Driving Directions

How to Get to Martin’s Cove from the West:

1. Take I-80 to Rawlins, and take Exit 215

2. Follow the signs directing you towards Casper – it is Highway 287/789

3. After about 44 miles you will arrive at Muddy Gap (also known as Three Forks)

4. At that point the highway 287/789 makes a 90 degree turn.

5. Do NOT turn off the highway!

6. Stay going straight on the road. It has now become Highway 220.

7. Watch the small, green mile post markers on the south side of the highway. Martin’s Cove is

located between mile post markers 56 – 57.

8. Turn left and enter under the square archway with the handcart on top.

9. Follow the driveway down to the STOP sign. Turn right and park.


How to Get to Martin’s Cove from the East:

1. Follow CY Avenue heading west out of Casper

2. It becomes Highway 220.

3. Watch the small, green mile post markers on the south side of the highway.

• You will pass Bessemer Bend, a location where the Martin Company camped for 5 days

• At mile post marker 62 you will pass Independence Rock

4. Martin’s Cove is located between mile post markers 56 – 57.

5. Turn left and enter under the square archway with the handcart on top.

6. Follow the driveway down to the STOP sign. Turn right and park.


Points of Interest Hwy Markers

Independence Rock Hwy 220 62-63

East Entrance to Old Hwy 220 Hwy 220 58-59

Martin's Cove Hwy 220 56-57

West Entrance to Old Hwy

220 Hwy 220 51-52

Missionary Village Hwy 220 48-49

Muddy Gap Hwy 220 44-45

Split Rock Interpretive Sign Hwy 287/789

Jeffrey City Hwy 287/789 23-24

Ice Slough Interpretive Sign Hwy 287/789 32-33

Sixth Crossing Hwy 287/789 41-42

Hudson/Atlantic Road Hwy 287/789 46-47

Snow Fence Road Hwy 287/789 43-44

Rock Creek Hollow Turn off Hwy 28 between Lander & Farson

7-8 & 11-

12

between mile markers 44-45, follow signs

What's for Dinner

All meals and snacks will be provided by the Ward on trek.  If you are able and have not yet made your trek donation please do so on your tithing slip under Other simply write in trek.  The requested donation amount (where possible) is $20 per person over 12.

Thursday when you arrive we'll have lunch ready for you.

• Turkey and Ham Hoagie Sandwiches with chips and cookies.

Your afternoon snack on Thursday may include granola bars, grapes, string cheese and yogurt.

Thursday evening for dinner we'll have loaded chili with watermelon

We'll also provide a bedtime snack - something sweet.

Friday morning breakfast will be Breakfast Burritos with hashbrowns and juice.

Morning snack on Friday will be grapes and GORP (a favorite trail treat).

Friday lunch will be on the trail, good old PB&J with chips, fruit and a treat.

Dinner on Friday will be a great summer affair with pulled pork sandwiches, salads, veggie trays, and baked beans.  Plenty to fill you up and refresh after a long day on the trail.

Bedtime snack on Friday will be watermelon (this is why you'll need a large knife in your lead bucket)

Saturday morning we'll have pancakes and ham with breakfast beverages.

Just prior to hitting the trail home (in our cars) we'll have sack lunches that you can either eat there at the staging area or in your car while driving.  Sandwich wraps with fruit and pudding will get you safely on the road.

Please remember if you have special dietary needs to bring food specific to your needs with you.  Label with the appropriate color and number so it makes it to your camp.  Also, if you choose to bring extra foods please be prepared to share with your cart family.

Also be mindful of garbage.  ALL garbage that we bring or make will need to be carried out of the state of Wyoming with us.  This keeps locals happy with the Missionaries and the church and is an important part of being allowed to trek at Martin's Cove.  Bring a garbage bag with you for your campsite.

Remember that staying hydrated on trek is extremely important.  You'll need your water bottle for every meal and every minute on the trail.  You may also want a cup in your mess kit for meals where beverages are served.  You'll be responsible for washing your mess kits at every meal but the food committee will have washing stations set up for you.

Begin the count-down!

With 2 weeks left until trek, it's time to get serious!  

1)  If you aren't prepared with clothing, DON"T WAIT!  If you need help please ask.

2)  Family assignments (hopefully almost permanent) have been made.  If you haven't received them from us please give a call/text/email to find out any changes to your family and get your company color and family number.

3)  All gear should be marked with your color and number - this makes it easier to identify your gear when you arrive at camp.  

4) Please remember that while your cart family will be a huge part of trek, there will still be ample opportunity to spend time with friends that are there that aren't in your cart family.  

