Philmont Trek Part I

Day 1

As expected, today was exhilarating. Philmont is beautiful. I did not sleep well last night. No surprise. I went to bed early and fell asleep relatively easily, but by two o’clock I was awake and could not fall back to sleep. When my alarm clock sounded at 4:50, I sprang out of bed and took a shower. I didn’t want to get on the trail without showering since there will be nowhere to shower until we return to base camp. Oh, and for those of you not familiar with Philmont, no deodorant is permitted in the backcountry. However, only the adults deemed it important enough to wake up extra early to shower.

When the scouts woke up, we packed our gear in our rucksacks and then went to breakfast. I didn’t not eat enough. The donut was dry and tasteless and I don’t like scrambled eggs, the texture and taste have always turned me off, so that left home fries that were a bizarre mix of too crispy and too soggy. I also had canned peaches. Not nearly enough calories to hit the trail. Before heading down to the bus we deposited our duffle bags in a locker.

The bus picked us up around 9 and drove us along with our ranger to the trail head. It was a short drive and when we arrived the ranger gave us a brief lesson in navigation using the map and a compass. We then set out, all of us carrying way too much weight. Some of the scouts handled the weight better than others.

We hiked roughly 4.6 miles. The first half of the hike was on a dirt road which was littered with lots of horse poop. We did see horses when one horse crew crossed the road behind us. Even though we hiked on boring terrain the scenery sure beat anything back home. Mountain peaks rose up on both sides of us. And we got to see Arrowhead Rock, a natural formation on the side of a mountain, that is the inspiration for the patch logo for Philmont.

A little further than halfway, we reached Clark’s Fork—a programming stop. We ate lunch—chicken salad and crackers along with a goldfish and a cliff bar. I ate all of it, proof that if you are hungry enough you’ll eat ALMOST anything. Some of the scouts, including G3 got Clark’s Forks logo branded onto their hats. T, another of the adult leaders, and I tried our hand at lassoing. T succeeded. I stopped when I started to get frustrated. G3 and J, another scout, also gave it a go, both as unsuccessful as I. The scouts also played horseshoes. G3 and P are always competing. There is nothing they can’t turn into competition. Recently, they competed against each other to see who could get through all the seasons of breaking bad first. As for horseshoes, I heard them keeping score, but I don’t know who won.

The trek to camp was on a trail through a ponderosa pine forest. The scent of the pine was heavenly, but the trail was entirely uphill and it contained many switch backs. We took it slow and most of us were fine, however, one of the adults, shorter P, was struggling. The weight of his pack, plus the thinning of the altitude, proved a bit of a challenge. But we all made it to camp at Ponderosa Park.

Once there, the ranger trained us on the proper way to build an emergency shelter and to raise the bear bag to keep food away from the bears and hopefully keep the bears away from us. After that was taken care of we set up our tents. We are rather high up so I expect it to be cold tonight. It is a pretty site, one of the nicest I’ve ever stayed in. We are now chilling at camp in an informal circle. The ranger reviewed first aid and I’m ready to sleep. The last several sleepless nights are catching up to me, but I guarantee that will not get much sleep tonight.

Dinner was dehydrated food. It is amazing how good it is when you are backpacking. The scouts cooked and the we ate together. No one loved the food, but there were varying degrees of tolerating it. After we ate, while we were all still talking, G3 offered me his backpacking chair to sit in for a while since he knew my ankle was bothering me. I am very happy that I am fortunate enough to share this experience with him.

When we finished eating we had down time. G3 is reading. I am writing. When I finish my daily entry I too will take out my book. It is so incredibly peaceful sitting here. The sun is out, the mountains are in the distance, the pine smell is everywhere, there is a cool breeze and the only sounds I hear are the scouts talking, birds chirping, and the wind rattling the trees. I am always happy when I am removed from civilization, but this moment right here is nearly perfect.

We didn’t have a campfire, but the scouts sat around telling stories about school and teachers they don’t like. They asked me about my students and I told some of my teaching stories. Then they broke out a deck of cards and played blackjack. It was a rowdy game but they were all having fun. It was enjoyable to watch how excitable they were round after round, jumping out of their seats and shouting good-hearted insults at each other.

Day 2

I slept well until I woke up in the middle of the night, my full bladder insisting I get out of the tent. I am glad I did. The sky was beautiful. With no clouds and no street lights the stars were amazing. I lingered in the dark, head turned upward indulging in the sky. After that I was awake for a while before I fell into a half sleep.

