Today was another busy day. We woke up
early, and after breakfast, finished the rest of our “inbound
processing” tasks. We had a fairly late departure time, and our
Ranger was a little concerned that we'd be pressed for time when we
arrived at our first camp, but there wasn't much we could do about
it. We got our gear packed up and headed over to the pick up area.
There was a lot of nervous energy amongst us ... things were about to “get real”. Unfortunately, there were some pretty severe thunderstorms in the mountains, and our bus was VERY late. It finally arrived at around 4:45 and we loaded ourselves and our gear onto the bus. The bus dropped us off at the “Six Mile Gate” trailhead, where we would begin our trek.
When we arrived at the trailhead, the
first order of business that our Rangers wanted to discuss was
bathroom ettiquette! In order to do this, they decided it would be
appropriate to have all 16 of us, plus themselves, pile into one of
the “Red Roof Inns”, so they could go over proper bathroom
procedures. Believe it or not, we somehow managed to fit all 18 of us
in there!!!
There are two types of camps at Philmont, trail camps and staffed camps. Staffed camps, as the name implies, have Philmont staff members on the premises. These camps have potable water sources that don't require treatment, activity areas, and some even have small trading posts. When you arrive at the camp, a staff member assigns your crew to a particular site.
Trail camps, on the other hand, are
very minimalistic. Some have readily accessible water sources, though
the water does require treatment, while others are “dry” camps
... water has to be brought in from elsewhere. When you arrive at a
trail camp, you walk through it, looking for an empty site that you
like.
After the bathroom talk, it was time to
go over the map for our first hike. Today's hike was pretty short,
less than three miles, and it was pretty easy going all the way.
We arrived at our first camp, Anasazi Trail Camp, and after a little searching, we found a site that we thought we be OK. It was on a bit of a slope, but we couldn't find anything better, and it looked like it was going to rain, so we wanted to get everything set up before the rain came. It took a while to get the bear bags set up, but eventually, we got it done. The next step was to set up our tents. It was already getting dark, so we set the tents up as best we could, using rocks (or other things ... right Josh?) as hammers to put in the tent stakes.
Next, it was time to make dinner, but of course, now the rain had started. We huddled under the rain fly as best we could while we cooked dinner and ate. It was already kind of late, and it was raining, so it was time to go to sleep. The boys all got into their tents, and Jim (the other adult advisor in our crew), Ben (our Ranger) & I made sure everything was properly stored.
When we walked over to where the tents
had been set up, we noticed that run-off from the rain was running
down the hill, and several of the tents were in the path of small
rivers running down the hill. We decided that it would be a good idea
to move some of the tents. We had the boys take turns taking shelter
in our tent, while we moved theirs into a better spot.
It had been another long day, and it
was finally time to go to sleep!
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