RE: [Philmont]: Trek 32 comments

Gary Boyd wrote:

-----Original Message-----
Looking for information on Trek 32.
Accompanying a coed venture crew of 16-17-18 y.o. in June.

Thanks

Gary Boyd
Crew 151 Committee Chair
Georgetown, Texas

Gary,

Here's the report I posted last summer.

>Ched Hudson
ASM, Troop 994
Fairfax Station VA
Philmont 67, 04

Overall, Troop 994 had a terrific time at Philmont, including a few scouts
that had decided late in the game that backpacking was not ideally how they
wanted to spend their summer vacation. One of our scouts kept a journal,
which I'll post as soon as it's online. A few comments follow on topics
which have been discussed recently. Our trek, part of the National Capital
Area Council's four-crew expedition, ran from July 13-25, and meandered
across the North country from Six Mile Gate to Miranda, then southward
through Harlan to Ponderosa Park and the Tooth. This was our troop's first
expedition to Philmont, and aside from our training hikes this spring and
one weekend trip each year we don't have a culture of backpacking or high
adventure. I think that trend is about to change...

Weather

With input from the Guidebook to Adventure, Dr. Bob's Troop 111 web site,
weather sites on the web, and many postings from this list, we agonized over
how much cold-weather clothing to bring. Temps were moderate throughout, the
lowest morning being Upper Bench at around 45 degrees. Nobody was cold,
including myself (a skinny old goat who sleeps with double the blankets my
wife uses), and those who carried thermals never used them.

Except...while climbing from Pueblano to Head of Dean on Sunday 7/18 (a
ranger-recommended route), we were caught in a sudden torrential downpour
which included copious quantities of hail (scout quote: "It's pouring down
cocktail onions!") and lightning. Twice we were forced to spread out and sit
on packs til the lightning moved away, and since many of the boys got soaked
before they got their rain gear on, we arrived at Head of Dean with two
cases of mild hypothermia. The staff there was terrific, and kept five or
six scouts from several crews by the stove while shuttling hot water and
coffee out to the porch for the rest of us. That, and an overly long hike to
Miranda via Baldy Skyline, two burros who'd decided they'd had enough of
this foolishness, and a sea of mud on the jeep roads earned this low point
on our trek the moniker "Bloody Sunday".

After about Day 3 on the trail, it rained every day in the afternoon.
Occasionally it would subsequently clear off, but more often it would remain
overcast for the rest of the afternoon. This made drying laundry
problematic, although the cool max shirts and sock liners and nylon shorts
proved their worth. Our last afternoon we went into Cimarron, whereupon it
let loose with a vengeance. The streets were two to three inch deep rivers,
and the back of the Hungry Traveler restaurant was flooded, "flushing"
diners towards the front.

We were lucky. One afternoon we stayed in Pueblano to cook dinner under the
shed near the tie making yard, and hiked to our camp at Pueblano Ruins after
the rain stopped. Another afternoon we stopped to cook dinner-for-lunch at
the demonstration forest shelter near Cathedral Rock, where it rained hard
until we were ready to leave. We never had to set up or take down camp in
the pouring rain, although it was drizzling lightly a time or two.

Mosquitoes

A few at Miranda, a few more at Clark's Fork, none in evidence elsewhere on
our route. Nobody used any bug spray the whole trek, nor felt the need to
cover with rain gear or long-sleeved garments for protection. Between
reports on this list last summer and this year, I'm guessing it's only an
early-season phenomenon in the South and parts of the Central areas.

Flora

As reported frequently, the ranch was green and abundant in wildflowers. My
co-advisor brought along his Philmont Fieldbook and we saw a surprising
number of the varieties listed.

I asked the list a few months ago about experiences with poison ivy, and the
consensus was that nobody recalled seeing any at Philmont. I was dismayed to
see a patch on the trail, in the dry stream bed up above the Stairmaster out
of Indian Writings, and even more dismayed to have planted my trekking pole
in it. Surprisingly, it was an isolated clump about two feet across, with no
other specimens anywhere in view. Now back in East Coast mode (always hiking
with an eye out for the stuff), I saw huge patches along the trail on either
side of the Cimarron River near the footbridge...but nowhere else on the
ranch.

Fauna

No bear or mountain lions sighted, other than bear poop on the trail to
Cottonwood. Clark's Fork and surrounding trail camps were on high bear
alert, and a passing crew reported seeing a bear at Santa Claus, but we were
not so (fortunate/unfortunate). Saw several deer, many hummingbirds, and
were "nearly trampled" (scout reaction) by several ranch staff driving a
herd of 50 or 75 horses across the trail just before the "You Made It!" sign
outside of base camp.

