Philmont 2016 - Day 6 - August 8, 2016

Our hike today would take us from Seally Canyon to Whiteman Vega, passing through a camp called Ring Place, where we would be resupplying our food stocks. It's only about a 4 - 5 mile hike, however, since we are in the Valle Vidal, there are no trails, and we would have to rely completely on map and compass navigation.

When we arrive at Whiteman Vega, we will be doing our required three hour conservation project, working on the mountain bike trails there, after which, we would have the opportunity to do some mountain biking.

We got a late start today … the boys just weren't in the mood to get themselves up and ready. We finally got packed up and headed out, with Jim helping the boys with navigation.

We had been told by the staff at Seally Canyon that our route today would take us up and over a small mountain, the Eastern end of the ridge we had climbed the night before, after which, we'd find ourselves in a large clearing. At that point, we were supposed to head Northwest, using Little Costilla Peak as a navigation point.

We would then climb up and over a small wooded mountain. If we did everything right, after emerging from the tree line on the other side of the mountain, we should see the buildings of Ring Place off in the distance.

We set out on the hike and after about 45 minutes, we came out of the trees, and sure enough, right there in front of us, we could see the buildings of Ring Place. The boys were really excited to see how well their navigation went.

We got to Ring Place and met up with our sister crew. They had been there for a while and were getting ready to set out for the second half of today's hike to Whiteman Vega. After a short rest and a snack, it was time for the boys to resupply our food. It turned out, that food resupply at Ring Place took the form of a “bucket brigage”. The staff members had the boys line up and the next thing we knew, food bags were flying through the air. The boys couldn't keep up the pace, and food bags were hitting the floor. It was really funny to watch!!!

One of the staff members asked the boys if they wanted some edible napkins. We all kind of looked at each, wondering what he was talking about. It turns out, edible napkins at Philmont are flour tortillas, the idea being, that you use the tortillas to hold your food, and that way you don't have to wash your plates!!!

After resupplying, we left Ring Place to continue on our way to Whiteman Vega. The scenery in the Valle Vidal is absolutely incredible. We had views of the mountains all around us, including Mt. Baldy way off in the distance.

We hiked for about 45 minutes or so and then we saw the yurt at Whiteman Vega ahead of us. When we arrived, we met up with our sister crew and it was time for lunch. The protein for today's lunch with a slab of Spam … let's just say, that I probably won't ever be eating Spam again!!!

After lunch, the staff members told us that one of our crews would do their conservation project while the other crew went mountain biking. Our sister crew did the conservation project first, and we got to do the mountain biking. Unfortunately for Jim & I, there was another crew at the camp who was also going mountain biking. The staff members told us there were too many of us for everyone to be able to ride, so the adult advisors from the two crews sat out while the boys went riding. I can't lie … I was pretty bummed out about not getting to ride.

After the ride, it was time for us to do our conservation project work. During our work, some bad weather started to move in, so the staff cut our project a little short of the three hours we were supposed to do … no one was complaining!!! Fortunately, the rain passed through very quickly.

We set up camp for the night and then ate dinner. The sunset was absolutely incredible. As we were beginning to figure out, sunsets at Philmont are a really awesome part of the experience.

The staff members came to our site to ask the boys if they wanted to play some wiffle ball. We made our way back over to the staff area and the boys played wiffle ball against their sister crew while we advisors had some coffee. It was a great night.

Tomorrow would be our longest hike of the trek, in terms of mileage. It was time to turn in and get a good night's sleep.

Philmont 2016 - Day 5 - August 7, 2016

Today we will say goodbye to Ranger Ben. He's been with us since we arrived at base camp and he has made sure that we know everything we will need to know to complete our trek safely. We'll all be sad to see him go.

We'll be hiking from Metcalf Station to Seally Canyon today. It's about a 9 mile hike, almost all of which follows the North Ponil Creek bed through a canyon.

We woke up early, broke down our camp and then headed over to meet the staff members at Metcalf Station for the blacksmithing program activity. All of the boys got a chance to participate and they made a letter opener that we were able to take with us as a souvenir.

After blacksmithing, it was time to say goodbye to Ben. We thanked Ben, said our goodbyes, and then headed North. Philmont treks cross lands owned by Philmont Scout Ranch, other private lands and some public land. Our trek today would be taking us across some private cattle ranches, and then into the Valle Vidal, a part of the Carson National Forest. We hiked for a while and then decided to stop for a breakfast break.

