We celebrated pioneer day by going on a hike in the Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness on the Sioux Charley trail. We took Nolan along, and Covey went with the Emmett family camping. He loved going and especially liked fishing and driving dirt bikes. Cov caught a catfish, and we were able to cook it up, yum, it was pretty good actually! The kids and I had a fun hike; eating wild raspberries, checking out the wildlife (they especially thought it was great that a butterfly touched down on my head), listening to the rushing river, and wading in the water, especially "Lucy's Dream Island". They did a very good job (I carried Sydnie in the pack for a while during the rocky/narrow parts of the trail), but when they complained, I reminded them about their pioneer ancestors. We also learned about our ancestor Daniel Berry Rawson and read about an encounter he had with a giant grizzly bear when he served in the Mormon battalion. We also made a bear craft in honor of that story. We made some pioneer stew and made fresh strawberry cream pie for our branch pie contest. I am thankful for the faith and fortitude of my fore bearers. When things get hard and I feel like quitting, I feel strength from them. Even on our hike when the kids got tired, I reminded them of our ancestors who crossed ocean, mountains, plains and valleys day after day, month after month with no home but a canvas tarp to go home to and very limited food and supplies as they migrated west. But they kept it up for a promise of a better future. Keep on trekking.
