Beginning in 1846, after the killing of Joseph Smith, about 14,000 members of the Mormon church journeyed from Illinois to Utah, searching for a safe haven for their new religious community.
July 24 is Pioneer Day, when Mormons celebrate that migration with festivities and re-enactments.
As a way to honor the arduous trek, a group of 250 Atlanta-area church members spent three days last week hiking through 20 miles of Dawson Forest Wildlife Management Area.
The crowd was mostly teenagers and young people organized in "family units" with adult church leaders in charge of each group.
They were dressed in pioneer clothes, and they pushed and pulled wooden handcarts, built to replicate the wagons used by poorer Mormons in the 1850s who couldn't afford ox-carts. The rainy weather and muddy trails were reminders of the difficult conditions their ancestors faced.
The young people were allotted 13 pounds of personal belongings apiece. They slept in tents, cooked their own food and left all of their electronics at home.
"I couldn't imagine doing what the pioneers did because it was so strenuous even with all the help we had," said Kelsey Johnson, 14, of Cumming. "My feet were slipping in the mud and just when we thought we were at the top, there would be another steep hill. I was really glad when it was over because it was exhausting."
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