RE: [Philmont]: bake packers

An observation that I have after our treks in 2000 & 2002, we did Trek 17 &
Trek 30. First, figure out how to get rid of absolutely any weight you
possibly can. Second be sure the boys work with the gear they are taking to
Philmont until it is so familiar to them, it's a like putting on their
clothes. Third and this was the hardest for me the first one and then I had
a hard time getting the boys to understand it on the 2nd trek, FOOD is FUEL.
It's nice that food tastes good and it looks nice, but when going to
Philmont, go there with the idea that Philmont has camps to see, activities
to do, trails to hike. Don't spend unneeded hours cooking stuff. There isn't
any extra water to clean anything with, you either are eating out of a cup
or a bowl, or you're taking to much. If you are taking cake, muffin or
pancake mixes, which you would have carry (EXTRA HEAVY WEIGHT), you will be
doing at the expense of why you went to Philmont in the first place.

The first Ranger we had, in 2000, suggested to my Crew Leader that the boys
get up, start hiking and after an hour eat. He said it would 1) get the boys
up active and warm 2) when they ate breakfast on the trail they would be
much quicker about it. He was right, instead of taking the typical 35 - 120
minutes or longer they figured out that they could hit the trail in 10 - 15
minutes. This was with 14 - 16 year olds. I taught this after the 2nd
shakedown hike on the 2002 Crew and by Philmont it was second nature and
under ideal conditions they would pack everything up in their tents all
loose items were in ziplocks and they hit the trail.

The point I'm trying to make is that when you're on your home range, having
a relaxing 50 miler with no scheduled activities, by all means take all your
extra stuff if you like. However if you are trying to get ready for a
successful Philmont trek, where the lowest elevation is 7500 ft and hits you
right in the chest loose the weight, especially what you are carrying on
your body.

Brian Gorman,

Advisor Trek 7-06-L1 in 2000, Trek 7-26-K1 in 2002

Philmont Training Center 1998, 99,

Cub Scout Wood Badge, Philmont 1996

Hope to go back in 2004!!!

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-philmont@troop47.com [mailto:owner-philmont@troop47.com] On
Behalf Of Gbeaglegolf@aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2003 8:09 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list philmont
Subject: [Philmont]: bake packers

We have bake packers that I have had the boys using on shakedowns with
cakes, muffins, etc. Question is ours are small about 2 quarts, are these
adequate or are there larger ones available that someone has experience
using? We want to supplement our meals with cakes and preparing muffins,
pancakes, etc instead of breakfast cereals every day.
Garry Black
Troop 718

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Received on Tue Apr 15 19:54:21 2003