Philmont, July 2011

When you complete your trek and do the service project, you earn this Philmont badge.

Our crew fulfilled all of the requirements for the Philmont Duty to God award. It is the responsibility of your Chaplains Aide to see that you fulfill the requirements. It isn't difficult if you plan well.

Our crew fulfilled all of the requirements for the Philmont Wilderness Ghia patch. It is the responsibility of your Wilderness Ghia to see that you fulfill the requirements. It isn't difficult if you plan well.

Every trek at Philmont qualifies for the 50 mile award, if you do the service project.

The crew spent many night training.

We used the trails and roads around George Wythe for training.

There also were trails around Hartman Reserve and lots of steps as well.

The day of departure. Getting the gear stowed.

Greg goes over a few last minute details.

The crew from Troop 55

The crew of Troop 2 and a few other scouts.

The crew of Troops 42 and 29.

All three Philmont crews

The train station at Fort Madison. The first of many pack lines. . .

Waiting inside the station.

The group photo

Our train arrives

Time to load the backpacks.

Everyone had fun spending time in the lounge car.

Even the adults liked the lounge car

The train arrives in Raton. Time to unload

Moving our gear

Our bus to take us to Philmont. Our 3 crews used 2 buses.

The entrance to Philmont.

A short break on the trail

There are separate tents for the trailbound and homebound crews.

Storms come up fast.

Deciding the plan for the afternoon

We went to the museum to tour for the afternoon.

The rangers do their skit prior to supper

The dining hall is huge. This is half of it.

After supper, some went to the Presbyterian service

Others went to the Catholic service.

The Opening Campfire followed. It was really good.

The crew leader is presented a flag to take on the trek.

After the campfire, we had the chance to get a group photo with the staff.

The whiteboard at Logistics..

Looking over the dining fly.

Some of our food.

Our crew photo

Our gear shake down. Doing this before we left was a big help. It didn't take long.

Then we went to Villa Philamonte. what a great house!

Waiting in the atrium

Getting ready to go in for the tour.

Part of the main livingroom

The "man cave" had a great gun collection.

And a Ford Model N in the garage.

The document giving Philmont Ranch to the Boy Scouts.

The next morning, we loaded up our bus and headed to Lovers Leap.

Teaching orienteering. On the trail, you must know how to use a map and compass.

Tooth of Time view along the way.

Looking up at Lovers Leap..

Part of the group on Lovers Leap

A short break before heading to camp

At the camp, we were met by "The Rowdy Girls". They were a group of 6 girls who were on a 20 day trek. They were to teach us how to properly set up camp, then they headed off to their next adventure for the day.

First priority is getting bearbags up

Thats a lot of bags to go on the line

The dining fly set up.

A little downtime until supper.

The next morning we hiked up to Urraca.

Always check the map

We found a great view along the way

Wow

Another group shot

We arrived at Urraca. The porch talk was a song! How sweet is that?

The program was "Challenge Course". Here everyone had to be put through the tire without knocking over the Nalgene of water.

Then invert the order without stepping off of the plank.

Finally, get everyone over the 12 foot wall

Once you were over, only 2 people on top could lift. You could not use any poles, belts, etc.

The campfire show was really fun.

Next morning, we were up at 5 to hike to Inspiration Point to see the sunrise.

Waiting . . .

It was worth the wait!

The next morning,hiking through more beautiful country

Only small hills today

Along the way was another great photo opportunity

Another great view with the entire crew

we arrived at Crater Lake. It is a very fun camp, a GREAT staff.

The program is spar climbing. Before you can climb is the safey instruction.

9 pound discusses the gear you use. Here he points out the most important piece of equipment. He wanted everyone to yell "crotchal D-Ring" several times. he did point out that this is the correct name of this piece of equipment, but is also just really fun to yell!

One of the "donkeys" for climbing. They are your lifeline when you climb.

Supper before the evening program.

Crater Lake had maybe the best evening Campfire program we saw. Great music, comedy and stories. Don't miss this if you have the chance to see it!

The next morning was hiking to Beaubien. We decided to hike OVER Trail Peak with our packs. We knew this would be a tough hike and it was.

Many parts of the climb were much steeper than this.

One of many signs, but "never trust the signs"

On the top of Trail Peak is the remnants of a WWII B-24 bomber.

It was a humbling experience to see the wreckage.

There also was a great view of the other mountains.

During lunch, Jan and James lead a devotional service. This was very moving considering what was around us.

It was an easy hike down to Beaubien. This is a beautiful camp with lots to do.

Camp was quickly set up.

They have showers and laundry. Unfortunately, because of fire concerns, they could use the wood fired water heaters, so it was cold showers. But they still felt good.

They also have an evening campfire program.

Next morning was the horse ride.

They had about 40 horses to saddle and get riders on. It took awhile, but was worth the wait.

The horses are trained to follow the one in front of them. For those of us who don't ride much, it works really well.

The entire crew.

Every crew works on a conservation project. Ours was cutting down specific trees to help the forest, cutting up and stacking the wood.

They have "red-roofs" here.

They have ferocious "minibears" there. They look harmless, but . . . next morning we hiked up to Urraca.

After an afternoon rain, a nice rainbow.

That night was the "Chuckwagon Dinner". A night of hot food that you don't have to cook. It's a treat!

Did I mention it has real meat in it?

That night, some of our crew participated in the rope the log competition.

