The Sellars Creek Ranch handcart trek operation offers a variety of experiences from its lowest meadow to its Perspective Peak mountaintop, 700 feet above the valley floor. In addition to being an official trek site, the 1,680-acre ranch is a Church welfare ranch and is home to summer grazing for 300 pair of cows. The Ranch is located 30 miles southeast of Idaho Falls and 4 miles south of Bone, Idaho. The Blackfoot Reservoir Road passes through the Ranch from the north end to the south end, and to a point where it intersects with the Sellars Creek Road.
Overview | Scheduling | Itinerary | Essentials | Training | Other
Overview
1. In what months are treks allowed at the site?
The first full week of June through the last full week of August
2. What is the cost per person to use the site?
$15 per person for youth and adults for 2 nights and 3 days. This cost includes handcarts, drinking water, portable toilets, and overnight camping.
3. How many participants can the site accommodate at a time?
Up to 450 youth, leaders, and support staff.
4. How many handcarts are available?
60 handcarts, plus two rickshaws for trekkers with physical challenges. (No motorized vehicles are allowed on the trails with handcarts. Medical emergency transportation is handled by missionaries with motorized UTVs.)
Scheduling
1. Who may schedule a trek? Wards? Stakes? Families?
In priority order: (1) the 54 stakes in eastern Idaho, (2) wards within those stakes, (3) other stakes in the area/region, and (4) potential area families on a case-by-case basis.
2. How far in advance should treks be scheduled?
Treks are scheduled one to four years in advance. The Trek Operation takes reservations in priority order beginning in April of the year preceding the planned trek, and can be made in as much as 4 years in the future. Repeating church units scheduling treks should expect to be assigned different rotating dates each time they visit.
3. Who is the site contact for more information and scheduling?
Trek Missionary Coordinators Elder Garth and Sister Karen Hall at:
garth.hallfamily@gmail.com, or yomakaren@gmail.com; or via cell phones at:
1-208-406-1805, or 208-709-3812.
4. Are missionaries available to help with treks? What services and activities will they provide?
Senior service missionaries provide trek orientation; planning assistance; and handcart, trail, and water crossing assistance. Missionaries also coordinate the location of and place portable, clean water resupply tanks and portable toilets. Missionaries may also provide other assistance to the participating church unit leaders as prearranged and approved by the missionaries.
Itinerary
1. What is the recommended length (in days) of a trek at the site?
There are several two and a half day options: Monday morning through early Wednesday afternoon, and Thursday morning through early Saturday afternoon.
2. How long are the trek trails?
Sellars Creek Trek has over 17 miles of trails. These trails are of various lengths and degrees of difficulty.
3. Is the trek a set route, or is there flexibility for different schedules and routes?
With over 17 miles of trek trails, there is flexibility in choosing trek routes and schedules, keeping in mind the need to coordinate usage with welfare cattle ranch interests. There is also flexibility in choosing teaching and learning stations in willow-lined meadows, sagebrush plains, quaking aspen groves, pine/fir forests, and on mountaintops.
4. What trek activities can be done at the site (such as a river crossing and women’s pull)?
The ranch has a variety of women’s pull sites that offer varying lengths and degrees of difficulty. There are also multiple opportunities to cross creeks at varying depths of water, depending on the season.
Essentials
1. Is water available at the site? How do groups handle transporting water? Do they bring their own containers?
At Sellars Camp area there is one hydrant with clean water provided between every two campsites for camping and cooking use, as well as for fire suppression. At Mountain Valley Camp water buffaloes (containing up to 200-gallons of potable water) are provided and transported by the missionaries for camping and cooking use, as well as for fire suppression. Water buffaloes containing up to 100 gallons of potable water are placed throughout the Ranch by missionaries for use away from the camps. They resupply fresh water where needed. Trekking groups bring one five-gallon water jug for each handcart and extra jugs as needed for camping and cooking needs. Each trekker must also have a labeled personal water bottle.
2. Are pit toilets or portable toilets available on the property?
Vault toilets are provided in the main Sellars Camp, and portable toilets are provided at Mountain Valley Campground, and at other strategic locations around the ranch and along certain trail segments to provide optimum access and convenience for trekkers. Portable toilets are not available on higher elevation trails.
