Filling in the Family Tree

Happy Isles~ Glacier Point~4 mile trail Sept 2011

For the last several years in early June and then in late summer I've gone on a trip to Yosemite for a full day of hiking with the same group of friends. 

Yosemite Point June 2011

My friend Kirsten took a job this last year that has had her working Monday thru Friday and we have had a hard time finding a time we could fit anything in.  I've missed it so much that we agreed even a little something was better than nothing.  

Yosemite Falls June 2010

Monday the two of us had a just a few hours that we could sneak away and settled on a hike close by.  It was later in the year than I had gone before and the weather has been hot.  In spite of the dry colorless grass and dusty trail it was beautiful.  The best part is always the company you're in anyway.  

Half Dome August 2010
As we talked about hiking in the heat, Kirsten commented that she'd prefer it to hiking in freezing cold. She mentioned that she had family members who were part of the famous Willie Handcart company that had a terrible time in the cold.  I did too!  I told her about my great great grandpa who was just 8 years old had one of his hands freeze but the other was saved because an older lady held his hand while they walked.  Kirsten looked at me in disbelief, "No way!! That was my great great grandpa! Wait, well maybe that happened a lot on the trail.  My ancestors name was James Heber Moulton." Now I looked at her in disbelief, "No way!  That's my great great grandpa too!" 

Nevada Falls June 2012

Here is an excerpt  telling of our grandpa's experience

"Coming over Rocky Ridge a kindly old woman, in order to relieve his

mother, held Heber Moulton's hand as he trailed behind the handcart, with

rope around his waist. This kindly act saved his right hand, but his

left hand, being exposed to the sub-zero weather, was frozen. The flesh

dropped off his fingers to the first joint. When they reached Salt Lake

City, it was necessary to saw off the blackened bones, and of course,

there was no ether or such to give him during the operation."

Half Dome September 2012

After we both made phone calls to our mothers we discovered that our great grandmothers were sisters.  Ida Mae Moulton Gardener  (Heber's 8th child) my great grandmother, and Euphemia Lucretia Moulton Smith (Hebers 2nd child) and Kirsten's great grandmother were sisters.  

My mom remembers going to "Aunt Lula's" house in Heber when she was young.  Lula being short for Lucretia.  Small little world.  After years of friendship, its crazy to realize we're actually family.  

When I set out to go hiking I can always count on it filling my bucket, but I never expected it to fill in my family tree! Lucky me.

** I took not one single picture on our hike Monday so I scrounged up pictures from the last few years of hikes we have done together.