Wake up was at six thirty. By the time we packed up and ate breakfast it was 8:45–later start than we wanted. However, our intention had been to not leave super early because at two o’clock we were scheduled to do conservation work on the trail. So, we didn’t want to arrive too early. The trail out of camp was extremely steep uphill. The scouts opted to take the emergency road to avoid all the switchbacks on the actual trail. However, that proved to be a much more grueling hike and Short P was struggling. Therefore, when the trail crossed the road we detoured onto it. It was still rough, but it made for an ‘easier’ climb.

While we trekked, I was having flashbacks of Nepal. The terrain was similar in some places and the hike just as challenging. But Nepal was twenty-nine years ago and my body had not yet begun to fall apart. My knees didn’t hurt on the decline and my ankle wasn’t in pain from sustaining many sprains over the years. It didn’t help that I rolled my bad ankle on a loose rock on trail. (Kati is probably rolling her eyes at me as she reads this.) About an hour in Tall P slowed along with Short P. G3 offered Tall P his hiking pole thinking it might help him. It was a kind gesture that made me proud.

When we reached the high point of our climb we dropped our packs and walked to an observation paint. The view was incredibly beautiful. We took turns taking pictures and spent entirely too much time there enjoying the view before shouldering our packs and continuing on our way. About a half hour before reaching the conservation point we stopped for lunch. Peanut butter and jelly on a tortilla never tasted so good.

We arrived an hour and a half early for our conservation work at North Fork Urraca. We had hoped if we got here early we’d be able to start early. No such luck. I suppose it makes sense. With all the crews rolling through Philmont, keeping to schedule makes the most sense. There is a cold stream running next to the trail where we stopped. Tall P suggested I take my boot off, sit on a rock, and ice my ankle while we waited. I thought that was a fantastic idea. Needless to say I did it and it felt fabulous. While I soaked the ankle G3 was nice enough to pump water through a filter to fill one of my water bottles.

The scouts don’t mind waiting. They are more than content to sit around resting and chatting. They are quiet and sullen on the trail, but as soon as they stop they come to life.

Our conversation turned into a talk. The heat index was too high to do manual labor in the sun. When Waite Phillips, the original owner of the Philmont ranch, donated his land to the Boy Scouts he made a few stipulations. The property need to remain an active cattle ranch—which it is. Also, the scouts would be required to maintain the land, hence each crew attending Philmont needing to do conservation work. If it hadn’t been so hot, we would have worked on building a trail. I think that would have been cool. Instead we hiked—without packs—about a three quarters of a mile to see the trail that was being constructed. It’s amazing how much work the scouts accomplish collectively every years. The new train will be through a scenic valley once it’s complete.

Miner’s Park, the camp where we are spending the night was about another half hour or forty minutes hike from the conservation area. It is a staff camp which means it is not as isolated as the campsite last night. There are multiple crews here and while it is pretty, the view is not nearly as impressive as it was last night. When we arrived the scouts set up the emergency shelter and hung the bear bag while N started boiling water to hydrate our dinner. Meals are always enjoyable. We gather around the food and talk while we eat. The scouts are always lively making fun of each other as if it were some sort of competition to see who could come up with the best insult.

After dinner, there were drinks—coffee, hot chocolate, and cider—on the staff porch for the advisors. We headed over, but it was far too peoplely for me. I grabbed a cup of cider and returned to camp where the scouts are once again playing Black Jack, thanks to J who brought cards. Once I finish writing, I will read.

There is thunder rumbling in the distance, the wind has picked up quite a bit, and storm clouds are gathering in the distance. It seems rain is inevitable. After the scouts went into their tents, I stayed up to watch the stars come out. The smell of campfire in the distance mixed with the smell of pine. The cicadas called to each other, getting louder as the scouts quieted. Sitting alone in the stillness of the night was very peaceful.

Day 3

The storm in the distance last night was mighty powerful. The lightning repeatedly lit up the cloud that seemed to engulf is. I don’t know how we got so lucky to  have it blow by us without so much as a drizzle.