3. How are trek groups to handle trash?
The principle of “Pack it in, Pack it out” is practiced. Each handcart is required to carry a large garbage bag for trash and return it to a designated stake/ward trash collection trailer. Additionally, trek groups are required to assign a cleanup detail to collect all trash in the campground, on the trails, and wherever they find it. There are ”bear-proof” dumpsters available at the Sellars Camp for food scraps and other items that attract occasional black bears, coyotes, skunks, rodents, and other varmints. All cardboard must be broken down and taken with you when you leave. Garbage from Mountain Valley Camp must be disposed of at Sellars Creek dumpsters. Dumpsters near the girls camp are not for trek use. Before a stake leaves, trek leaders and missionaries will conduct an inspection of their camping areas. A stake vacates the site only when lived-in and used areas and0 their associated vault-toilets or porta-johns pass inspection.
4. What is the fire protocol at the site?
Open fires are allowed only in the fire rings in designated campgrounds. Fire danger warnings and fire restrictions due to weather conditions may change during the summer and may affect campfire regulations. Groups are encouraged to bring propane stoves for cooking. Dutch ovens may be used in the four-foot fire rings and on stands. Stakes will need to clean out and haul away ashes and debris left in the fire rings. Firewood is available on site.
Training
1. Do missionaries from the site provide training to trek leaders? Is the training mandatory? When is it offered? How much does it cost per leader?
Unit Trek leader training is mandatory at the Ranch for groups that will be trekking in the next year, and is provided at no cost to participants by Senior Service Missionaries. The sessions are usually held on Friday and Saturday or on an agreed week-day in August through mid-September. The 2-3 hour training is for at least two and as many as eight trek leaders from each group that are expected to also participate in the trek the following summer. This training includes up to 40 minutes of training in the office and 2 hours of time riding the handcart trails. A link to the Orientation Packet can be found online. It is recommended that it be reviewed in advance of the training. When there are questions, they can be brought and discussed during the training session. All training materials will be available via the internet, accompanied by some handouts provided on the day of the training. Once you are registered, the Senior Service Missionaries will contact trek leaders to arrange a training session that meets the unit’s needs.
2. Does the site have a site-specific handbook?
No. There are however many site-specific resources online at www.scrtrek.org
Other
1. Does the site rent handcarts for groups to use at different locations?
No. There are private vendors in eastern Idaho that can provide this service.
2. Are other activities, besides trek, offered at the site?
Other activities identified by adult youth leaders and youth class and quorum presidencies can be considered if approved by the Stake Presidency or Bishopric, on a case-by-case basis subject to missionary approval.
3. How many vehicles are allowed in campsite parking?
Depending on which camp is used, there are parking areas for approximately 60 vehicles (busses are preferred for larger groups) in the Sellars Creek Camp area, or 25-30 spaces in the Mountain Valley Camp area. There are staging areas for passenger and gear drop-offs, pick-ups, and for turning around. Each group is allowed up to eight support trucks with trailers, one medical RV pad or tent site.
4. Can trekking groups access facilities at the nearby Camp Cumorah?
No. Camp Cumorah is administered by a separate agent stake and is a separate isolated property within the ranch’s boundaries. Camp Cumorah facilities and amenities including dumpsters are all off-limits to trekkers.
5. Does the ranch have a portable sound system for stakes to rent?
No. Stakes and Wards are encouraged to procure portable sound systems consistent with their needs.
6. Do trekkers need to wear pioneer clothing, hats, and bonnets?
We strongly recommend that participants wear pioneer clothing for trek reenactments. Doing so adds to the unity and spirit of the experience. Hats and bonnets protect participants’ heads, faces, and necks from the sun even when sunscreen is used. When other camp programming differs from pioneer reenactments, appropriate dress codes should be discussed with the Senior Service Missionaries during the training sessions the summer before coming to trek.
7. Are shorts and flip-flops allowed?
No. The trek is on an operating cattle ranch with sagebrush, ticks, brush, weeds, dust, tree roots, briars, shrubs, and uneven and dusty trails. For protection, men should wear long pants, and women should wear pantaloons or long shorts under their skirts with skirts down except for water crossings. All should wear closed-toe hiking shoes or boots. Water shoes are highly recommended for water crossings.