Campsite crashing (a Phil-list hot topic last summer)

Upper Clark's Fork and Ponderosa Park were close to capacity when we
arrived, and one crew was set up in an undeveloped clearing along the
trail, but we had no problem finding an available campsite at our scheduled
stop at Ponderosa Park. Schaffer's Pass looked full on our way through the
next morning, and there were one or two crews camped on the pass along the
trail but not at the campsite.

Conservation project

On advice from our ranger ("boulders rolling downhill and guys gettin'
injured!!"), our boys elected to skip cons at Indian Writings and do it at
Pueblano instead. Missed it by ten minutes at Pueblano, so stayed the next
morning to do spar pole climbing and cons. The project involved a 2 mile
hike up and back, with breaks for instruction along the way, and about 45
minutes of work trying to dig and cut out a tree and move some huge boulders
to a new switchback wall. The boys thought both conservation staffers (one
was "Bear") were interesting and enjoyable.

Scott Sibley wrote, "As a fall back, if you can't complete conservation at a
designated location, they [Logistics] said that "every staffed camp" has a
list of projects that you could take on." While Amberly at Logistics was
terrific in every other way, she did not make this point to our crew chief,
who felt that he was boxed into having the crew do it at Pueblano or not
getting the Arrowhead patch despite both advisors' assurances that other
camps would accommodate us.

Fuel

Used less than on any of our training hikes, about 50 oz. of Coleman fuel
for a crew of 12 using one Primus Himalaya stove (we also carried a spare),
including a long burn to bake a birthday cake for our crew chief (including
balloons and can't-blow-em-out candles). We only refueled once at Baldy
Town.

Base camp took our extra fuel back no problem. Surprisingly, they also took
our extra denatured alcohol...and went out back and dumped it out on the
gravel. (My son has dairy allergies and mostly cooked his own dinners on a
small Brasslite alcohol stove, a sturdier version of the soda pop can stoves
popular with AT thru-hikers).

Water

Our boys learned a lot about water purification. They practiced using both
Polar Pure and water filters on our training hikes, strongly preferred the
pump filters, and opted for one filter with a two-bottle Polar Pure backup
on trek. Our ranger taught them the "scoop and boil" method of purifying
water for dinner, then later sent them back to the stream to refill the same
Platypus with filtered water to use for refilling individual drinking
bottles. A scout asked him about decontaminating the Platypus first, and the
ranger told him "it would be ok." When I found out about it, we had to stop
and Polar Pure over half the containers we had, which took a long time with
only two bottles of Polar Pure.

The output hose of the water filter fell into the Cimarron River twice while
refilling during a lunch break. Since we normally carry bleach as part of
our pre-Philmont cleanup routing, the boys learned how to re-sterilize the
pump.

The pump, a PUR with a paper cartridge, slowly clogged up until it was hard
pumping by Day 9, whereupon the handle broke off. The operator at that time
had to finish pumping by grabbing the stem between thumb and forefinger and
working it...tough going.

We broke two bottles of Polar Pure before ever leaving base camp, and
another one on the trail. On my to-do list but never found time for was to
make protective cases for the glass bottles. We broke one on a training hike
as well, so it's not like I wasn't expecting it. (Apparently this won't be
an issue anymore as Polar Pure is on the way out.)

We carried five liters apiece from Clark's Fork (where we ate dinner the
last night on the trail) to Ponderosa Park and over the Tooth. The whole
ridge was encased in cloud, so there was no view <sigh>, and no sun. We
ended up dumping a lot of water at the Tooth prior to our descent through
Switchback Heaven to base camp.

Health

Three of our scouts became ill, two only temporarily. One had to come off
the trail for four days, probably altitude sickness but perhaps
complications from the water fiasco as well.

Four scouts had nosebleeds during the first half of our trip, one right
after descending Pikes Peak, and the rest in the vicinity of Baldy. We were
giving multivitamins to the scouts, and I dosed the bleeders with a gram
each of vitamin C. Nobody had a repeat episode.

Fewer blisters than on training hikes, but had some interesting ones. My
co-advisor developed a half-plum on one heel near the end. I and another
scout had problems with pinkie toes curling under the next toe in, so I used
some lambswool batting to maintain separation between the toes to good
effect. Molefoam worked well for some problem areas. Tincture of Benzoin was
great for making the adhesive stick well. Those that tried duct tape in any
configuration weren't very happy with the results.

No face plants, major scrapes, broken bones, burns, or other ailments. My
reliance on Murphy's Law paid off - bring a large, heavy, well-stocked first
aid kit and you won't need any of it.

