The Cornelius Clan: Youth Conference 2010: Hole-in-the-Rock

Shortly after I finished reading The Undaunted our stake leaders announced that we were going to the Hole-in-the-Rock for youth conference. I was extremely excited to go and told Ty what was being planned. He had also read the book and wanted to join the youth group on our trip. As leaders, we planned many months and I was really looking forward to this experience. On Thurs. June 3rd we met at the church at 7:00 am to start our journey. We had a couple of stops planned along the way to educate the youth a little about the trek the pioneers took. The last leg of our journey was on a really rough dirt road. It took us 3 hours to go 40 miles on the worst dirt road I have ever driven on! We arrived at Dance Hall rock where we met the Blanding, UT stake and had a little celebtration dance. Afterwards the girls went to their camp at 40 mile spring while the boys went to their camp about 1 mile away. That night the wind blew really hard and we didn't get hardly any sleep due to the tents flapping all night but we got up at 6:30 am to begin our journey to the Hole. It was approx. 12 miles to where we were going to start hiking (it took us almost 2 hours to get there because the road was so rough!) We then hiked as a stake the remaining 7 miles to the entrance of the Hole-in-the-Rock. It was amazing to make that last turn and see the entrance! We were able to hike down the Hole and see where the wagon wheels had scratched the rocks and where the pioneers had drilled holes in the rock to make a "road." We spent several hours before heading back to the trucks. In all we hiked 15 -16 miles that day. It was really hot and not even a little breeze. It was an awesome experience and I was amazed the pioneers had enough faith to make this journey! It taught me a great lesson on faith that I will never forget!