Jackson Hole And Yellowstone

 Tim and I were asked by our bishop to serve on the Youth Conference Committee for our ward this summer. They wanted us to help plan and coordinate the devotional and activities for the youth of our ward.  The ward youth conference was going to take place in a campground just about 20 miles south of Jackson Hole, and we thought it would be great to spend a few extra days up in Jackson with our little family before the youth conference as mini summer vacation. And because let's be honest, Tim and I aren't the greatest campers, we decided to borrow Tim's parents big trailer. Which was great with three small kids.

On our drive up to Jackson Hole, we stopped to see the newly built Star Valley LDS temple in Wyoming. It has not yet been dedicated, but it was fun to walk around the temple grounds and show the kids the temple. It is one of the smallest temples I've ever seen, but very beautiful.

Star Valley, Afton Wyoming Temple

We spent the night at the same campground that our ward was staying at, and spent the nest couple of days in Jackson Hole and Yellowstone.

We drove through the Grand Tetons National Park, which was spectacular. Tim and I both had never been in that National Park and I was blown away with it's beauty. The scenery there looks straight out of a National Geography magazine. It's simply breath taking! I would like to go back there one day and spend my time exploring the beautiful lakes and trails. We went to see Old Faithful, and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, both of which made for some fun sightseeing. We had a very long drive back to camp, because we got stuck in traffic due to the Bison crossing the highway. There were about 200 cars bumper to bumper for a good two hours. We had dinner in Jackson Hole on main street, which was super fun.

The next day we spent at Teton Village. We took the kids on the Tram up to the summit, and the gondola and ski lift. We enjoyed a yummy lunch. 

The rest of our days we spent with the youth of our ward at camp, and they had plans to run the Snake River on Friday morning. Tim and I were planning on staying back at camp with our kids getting lunch and the devotional ready.

It was at breakfast Friday morning when Allie kept asking to go down the river with all the older kids, I was hesitant but there was enough for her and I to go and our river guide said, if she is over 6 and can swim, she is welcomed to go....so I got talked into going down the river with her, while Tim stayed back at camp with Mason and Naomi. I was only hesitant because I have ran the river several times when I was younger and I know the white rapids can get big and scary and I was nervous taking my little girl on it. But, she had begged and pleaded to let me take her...so I did it for her....

As we were getting our life jackets on we noticed that we were one life jacket short, so the Young Women's President ( Pam Solomon )decided to stay back with her husband and Tim for the first morning run.  Pam had made mention she was a little nervous and wasn't sure she wanted to go, but thought that it would be a good idea to go down with her young women.

We had a great river guide and it was a lot of fun...It took about 2 hours to get to the bottom and once it was over, I was happy to be back at camp having lunch, knowing everyone was safe...the youth was planning on going down it a second time in the afternoon...and so I handed the  life jacket I had used to Pam so she could go down the next run. The run was at 2:30 PM. We were planning on picking the group up at 4:00PM. 

But, at about 3:50, one of the leaders in our ward ( April  ) had pulled into the camp ground with a car we did not recognize. She ran over to the Bishop's wife and Pam's husband...and she said,"There's been a accident. I'm sorry Scott, but it's Pam."  He fell to his knees and said, Is she dead?" At that moment the ambulance trucks had arrived at the river and were administering CPR. She said, "No, but it doesn't look good." They drove him down to the location of the ambulance, as she was being placed into a stretcher and up the ravine.

They drove her up to St. Mary's, the Jackson Hole hospital. At that moment, everything changed...it was only 2 hours later that we heard the news...Pam was gone.. Her husband had come back to camp within just 2 hours and was screaming..."She's gone." I gasped and started screaming and crying...and that is when everyone sat in silence and in tears as we heard those words from Scott. Pam had returned to her Heavenly Father...and she would not be coming back to camp...

We all were in a state of SHOCK, GRIEVE AND DENIAL.

I went and sat with the young women to see how they were. The each told me their own account on what had happened. 

They had just been on the river for only 30 minutes, going over a small rapid (not even a big rapid) when the raft hit a rock and flipped everyone but 3 people out of the raft, including the captain. At that moment Pam was in the water and was trying to get a hold of the raft, which she did..and she hung to until the raft started drifting into a rock, so she let go...the other raft in our group was able to get to her after she had been in the freezing cold water for 10 min or so..as they were pulling up to her, she went under the raft, at that moment....our Young Men's president grabbed her by her life jacket and pulled her into the raft..at that point she said, "It's so weird, but I can't move." She said, and I'm having trouble breathing. The Bishop, who was on that raft asked if she needed a blessing, she said, "Yes." They gave her a blessing, and within just a few minutes, one of the young women said, Pam looked up and said,"This is so beautiful." She said, "I wasn't sure what she was referring to, but now I think it wasn't the scenery. She took her last breath..and I saw her sparkle in her eye leave her body...and that is when the Young Men's president started CPR. As that was happening another raft with a different youth group came by and had a whistle. They whistled for the forest rangers to call 911 with a two way radio. It took about 30-40 min for the ambulance to finally arrive..at which point ( April) had ran up a huge ravine to flag down a car on the highway to take her to camp to tell Pam's husband (Scott ).  The paramedics continued their efforts, but at the moment they arrived at the hospital they knew she had passed. She had no heartbeat. 

This experience is something that I think we will all remember. It still feels like a bad dream/nightmare! It's haunting for sure. I know that Pam was needed on the other side, but it is still hard to fully comprehend how this all happened. We just need to live by the motto she taught the young women in the ward, which is "Press Forward with a Steadfast in Faith."