5) The menu will be posted very soon.  Please check back to see if the meals that have been planned will meet any special dietary requirements you may have and if they don't, please plan to supplement.

6) Don't forget to bring any medication that you may need and package it safely and label it carefully!

7)  Many grandparents have asked if it is appropriate to bring SMALL gifts for the children in their cart family.  This is totally appropriate as long as every child in the cart family is included (you may want to prepare a few extras just in case) and as long as they fit in your bucket.

8)  If you lack gear that you will require please contact your company captains to help you locate what you need.  Company Captains are as follows:  

Red - Brandon Street

Yellow - Scott Jones

Blue - Andrew Blake

Green - Randy Wilson

Trek Registration

The following Trek Registration form needs to be filled out for EVERY Family going on trek before July 1st.  To request an electronic version of this form simply e-mail Toni at tynton17@gmail.com and you can return it via e-mail.  You are also welcome to print the form and return it to one of the trek directors of members of the bishopric as soon as possible.  We also have paper copies available at the church. If you are taking a minor with your family that is not accompanied with a parent/guardian they will need a medical release form signed and returned to the Medical Committee (Prince's) by July 1st also.  

Come, Come Ye Saints

History of “Come, Come Ye Saints”

Although it is generally believed that William Clayton wrote “Come, Come, Ye Saints” on the journey between Winter Quarters and Salt Lake City, the hymn was really written, while Brigham Young’s Company was traveling from Nauvoo to Winter Quarters.

President Young, feeling great anxiety because there were murmurings in the camp of Israel, called Elder William Clayton aside and said, “Brother Clayton, I want you to write a hymn that the people can sing at their campfires in the evening; something that will give them succor and support, and help them to fight the many troubles and trials of the journey. Elder Clayton withdrew from the camp and in two hours returned with the hymn familiarly known as “Come, Come, Ye Saints.” His personal testimony is to the effect that it was written under the favor and inspiration of the Lord.”The song, indeed, seems to have been written under the Lord’s inspiration, for He has used it often to uplift His Saints.

Oscar Winters, President Heber J. Grant’s father-in law, relates the following story:

One night, as we were making camp, we noticed one of our brethren had not arrived and a volunteer party was immediately organized to return and see if anything had happened to him. Just as we were about to start, we saw the missing brother coming in the distance. When he arrived, he said he had been quite sick, – so some of us unyoked his oxen and attended to his part of the camp duties. After supper, he sat down before the campfire on a large rock and sang in a very faint, but plaintive and sweet voice, the hymn “Come, Come, Ye Saints.‖ It was a rule of the camp that whenever anybody started this hymn, all in the camp should join, but for some reason this evening nobody joined him. He sang the hymn alone. When he had finished, I doubt if there was a single dry eye in the camp. The next morning, we noticed that he was not yoking up his cattle. We went to his wagon and found that he had died during the night. We dug a shallow grave and after we had covered the body with the earth, we rolled the large stone to the head of the grave to mark it–the stone on which he had been sitting the night before when he sang, “And should we die before our journeys through–Happy day! All is well “.

Truly, “Come, Come, Ye Saints” is worthy to be placed among the great hymns of Christian literature. With it, Clayton catches the spirit and sentiment of an oppressed people and crystallizes them into simple verse that arouses the interest of the multitude.

When the Salt Lake Tabernacle Choir was in Europe in 1955, they sang an arrangement of “Come, Come, Ye Saints,” in every concert. Notwithstanding the difficulties caused by the various languages, it was encored every time it was performed. The repetitive phrase “all is well” seemed to be understood in each country and even by the refugees in Berlin where the people before whom the choir sang were without home, work, food, and even citizenship. Nothing was “well” with them, yet they encored the grand old hymn.

“Come, Come, Ye Saints” has served the purpose named in President Young’s request: it was sung at every camp-fire, it gave succor and support to the saints, and it has helped pioneers, both of yesterday and today, to lay aside useless cares and to “fight the many troubles and trials of the journey.”

A Brief History

Handcart Pioneer History

The Handcart Expeditions

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The following is a brief history of the Mormon Handcart Expeditions:

In 1850  the church established the Perpetual Emigration Fund (PEF) to help foreign saints gather to Zion. Under the program, emigrants were loaned funds contributed by American saints, which they would repay through work once they settled in Utah.

In 1855 however, droughts, swarms of cricket, and a rough winter caused crops to fail in the Salt Lake valley.  Tithing and Perpetual Emigration Fund donations were reduced to a mere trickle but Brigam Young maintained that a lack of funds should not, and could not limit the passage of saints to Zion.

