Philmont 2014

Amtrak is a great way to travel. It is fun for the scouts as many have never been on a train before. You can sleep, relax, play cards or read in the lounge car.

Travis and Cullen play card in the lounge car. This was a very popular place for scouts. There were 10 crews on the train.

Just got off the train. Time to make a pack line while waiting four our bus to pick us up and take us to Philmont.

The bus ride to Philmont.

One of the first things you see at Philmont. The boots of many scouts are worn out after the trek and they end up here. this gets cleared off several times during the season.

The dining hall. Great food while you are in camp. It’s hot food and you don’t have to cook it!

The administration buildings. During the day of check-in, you will spend a lot of time in this area.

Some of the tents that you stay in the first night.

More of tent city

This sign will get you anywhere you want to go.

The tour of Waite Phillips summer home is a don’t miss.

Waiting for the tour to start.

One of the final pack lines before leaving.

The last time we will look this clean for a long time.

Our last pack line in camp.

Packing up the bus to leave.

At the Kit Carson museum, we got to do some blacksmithing.

Tomahawk throwing is always fun.

We had help as our ranger was going over orienteering. Yea, she was adorable.

Our first night was at Backache Springs.

Our water source.

Yes, this is how you get water from the pond. We filtered some and used Micropur for the rest.

The next morning we climbed to the top of the mountain next to camp for the sunrise.

Mike snorts a tree. The mature ones smell like vanilla or butterscotch. They really do!

Looking through the trees is a great view of the Tooth of Time

The next day we arrived at Crater Lake.

This is a logging camp. It’s really fun! Their main program is Spar Pole Climbing. It’s not as easy as it looks, but lots of fun!

Dan was our instructor for Spar Pole Climbing.

Some really good looking Bear Bags hung up

Getting ready for supper.

Aaron won one of their challenges. He got pudding and a photo shoot.

The crew put on a great show. Good music and funny skits.

We then hiked to Crater Lake. This is a really fun camp. Their program is rock climbing and rapelling. We had an extra with us after this camp. Dan was able to join us for the next 3 days on the trail.

We cooked supper for lunch at Miners Park as we had water there. Then we packed up and headed to Schaefers Pass, set up camp. The next day, we did a side hike to the Tooth of Time. The first part of the climb is a nice trail. The rest is all boulder climbing. Challenging, but fun!

Most of the crew on top of the Tooth.

Mini-bears are everywhere and they are sneaky!

As I was approaching the top, I watched a man slip and fall into a craves. We had enough help to get him patched up, and safely get him down the mountain to where camp medical staff could attend to him

After we returned to camp, we took down camp and reviewed the map so our navigator knew where they were going.

Some bridges are better than others.

We arrived at Hunting Lodge. Getting ready for supper.

Really nice looking Bear Bags. This is an important skill as badly hung Bear Bags have been attacked by bears.

How do you make advisors happy? Give them coffee!

Another bridge.

A trail. Some were in better shape than others.

Sometimes you just guess where the trail is.

Not every stream has a bridge; sometimes you walk across rocks.

In front of the reservoir.

They really do have black bears here. Several crews saw them!

We hiked up to Cimarroncito. A beautiful camp.

Did I mention they have a really sweet shower house? Probably the nicest at Philmont

And laundry building. This is a really nice place to do laundry. They even have clothes lines for drying your clothes.

From there we hiked to Ute Gulch to restock food. They also have fruit and milk as well as a trading post.

Time for a break

On the peaks, lightening hit many trees. This one the sap looks like it was vaporized.

Another great crew shot.

When we were hiking uphill, we often “catepillared”. This is a great way to conserve energy, catch your breath, et a drink, look around and enjoy the climb more.

Another tree hit by lightening

On the way to Head of Dean, we passed through “Santa Claus” camp. This used to be a staffed camp, but then the cabin was infected with hantavirus. Now nothing can be done with it.

We then hiked to Head of Dean. They have a really cool staff. The program is Challenge Adventure. Very similar to our “COPE course” at home.

Their evening program is a sunset hike. It is really good. Don’t miss it

Getting ready for supper.

Another view of our camp.

It was a very short hike from Head of Dean to Miranda. As you enter Miranda, you have a beautiful view of Baldy Mountain.

Great spot for a photo op. Baldy as our background. We will be there tomorrow.

The cabin at Miranda

They gave us a great camp site. Close to everything.

A little downtime before supper.

They have an interesting game called “Mountainball”. Like baseball except 5 bases, 3 teams and one out. If you say baseball, you are out.

They also have 50 ca. black powder rifles. Always fun! They teach you how to load and shoot.

You can shoot your own targets, card, bandanas, whatever you want. Just don’t shoot something you will need.

No showers or laundry, but there is always laundry in a bag. It works.

Along the trail is an old mining cabin and a great plateau..

The final assault up Baldy. Steep and lots of small stones.

It really is that steep, and you slide.

Almost there. You are above the treeline and above some of the clouds.

Everybody gets groups photos after making it to the top. An amazing view. We were almost at cloud level this day.

Looking over at one side of Baldy.

The hike down was almost worse than the hike up. Those small rocks slide even easier going down.

The hiking poles were a lot of help on the way down

On the way to Baldy Town, we came upon a small stream.

The next morning our camp was completely fogged in. I’m not sure if anyone climbed Baldy that day. If you can’t see the top, you cannot climb as it’s not safe. The day before we climbed, crews got rained and hailed on at the top and on the way down.

For the hike from Miranda to Ponil, we had a burro. You had to go through training on taking care of the burro.

Group photo with our burro full packed. It could only carry your food, none of your gear unfortunately. An everything had to fit inside 2 small packs on its sides.

Hiking with our burro. Caleb leads the burro.

More hiking with Jesse leading this time. Everyone had a chance to lead the burro. Some did better than others.

Another bridge to cross.

At Ponil, it was time to unload the burro.

At Ponil, we had a Chuckwagon supper and breakfast. Hot pancakes and sausage was a great breakfast.

Looking down on Indian Springs. It was a steep, rocky trail down to the camp.

We did our service project there. Some of the scouts broke up rocks that were in the way of a new trail.

Others repaired holes and ruts in the new trail.

Getting ready for supper at Indian Springs. Hard to believe tomorrow we get off the trail.

Near the camp, they have writings carved into the rocks by Indians that used to inhabit this area. They have been able to decode most of the drawings..

No photo set would be complete without an official “Redroof”.

The closing ceremony is much better than the opening one in my opinion. But the two are good bookends to the trek.

The day we were leaving, we went into Cimmaron to site see. You have to stop at the Gallery. They have a great ice cream shop inside. Malts all around.

Lunch was at the St. James Hotel. Really cool place to visit. The hotel ahs a historic wing with pictures of famous people who stayed there. Each room has a plaque as to who died or was shot in each room. The dining room still has bullet holes in the ceiling and walls!.