[Philmont]: RE: Lunch for Dinner - was Camel up?

Mike Wald writes....

When hiking from Cito to Clarks, it is not advisable to stop at Clarks for
anything but water. If you wish to indulge in the activities are Clarks do
so on the day prior. The afternoon humidity, steepness, lack of water
beyond Clarks, and distance may make this a very difficult hike for most
crews. Fill up with water at Clarks as if there is not water until base
camp. A minimum of 4 liters is recommended, 6 if you can carry it. When we
did the hike in 2002 our advisor was not as wise and we ended up with 1
severe case of heat exhaustion and 3 mild cases. Weighting Scouts down with
2 gals jugs of water and their own water is also not advisable. Get an
early start and enjoy the views as you climb up and over the ridge.

Comments...

While I would question "steepness", the trail is certainly one of, if not
the most, rockiest (is that a word?) at Philmont - pretty typical of trails
here in the east, like the AT. And as big a weather issue is
thunderstorms - you are literally hiking the backbone of the ridge;
completely exposed with no where to go if one blows in.

If you are hiking in from a camp at Schaefers Pass or beyond, you will be
crossing the ridge early in the morning so the weather is not an issue. But
by the time you cross the ridge, climb the Tooth, take the pictures, etc,
you will be doing the long switchback in the sun down to base camp late
morning or early afternoon.

If you are hiking across Tooth Ridge to STAY at Tooth Ridge Camp, the crew
gets to plan a day where all of the elements that go into planning a hike
converge - distance, lack of water, program, time of day (sun and
thunderstorms), etc.

Whether or not you stop at Clarks (for program, or dinner for lunch) is one
piece of that puzzle.

I have stayed at Tooth Ridge Camp twice, staying the night before in the
vicinity of Cito.

Once the crew had been at Beaubien and had already done Western Lore
program. We simply stopped at Clarks for water, did dinner for lunch at
Schaefers (the spring was flowing, and we topped off), headed across the
ridge about 1 pm, and started to climb the Tooth but were chased off by an
incoming thunderstorm. We planned to have been earlier than that, but one
member of the crew developed a foot problem on the climb from Clarks, and it
was responding to rest during lunch(dinner), so the crew gave him as much
time as we could.

The other time we had not done Western Lore yet. The crew did the program
at Clarks (other than horse rides), dinner for lunch, then headed out. Only
stopped for a break at Schaefers (the spring was dry), and headed across (my
recollection is that it was between 1 and 2). They were going to do sunrise
from the Tooth the next morning, so did not have to allow time for that.

My recommendation is also 6 quarts per person when heading up to Schaefers
from either Clarks or North Fork Urraca. AND dinner for lunch at those
camps or two lunches for the ridge.

I saw a post recently about a crew that had horse rides at Clarks the
morning of their hike return to Base Camp. I am surprised that Logistics
would even schedule that - I would strongly recommend never doing the horse
ride part of the program at Clarks and the hike across Tooth Ridge on the
same day.

And as I posted earlier, I also strongly recommend distributing crew water
in 3 quart containers carried by each crew member in their pack, rather than
larger ones that have to be dealt with by passing between the crew members
or suspended on a pole carried by two.

 - Al Thomson, Troop 236, Schooley's Mountain NJ
Advisor '99, '01, and '03
Autumn Adventure '00, '02 and '04
B&B '02

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Received on Sat Apr 24 08:29:28 2004