Steve Sorensen was just finishing his history degree at the University of Utah in 1997 and felt certain he would get a graduate fellowship that year. But he didn't.
Suddenly, he had several months of free time, so he decided to take his family — wife Wendy and four kids (another was born after) — on a three-month sojourn with the re-enactment wagon train.
But Sorensen and others wanted their experience to be more "primitive," without retiring nightly to RVs or writing on laptops. So he engaged some docents at This Is the Place Heritage Park, and together they assembled a group that sought to replicate, as much as possible, real pioneer life — sleeping in tents, cooking their own grub, and singing and playing games from the past.
"It wasn't glamping, by any means," he recalls. Even with some modern comforts, "people aren't that different than they were 170 years ago. There were still strong personalities who wanted to do things their way."
And these trekkers had a similar goal as the Mormon pioneers: Get everyone moved every day and leave no one behind.
"It was a wonderful romp with history," Sorensen says. "It was an emotional and spiritual experience — shared by the whole family."
It taught them all, he says, that they can do "hard things."
Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune Steve and Wendy Sorensen, Salt Lake City, listen as President Gordon B, Hinkley offers words of encouragement to the modern day Pioneers during his speech in Florence, Nebraska, on Saturday morning.
Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune Wendy and Ben Sorensen, Salt Lake CIty, prepare for the day in Florence, Nebraska.
Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune Wendy Sorensen prepares food for dinner on a rainy afternoon in Florence, Nebraska.
Rick Egan | Tribune File Photo Steve Sorensen, Salt lake city, lights a lantern to give light to the cooks making scones for their Sunday night supper in Miller park. Supper was finger food as all of the china and dinner ware was packed to hit the trail the next morning.
Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune Wendy Sorensen gets a hug from her son, Ben Sorensen, as they camp along the trail in, Nebraska.
