Before stepping out of the bus, 18-year-old Dallon Findlay glanced back and noticed swirls of smoke wafting behind him, between rows of empty seats.
He stepped onto the grassy shoulder of the windy Wyoming freeway and turned around, in full view of the broken-down bus. It didn't look any more serious than the first two times the bus stopped to repair other flat tires that morning — except for the smoke. That was new.
Either way, it wasn't how he imagined starting youth conference. The scheduled pioneer trek, with all its simulated hardships of Saints moving across the untamed plains to join Mormons in Salt Lake City, was supposed to start later that day, after the youth group was good and ready to face the raw elements of the sage-swept western plain. Not now. Findlay was still supposed to be curled up on the bus, catching up on the sleep he missed for having to climb aboard and leave by 3:30 a.m.
Two minutes later, though, any inconvenience the group may have felt about having to stop to repair a third flat tire turned to concern when Findlay and his fellow trekers noticed flames.
Within 15 minutes, the fire grew into a scorching blaze that consumed their whole 50-person bus. It melted the roadway and devoured every sleeping bag, pillow and extra set of clothes the group had packed.
"At first, especially the kids and some of the leaders were saying, 'Well, there goes everything we have for camping so we might as well just go home,'" Findlay said.
Adversity had started earlier than the trekkers had planned.
But, with perhaps the same persevering spirit as their faith's pioneering forefathers, ward leaders rallied and decided to continue anyway on their three-day trip to historic Martin's Cove, where a host of pioneers in 1856 had no choice but to continue or die during their bitter-cold and treacherous journey to the Salt Lake Valley.
"At first, personally, I was upset about the decision," Findlay admitted. "But I decided to be a good sport and go along."
He did. And by the time night fell on the group in the western desert, other Latter-day Saints stepped up to help save the distressed group's youth conference by donating needed supplies lost in the blaze.
Senior missionaries, who manage the visitors center along the Mormon Trail at Sun Ranch, lent the group pillows, blankets and sleeping bags for their two-night stay.
The next day, after the group hiked in to Martin's Cove, a hallowed place between two hills where many pioneers died trying to find refuge from winter blizzards, they returned to camp near the visitor center and met youth from two other Utah wards, who were leaving to go home.
"When they found out what had happened to the South Jordan group they voted unanimously to share their personal belongings with the newcomers," said Robert Curtis, father of one of the girls departing the cove. "My daughter left home with two dresses, sun block and other items. She came home with the dress on her back."
Findlay expressed gratitude for those who donated their unused clothing — "like socks, which we really needed!" — and for his leaders who gave him the adventure.
Then he reminisced on couple lessons learned:
"As much as it was kind of a bummer at first when the bus blew up, we all ended up realizing we could have a good time and we only needed a few thing to get by … " he said. "But if I ever go on a bus again I'll probably pack a little lighter."
e-mail: jhancock@desnews.com