Kevin & Denny Henson are deep into planning another trail research hike—this one from Pueblo, Colorado to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. This hike will commemorate the 1847 Mormon Battalion detachments and Mississippi Saints journey from their temporary wintering settlement to join Brigham Young's pioneer company on the Mormon Trail.
Kevin said, “Our plan is to leave Pueblo in mid to late April and arrive in Salt Lake on July 22. We're interested in correlating original journal entries with the original trail route. I've driven portions of the route a couple of times before, but you really don't appreciate all the subtle things you notice when hiking.”
Denny shared her thoughts: “I'm looking forward to walking the part of the trail that almost all the women walked. I had a great experience in 2008 and I'm hoping to have the same this time. I do acknowledge however that this route will not be as flat as Kansas.”
While specifics of the day-to-day plan are still being developed, some general decisions have been made.
The approximate 900-mile distance will take about 13 or 14 weeks to hike. Kevin shared some points: "We'll start a couple of weeks earlier than the 1847 groups did. That's because we'll be afoot rather thank driving animals or driving wagons. We don't plan on hiking Sundays, and we want to limit ourselves to about 13 miles per day compared to their rate of 19 miles. In some locations we will be meeting with local trail experts or conducting local field trips to flesh out the sparse journal entries. All of that takes time which impacts our hiking rate. Then of course, there's always unexpected weather and support vehicle issues to deal with. These kind of events need a great deal of flexibility."
Stay tuned for more details!