Orange plastic shovel (another Phil-list hot topic)

Worked fine the six or seven times it was used, including at the edge of the
treeline by the north side skree slope on Baldy.

Cameras

Our crew brought four digitals and one film camera, plus one scout had a
single disposable. My digital was great, and still on it's first set of AA
rechargeables when it drowned on Bloody Sunday, halfway through the trek.
Two other digitals ran out of juice near the end (proprietary rechargeable
batteries), and so the crew chief's digital was the only one to capture the
end of our trek. Three of the digitals could capture short video clips, and
we used that feature to good advantage, including recording the solo our
crew chief sang to recover My Life after he misplaced it at the Ponil
Cantina. The one film camera's owner took very few pictures, and the
disposable was used up by Day 4 (and our last two commissary stops were sold
out of cameras).

We've pooled all the digital pictures and will be producing CDs for all crew
families in the near future.

Food

Our boys echo comments made earlier: food was plentiful enough, the Tropical
Gorp got tiring, as did the sameness of the breakfasts and lunches over
time. They liked the pop tarts, the jalapeno squeeze cheese, and the mashed
potatoes which we doctored heavily with garlic. They gave thumbs down to the
beef sticks (the sausages were ok and the first to go at any meal), and the
Teriyaki Chicken. My opinion: Philmont is pretty close to the mark
food-wise. If they can dig a bit deeper for variety on the breakfast/lunch
menus, they'll be there. One pair of scouts discovered they liked apricots a
lot...then learned firsthand about the amazing laxative properties of eating
a bag and a half each. One of them performed a virtuoso vocal solo for our
sister crew in exchange for some extra TP at a critical moment.

High points

The boys were most enthusiastic about climbing Baldy, our two burros Pablo
Escobar and Dos Equis, and shotgun reloading and shooting at Harlan. They
also enjoyed the spar pole climbing (those that partook of it) at Pueblano,
chuck wagon dinner/breakfast, Cantina, and branding at Ponil (one pair of
scouts "branded" each other on video with help from a Sharpie),
blacksmithing and the mine tour at French Henry, and the challenge events at
Head of Dean. Outstanding views from Baldy, the trail leading into Visto
Grande, Window Rock, and pretty much all over the ranch. It was neat seeing
the boys reactions as Baldy approached, then receded, and Schaefer's and
Tooth Ridge approached at various clearings along the trail.

Oh, and for the advisors, the showers at Ponil. Late arrival at Baldy Town
and imminent return to base camp at Clark's Fork precluded showers there,
but laundry was done and bandana baths were taken regularly along the way. I
never thought I could get used to staying dirty for so long, but then
Philmont is a growth experience for all of us.

Low points

The boys felt the black powder rifle activity at Miranda was a
disappointment, since there was only one shot available per scout and there
was nothing to shoot at, and the staff was (in their opinion) unhelpful and
impatient. They ended up making their own fun by shooting at one of the
scout's shirts (off the scout). When nothing really happened, the staff
livened it up by pouring black powder on the shirt and firing again. The
report could be felt all over camp, the shirt jumped ten feet, and the scout
proudly wore his tattered very cool max crew shirt the rest of the trek.

Bottom line

Both advisors, and over half the crew, can't wait for '06 (the other half
will graduate from high school or spend future summers in repose at the
beach).

Many heartfelt thanks to all the pholks on this list who've taken the time
to share their wisdom and experience, and especially to Coop Wright and
Wally Feurtado, Dr. Bob Klein, Al Thomson, and Selden Ball, whose published
resources are dense with information, articulate, and thoughtful. They
provided our troop with the means to take a bunch of average scouts and help
them succeed at a super-strenuous Philmont trek (their choice!) and acquire
a real sense of personal accomplishment.

>Ched Hudson
ASM, Troop 994
Fairfax Station VA
Philmont 1967, 2004 (713-M-3, Trek 32)

-------------------------------------------------------
Scouting E-mail Discussion Lists @ usscouts.org
Subscribe/Unsubscribe at http://usscouts.org/lists/
Listserv Commands at http://usscouts.org/lists/lc.asp
-------------------------------------------------------
Send listserv commands to: listserv@troop47.com
Send postings to: philmont@troop47.com
List FAQ found at: http://usscouts.org/lists/faq.asp
List Administrator: philmont_owner@troop47.com
-------------------------------------------------------
As you gather around this virtual campfire with fellow
Scouts and Scouters, do your best to be trustworthy,
loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient,
cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.
-------------------------------------------------------

 
Received on Sun Apr 10 07:04:16 2005