whom you have cited here was there, too. We suffered beyond anything you can imagine and many died of exposure and starvation, but did you ever hear a survivor of that company utter a word of criticism? Every one of us came through with the absolute knowledge that God lives for we became acquainted with Him in our extremities!

"I have pulled my handcart when I was so weak and weary from illness and lack of food that I could hardly put one foot ahead of the other. I have looked ahead and seen a patch of sand or a hill slope and I have said, I can go only that far and there I must give up for I cannot pull the load through it. I have gone to that sand and when I reached it, the cart began pushing me! I have looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart, but my eyes saw no one. I knew then that the Angels of God were there. "Was I sorry that I chose to come by handcart? No! Neither then nor any minute of my life since. The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay and I am thankful that I was privileged to come in the Martin Handcart Company."

The speaker was Francis Webster. And when he sat down there was not a dry eye in the room. We were subdued and chastened lot. Charles Mabey who latter became Governor of Utah, arose and voiced the sentiment of all when he said, "I would gladly pay the same price to personally know God that Brother Webster has."

Writings of William R. Palmer