The entire trek photos are now posted in 3 parts.  Just continue scrolling down to find all 3 parts.

Philmont 2014 was a really fun, but LONG trek.  On paper, it looked really interesting.  It started in the lower east corner by the Kit Carson museum.  Then traveled west, then north past the Tooth of Time and all the way north to Baldy Mountain.  Then west to Indian Writings.  The only corner we missed was the south west corner.  This was trek 28.  It is listed as 82 miles.  By my GPs, it was 114.7 miles.

This post will be very long, so it will be split into 3 parts.  All 3 parts are now complete.  Just continue scrolling down to find the other 2 parts.

 

 

 

 

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 cards 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 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.

 

 

 

 

More to come as the next 2 posts go up.

 

 

 

We start part 2 after hiking from Crater Lake to Miners Park.  This is a really fun camp.  Their program is rock climbing and rapelling.  We had an extra with us as my son Dan (on staff at Crater Lake) had joined us for a few days.

 

You must climb up before you can rapel.

After climbing up, then you get to rapel down.

 

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!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Getting ready for breakfast on the Tooth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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!

 

 

 

 

 

A beautiful view along the way.

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 

Another great view after we left Ute Gulch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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, get 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.

 

 

 

 

 

Our camp at Head of Dean.

 

 

 

 

 

Getting ready for supper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part 3 will be posted soon to finish the trek.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The final part of the 2014 Trek report.

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.

 

 

A scenic view on the way to Baldy.

 

 

Another great view.

 

 

 

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.

 

 

Panorama from the top of Baldy.  You could see for miles this day.

 

 

Looking over at one side.

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 

In 2003 was a fire up by Ponil.  Over 35,000 acres burned.  It was so hot that the sap became like a wax layer on top of the soil.  This has made it very difficult for anything to start growing again.

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 

 

Next to the cantina is the trading post and in the back is a museum.  Worth checking out.

It was a beautiful hike to Indian Springs.  Lots of rock cliffs and valleys.

 

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”.

 

 

 

We made it back!  The sign everyone loves to see!

 

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!

 

It was an amazing trek.  114.7 miles for the trek.  166 miles total walked.  We saw an amazing amount of Philmont and saw lots of variation in scenery.

It is always a great time and something to be treasured.

As always, attitude is everything.  With the right attitude, even difficult days can be fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have posted my notes from our trek. Trek 28 was a very strenuous trek. It was listed as 82 miles. We only made a short 200 foot error. My GPS put the final trek miles as 114.7. you can find my notes under pages on the right.

In my notes, I have 2 mile readings listed. One is trek miles. This was per my GPS. I turned it on before we left camp and shut it off when we reached our camp for the night. I did not include any miles walked around basecamp before we left or after we returned.

The other is total miles. Another advisor had a pedometer with him. He let it run all day so it recorded every step including walking around camp, back and forth to the main cabin, etc.
He also included hiking around basecamp before the trek officially started and when we returned.

Our total trek miles were 114.7.
His total miles walked were 166.

This was another amazing trek! Full trip details will be posted and photos in the near future.

A word of warning, Philmont greatly underestimates the mileage of the treks. We had trek 28. It is supposed to be 82 miles. We made no significant errors and had 114.7 trek miles by my GPS. Another adult had a pedometer with him. He kept it going all day instead of stopping when we reached each camp. At the end of the trek, it read 166 miles. That’s a lot of walking around in camp, to the main cabin and back to camp, etc. His included walking around basecamp before and after the trek.

Everyone has their own packing list for Philmont. I have added mine to the Philmont Planning pages. I included what I bring as well as items that the crew will need to bring with and optional items.