It was a beautiful morning, but it was already getting really hot in the canyon. As we were walking through a cattle ranch, there were lots of "cow-pies" we had to watch out for ... "cow-pies" are gross!!! We continued on our way, with some beautiful scenery in front of us.

After a while, I started to become a little concerned that we may have taken a wrong turn. Part of my concern was due to the fact that at one of our map checks, we didn't orient the map properly when we checked it. Note to self … ALWAYS make sure that the map is oriented properly before doing any navigation!!! After a short lunch break …

... we eventually reached the fence that marked the boundary for the Carson National Forest. After about another hour of hiking, we saw another canyon intersecting the one we had been hiking in. It was our destination for the night, Seally Canyon. As we approached the intersection of the two canyons, we saw three Philmont staff members walking towards us from Seally Canyon. It turned out, these were the staffers from Seally Canyon Camp. They didn't have any other crews in camp, so they had decided to go for a walk.

Where the two canyons met, there was a pretty high rock ledge. The staff members asked us if we wanted to climb up onto the ledge … of course we said yes! The view from the ledge was awesome.

We figured that we might have a bit of a wait for our sister crew, so we decided to leave our packs and take a walk with the staff members further North to the site of a former settlement in the canyon. There was a small cemetary and a few scattered remains of some structures. We returned back to the canyon intersection and waited for our sister crew.

After a while, our sister crew finally appeared, off in the distance!

We continued on the final leg of our hike to get to Seally Canyon camp. The program activity at Seally Canyon is search & rescue. The staff members asked us if we wanted to do any of the program activities, but given that it was getting kind of late, and we were pretty tired, we all decided to just set up camp & relax for a while. After dinner, the staff members came for a visit and asked us if we'd like to take a short hike to the top of a ridge behind the camp. They told us that the views from the ridge were incredible, and, as a bonus, we might be able to get cell phone reception from up there!!! That was all we needed to hear, so off we went.

The climb up to the top of the ridge was very challenging. It was really steep, and there was a lot of loose rock. I had to maintain a “three points of contact” approach to the climb at all times. I'm not usually afraid of heights, but I was definitely nervous about slipping, and then sliding and/or tumbling all the way down to the bottom!!! When we finally got to the top, as advertised, the views were incredible.

We could see the Tooth of Time way off in the distance as well as Mt. Baldy.

Off in the distance, we could see a small white speck, marking the yurt at Whiteman Vega … our destination for tomorrow! Some of us were able to get cell phone reception. Most of the boys called home to check in. Everyone was in great spirits! We stayed on the ridge until sunset, and then it was time to hike back to camp for the night.

It had been a long day, but it had also been a lot of fun.

Philmont 2016 - Day 4 - August 6, 2016

This is our first full day on trek. We will be hiking from Anasazi Trail Camp to the Metcalf Station Camp. It's not a very long hike, only about 5 miles, and along the way we'll be passing through Indian Writings Camp, where we'll have some program activities available to us. We also still had to complete our “Ranger Training” with Ben.

We woke up to a beautiful morning, broke down our camp, packed up, and headed out on the trail towards Indian Writings Camp.

When we arrived at Indian Writings, the boys decided that they would eat lunch first, and then do some program activities.

There were two things to do ... we could take a short hike to see the Indian writings on the rocks in the area, and/or, we could try throwing the atl atl. A spear like weapon used by the Native Americans who once lived in this area. Our crew wasn't interested in seeing the Indian writings, but the other crew did.

Everyone tried the atl atl. Is that a t-rex on the trail back there?

After we finished at Indian Writings, we continued on the trail towards Metcalf Station, with Mt. Baldy looming in the background.

Metcalf Station is the newest camp at Philmont. Many years ago, a railroad ran through the canyon we had been hiking through to transport timber from the mountains to saw mills located in the town of Cimarron, at the end of the canyon. The railroad was removed years ago. Philmont is reconstructing a small section of railroad where the old railroad was previously located.

When we arrived, the staff was eating lunch, so we did the same. After lunch, we went to work on the railroad. Everyone got a chance to drive spikes and to “line” the tracks. It was pretty hot out, but the staff members were very entertaining, and everyone had a good time.