The continuation of the program, coupled with the prevailing economic situation, created a demand for a cheaper mode of transportation.  That same year, the Church leaders officially introduced the handcart plan and stated the following in their “Thirteenth General Epistle”

“Let all things be done in order, and let all the saints who can, gather up for Zion and come while the way is open before them. Let the poor also come, let them come on foot, with handcarts or wheelbarrows, let them gird up their loins and walk through, and nothing shall hinder or stay them.”

Brigham Young estimated that the saints could cover 15 miles a day initially, and would likely increase their mileage to 20, 25, even 30 miles per day as they grew accustomed to it.  According to this estimate, the trek could be completed in under 70 days.

Soon after, Franklin D. Richards, President of the European Mission, and Editor of the Millennial Star wrote the following in an editorial to the saints:

“… The system of ox-trains is too slow and expensive, and must give way to the telegraph line of handcarts and wheelbarrows. It would be much more economical both in time, labor, and expense. On the arrival of a company of saints on the frontier, they could have the necessary handcarts ready and load them and be 200 or 300 miles on their Journey, with the same time and labor that would otherwise be expended in getting started. It is only to those who have traveled the plains with ox-teams that the advantages of doing without them will appear in all their force. They alone can realize what it is to get up on a sultry morning, spend an hour or two in driving up and yoking unruly cattle, and while waiting to start, hear that some brother has an ox missing, then another hour, or perhaps half a day is wasted and finally, when ready to start, the pleasant time for traveling is past, during which a company of handcarts would have performed the greater part of an ordinary day’s journey.”

Amidst the promise of blessings, President Richards was also careful to warn the saints of the difficulties they’d be undertaking stating:

“It is our constant desire not to mislead the saints concerning the difficulties of the journey to Utah. We wish them calmly to make up their minds that it is not an easy task, and to start with faith, trusting in Israel’s God of success, and seek of him constantly, by prayer and supplication… “

The plan was implemented in 1856. Saints spent 38 to 65 days at sea and then traveled by train to Iowa City where they received their handcarts.

The handcarts used by the different companies varied in size and construction but the general pattern was uniform. The open handcart, shaft, and sidepieces were made of hickory or oak and the axles were generally made of hickory. The side pieces and shafts were about six or seven feet long, with three to four binding crossbars spaced intermittently from the front to the back. At the front there was a three to four foot single tree or front bar yoke. The cart bed was about nine inches deep and four feet wide. The wheels, often constructed without metal, were four feet in diameter. Approximately five people were assigned to each cart and each person was allowed to bring 17 lbs. of luggage (this included clothing, bedding, and utensils).

The first two companies left Iowa City two days apart, but arrived in Salt Lake City simultaneously. Combined they had 100 handcarts, 5 wagons, 24 oxen, 4 mules, and 25 tents. They averaging about 21 miles daily, but managed 32 miles in a single day on two separate occasions. The saints arose to a 5:00 a.m. whistle and began pulling after prayer and breakfast. At night, the handcarts circled. Smoke from fires built outside the cart circle provided a mosquito deterrent.

Five handcart companies crossed the plains in 1856. The first three experienced few deaths and though difficult, were considered successful. The last two, the Willie and Martin Companies, experienced significant delays and departed from Florence in August. They experienced tragic suffering, sickness, and loss of life when their late start, combined with an early winter, caught them unprepared in icy mountain passes.

In 1857, two more companies successfully traversed the plains. Threats from Johnston’s Army temporarily halted the treks in 1858, but 1859 saw yet another handcart train cross the wilderness.

In 1860, the last two companies crossed the plains. Incredibly, the last train did not report a single death.

By 1860, Salt Lake Valley had blossomed and it became economically feasible to send teams from Salt Lake, across the plains and back in a single season. They were called the ‘Down and Back’ Companies. This gave employment to Utah saints and saved the enormous amount previously invested in the purchase of wagons and oxen. This system was used to gather the saints until the coming of the railroad in 1869.

From 1856 to 1860, nearly 3,000 emigrants traveled to Zion by handcart. They employed 653 carts and 50 wagons. The eight trains that left Missouri in June or July came through without undue casualties.

Without a doubt, handcart travel was an exacting ordeal, for both the body and the spirit. Concern for material welfare alone could never have produced the handcart migrations. It took consecrated resolution strengthened by the sustaining conviction of a deeply religious faith.

The Perpetual Emigration Fund  ultimately helped an estimated 30,000 emigrants gather to Zion who would likely not have been able to join by any other means.

Pioneer Database

This is a database available online on lds.org, where you can type in the name of any mormon pioneer that crossed the plains, and it will find all of their personal history and stories.

Pioneer Database