The scouts in the crew all have jobs. The adults are here to make sure the scouts survive, but we aren’t supposed to do the daily chores. There are four standing jobs and the scouts doing them are: P is crew chief, M is chaplain’s aid, B is wilderness Guia, and G3 is crew reporter. The crew chief is in charge. He is the leader. The Chaplain’s aide says a prayer before every meal. The wilderness guia makes sure  the scouts learn about conservation and preservation. The reporter takes pictures and notes and is expected to write a press release or newspaper article about the trek when they get home. P is doing a fantastic job as a crew chief. He is a good leader and works harder than anyone in the crew. He’s the type of leader who leads by doing. G3 has actively been keeping a journal and organizing scouts into group photos. He’s been great about making sure we have a photographic record of our trip.

Other jobs are on a rotating basis unless certain scouts like doing them and then the same scout often keeps doing it. No one really likes putting up the dining fly. But stringing up the bear bag is less of a chore for some of them. N likes cooking. Here cooking means boiling water and measuring it out to rehydrate dinner packets, but it’s a tedious task. N also likes being the navigator—following the map and making sure we don’t get lost. His dad, T, is in the army and also has an interest in maps and navigating. More than once there has been a question as to which way to turn and they don’t always agree. Yesterday, they got into a serious debate at one point and N was quite proud of the fact that he ended up being correct.

Scouts were up early this morning—5:30 wake up. We broke camp, ate a hot breakfast—the oatmeal and hot chocolate were much welcome—and the set off to rock climb. The scouts who wanted to do it were guaranteed an opportunity, but the advisers were told we would be able to go only if time allowed. G3 and J were super excited about the activity, some scouts chose to sit it out.

The hike out to the rock we were climbing was just over a mile, but we weren’t carrying our packs so it was an easy walk. G3 and J chose what looked to be the most difficult way up and they both made it look insanely easy. The other scouts who went seemed to enjoy it. As time started to run out I could see that G3 wanted to go again, so I gave him my spot. I was rewarded when the woman running the program overhead our conversation and insisted that I also go at the same time on what she said was the easy route. It was not easy. Remember, I rolled my ankle yesterday and it was slightly swollen when I woke up. But I will never be here again so I wanted to give it a try. I struggled, especially since I was hesitant to put so much weight and force on my bad ankle. A third of the way up, I was frustrated enough that I was going to climb back down, but the woman spotting me refused to let me. Persistence won out. I made it to the top. From there, repelling was the easy, fun part. I am glad I did it. My ankle is not. (Yep, Kati and my mom are most likely shaking their heads at me as they read this.)

It was a mile or so to Crater Lake where we were hoping to do another program—telephone pole climbing. T and I were looking forward to it. Unfortunately, about fifteen minutes away we heard the rumble of thunder in the distance and rain started to fall. By the time we reached Crater Lake, the storm was fast approaching, so the program was canceled and they sent us on our way. We barely got our packs back on when the storm hit hard. We pushed through the downpour, hail mixing with heavy rain and pelting us as we walked. The rain was so hard it drenched us. None of our rain jackets kept us dry. Nor did the pack covers keep our packs dry. Our clothes were soaked. Our packs wet. I am happy I line everything with plastic. After about a mile, we stopped, the scouts set up the emergency shelter and we all crawled underneath. By then, we were all drenched and shivering, but at least the body heat warmed us a tad.

We hung out under the shelter for more than an hour, probably closer to two. It was rather entertaining listening to the scouts bemoan the situation, some of them wishing to be back home. G3 had downloaded Deadpool 2 onto his phone so he was content watching it. By the time we decided to continue our trek we were all half frozen and happy to move just to get our blood warm.

After hiking 4.8 miles we got into Aguila Camp and the advisers immediately set out trying to get a fire started. The scouts doubted we could do it since there was no dry wood and it wasn’t easy. It took immense effort from Short P, T, me and J, the one scout who worked tirelessly with us trying to get it started. We eventually—after more than an hour of effort—-got a small fire going. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough dry branches to keep it going. However, the task of building it and the short lived flame did mostly dry my clothes. They are still damp, but not saturated. If they were saturated, I’m not sure what I would have done with them. My pack of course is still drenched, but everything inside is dry.

G3 is getting a bit frustrated. His job on this trek is to be the reporter, but when scouts see him sitting in his chair and writing they accuse him of being lazy and not doing any work. I had a word about it with short P, the lead advisor and this evening he addressed the issue with the scouts, reminding them that G3’s job is silent and behind the scenes, but just as important as the other jobs.

I am in my tent and the rain is starting again. The wind is also picking up. I should probably slither into my sleeping bag before I get really cold again.

If you would like to see more pictures, find me on Instagram or TikTok. I will be posting pictures in the next few days.