After we were done working, everyone had a chance to ride the hand car back to the station. It was a lot of fun, but also much harder to pump the car than I thought it would be!

The other program activity at Metcalf was blacksmithing, but there wasn't enough time for both of our crews to do it today. We decided to do it first thing the next morning. One of the staff members showed us to our camp. It was in the woods, up a pretty big hill. There was a nice view, but it was a steep climb (and the bathroom was at the bottom).

We set up camp and ate dinner. After dinner, the staff put on a campfire show. It was a really good time!

Philmont 2016 - Day 3 - August 5, 2016

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!

Philmont 2016 - Day 2 - August 4, 2016

We woke up bright and early to board the bus for the trip to Philmont.

After a quick breakfast, we loaded our gear on the bus and started out. We had a different driver than the one from the previous day, and unfortunately, the new driver wasn't exactly sure how to get to Philmont. After a minor detour, we got back on track and continued on our way into New Mexico ... 

... getting our first view of Mt. Baldy from the bus!

Upon our arrival at Philmont ...

... we were met by two staff members whose job it was to get us checked in. I was very amused to see the names of our two staffers, so I asked them if they'd mind if I took a picture of them. Check out their names!

After getting checked in, we were introduced to the two Rangers we would be spending the next couple of days with, one for each of our crews. The Ranger for my crew was Ben, a young man from Cincinnati, Ohio, and the other Ranger was Matt, from Staten Island, NY. The Rangers split us up into our respective crews and we got started with our “inbound processing” and “Ranger training”.

The rest of the day was VERY busy. There were so many things that had to be done, including a crew photo, medical rechecks, meeting with the Logistics staff to go over our trek plan, getting crew gear from the quarter-master, going through equipment checks with our Ranger, and a whole lot more.

After dinner, the staff at base camp put on a “Welcome Show”. Following the show, we all went to bed, as tomorrow would be another busy day.

Philmont 2016 - Day 1 - August 3, 2016

We woke up bright and early this morning to meet the rest of the members of our crews in the Church parking lot at 5:30 am! The bus we hired arrived a little late, but we made it to the airport in time. I can't lie ... I was starting to get a little nervous on the way to the airport.

The first hurdle, was getting everyone checked in at the ticket counter, getting our bags checked, and then getting through security. After a minor issue with one of our Scouts getting through security, we got to our gate and waited to board the plane to Denver.

We arrived in Denver and met with a representative from the travel company we had used to make our arrangements for getting to Philmont.

There were a lot of groups of Scouts in the airport, I'm sure most of which were either coming from or heading to Philmont. We were picked up by our “private” bus for the trip to Colorado Springs, where we would be spending the night.

On the way, our first stop was for lunch at a Golden Corral restaurant. I had never been to a Golden Corral, and it was quite an experience! The boys were thrilled with all the options they had to choose from.

After lunch, we continued towards Colorado Springs. The next stop was the U.S. Air Force Academy, where we had about an hour to give ourselves a self-guided tour of the public areas of the academy. The grounds of the Air Force Academy were beautiful, and the chapel is incredible.

After our brief tour, we continued on to the Garden of the Gods, a park made up of incredible red rock formations that are perfect for rock scrambling. We had about an hour here to climb around on the rocks, after which we were taken to our hotel for the night.

The boys were able to relax with some games of volleyball and corn-hole.

After dinner, we suggested that everyone get to sleep early, as we would be leaving the hotel early the next morning for the trip to Philmont Scout Ranch.

Another Adventure (after the fact)

In August of 2016, Josh & I, along with 14 other members of our Boy Scout Troop, embarked on a 12-day backpacking trek at Philmont Scout Ranch in the mountains of Northeast New Mexico. I had really wanted to blog that trip, but due to the fact that we would be completely disconnected, I decided not to do it.

In July of 2017, I will be attending the 2017 Boy Scout National Jamboree, at the Summit Bechtel Scout Reserve in West Virginia, along with Josh and about 40,000 others!!! Josh and I won't be together for this trip, but we will be able to see each other from time to time. Unlike our trip to Philmont, for the Jamboree, we will be connected, and I've decided that I'm going to blog this adventure.

That got me to thinking again, that I really should have blogged our Philmont trip. I've therefore decided to go back in time, and try to reconstruct our Philmont trip.

Look for future posts about our Philmont trip in the days to come, and then, come back in July as we experience the Jamboree!