Our crew also did the flag ceremony.

They did a great job!

The next morning, we got up early to hike to Philips Junction. This was the next food pick up. We also had to pick up our food for breakfast there as we had none.

Lots of boxes of food.

Breakfast before the next hike.

Discussing the correct directions.

It was a short hike to Crooked Creek.

Our camp

They have tours of the cabin.

The other side of the cabin.

One of the activities is catching the chickens.

Adam shows his technique.

There was a demonstration of how to make shingles.

Some of the scouts find a dry spot during the rain.

This camp you have to filter your own water.

Quite the throne on this latrine.

One of the activities was milking cows.

Horseshoes were also available..

Some of the scouts find a dry spot during the rain.

This camp you have to filter your own water.

Quite the throne on this latrine.

One of the activities was milking cows.

Horseshoes were also available..

a short break along the hike to Clear Creek.

Sort of a bridge . . .

The cabin at Clear Creek. This is a hunting/trapping lodge.

One of their bridges wasn't in real good condition.

The staff had a trapping demonstration.

Waiting for the cabin tour.

Inside the cabin.

We were asked to fix one of the bridges.

A little work.

Almost done

A few final additions.

The crew and the finished bridge.

This camp also has black powder rifles.

Each person gets 2 shots.

They are a lot of fun to shoot!

We left early the next morning to hike over Mount Phillips. There is an American Flag on the peak

The crew photo from the top.

a 180 degree panorama from the top of Mount Phillips

One of the markers on the peak

The other marker

Getting ready to hike on

After hiking through Commanche Peak camp and setting up camp at Thunder Ridge camp, we hiked to Cyphers' Mine for our program.

This is a mining camp with gold mining and a mine tour.

Getting instruction on how to mine for gold.

Trying their hand at mining. It is more diffficult than it looks.

The gold mine.

Before going in the mine, "Shorty" goes over safety instruction and talkes about the different types of rock we will see.

The crew in front of the mine.

This camp is so rocky, they have Adirondacks as it is very hard to get tent stakes in the ground.

We used one of the adirondacks for cooking while waiting for the next part of the program.

The next day we were up at 5 as we had a long day ahead of us. Starting with a steep trail.

That is the trail.

More trail.

What is a trail without bridges?

First stop was Cimmaroncito. We have showers, laundry, rock climbing and rapelling.

While some showered, others hiked to Ute Gulch to get the remaining food for the rest of the trek.

They have new showers that are really nice, and warm!

Next to the showers is a new laundry facility. Also really nice.

There was a great tree to dry clothes while we ate lunch.

Before going to the mountain to climb, some used the indoor climbing area

The mountain they climbed.

Then it was hiking to Cathedral Rock.

The Philmont Reservoir is just in front of Cathedral Rock.

This camp is close to the demonstration forest.

The next morning, we hiked back to Cathedral Rock to see the sun rise over it.

Lots of wild turkeys on the road.

The hike to Tooth Ridge Camp was a steep rugged climb.

A nice landscape.

On Schaefers Pass was a really unusual tree.

Another look at Tooth of Time.

At times there was a trail, other times just more of a boulder climb.

Rock furniture at our camp site.

After the rain, was a doubl rainbow!

There is a new latrine in the camp.

It still has a great view of base camp.

Once the rain stopped, we decided to try an climg to the top of Tooth of Time. Not much of a trail. Most is boulder climbing.

If you keep heading up, you will get to the top. It took about 30 minutes to get to the top.

A great view of base camp from the top.

One of the markers on the top.

The other marker.

a 360 degree from the top of Tooth of Time.

The climb down was more difficult than going up.

That night, we had joint devotions between our crew and the combined crew of Troop 42/29. It was a great way to spend the last night.

A view of base camp at night.

The last morning, we climbed the rocks by camp and watched the sun rise.

A beautiful sunrise.

It is a 6 mile hike to base camp with many switch backs.

One of several breaks.

You could see base camp, but it didn't seem to be getting any closer.

We pose by the "We made it" sign.

Then back to all of the stations to check in the equipment.

We added a signed t-shirt to the mess hall.

Some of us went to the Catholic service that night. Ryan was asked to do the responsive reading.

We knew about the BIG surprise at the service. The Archbishop of Santa Fe, Michael Sheehan was proceeding over the service. A great honor to receive the sacrament or a blessing from him.

Sunset over base camp.

It rained, so the closing ceremony was moved inside. It didn't go well.

We had planned to go into Cimmaron, but the bus left too late. Instead, we went to the Kit Carson museum. We had a previous science teacher as our guide. He was AWESOME!!

The store had been changed for the better since we saw it 2 years ago.

More of the store.

The other half was more historic in nature.

Outside was a area to throw tomahawks.

There was some downtime efore leaving, so one last stop at the snackbar.

The Scout Museum is close to the train station.

How much pop and pizza do 32 people need?

Inside the train station.

Waiting for the train.

Our last pack line.

Our train arrives. 16 hours until we get back to our vehicles to drive home.

This is the second time that I have hiked through Philmont. It still is an amazing adventure. It is difficult and tests you physically, mentally and spiritually. However, there is no other High Adventure like it! We had 32 scouts and adults who completed 3 different treks. There were lots of smiles, laughs and story swapping from everyone. Did they have fun? Everyone of them had a grat time, even in the difficult stretches.

If/when you have the opportunity to go to Philmont, don't miss it!