[philmont] The good old days

Bill, you and John have me reminiscing about things I haven't thought
about in years. Hiking into a Philmont staffed camp, checking-out a
dutch oven, and cooking cornbread or biscuits over a wood fire is a
fond memory of mine from the "good old days". Another treat that
sounded great but turned out to be quite disappointing were the
dehydrated milkshakes, mixed in the collapsable water container and
cooled in the creek before drinking.

Dan Preston
Philmont '70, '72, '02, '06
On Apr 4, 2007, at 8:32 AM, bill55@comcast.net wrote:

> Always enjoy when John writes about the "good old days" at the Ranch.
>  
> I agree that it was a more intense experience at the Ranch before the
> advent of gas stoves. Dehydrated, rather than freeze dried foods were
> the norm. A "no cook" breakfast was part of the rotation, not the
> norm, and "cooked" did not mean there was oatmeal. It meant pancakes
> or dehydrated scrambled eggs, which required carrying a frying pan,
> gathering wood, and lighting an a.m. fire in the embers of your p.m.
> fire.
>  
> A trail chef kit, rather than some high-tech teflon coated, turkey
> basted cook kit was carried. Soot from the fires blackened the pot,
> which must be turned in scoured at the end, so a paste of a high
> powered soap called Tetrox was applied to the outside of the pots
> before putting them on the coals. I daresay the incidences of some of
> that soap getting into the pot, bringing on a condition the Ranger
> warned of , the dreaded "tetrox trots", was more common than some
> present day scout leaving the cap on the gas bottle loose.
>  
> After the meal, two 8 qt. pots were placed on the fire, one with
> tetrox in it, and one treated with high powered chlorine tabs (to
> counteract the tetrox). Not the dip in the boiling water we do now.
>  
> Dry camps were intentionally scheduled, as part of the "western
> camping" experience, rather than the luck of the draw as presently.
> Switching lunch for dinner or breakfast was more often done due to wet
> firewood than for lack of water. Also, if you had wood, and it was
> wet, you still got it lit somehow. Lit quite well. A roaring blaze, in
> fact. With matches.
>  
> Lunches often included lunch meats such as Spam, Bif or Treat, with
> crackers. It was good. Nothing we had ever eaten before, but clearly
> someone, somewhere had. No one complained. (In New Jersey, unlike
> other parts of the country, we have freshly sliced cold cuts in a
> dizzying variety available everywhere, and always have. Cf. the
> popular HBO show "The Sopranos".  I understand other parts of the
> country, now or in the past, were lucky to have Oscar Meyer
> available).
>  
> Well, enough reminiscing.
>  
> YIS,
>  
> Bill Sheehan, ASM
> Troop55, Pitman, NJ
> Philmont '70,'72, Autumn Adventure '01,'03,'05

-------------------------------------------------------
Scouting E-mail Discussion Lists @ usscouts.org
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
-------------------------------------------------------
To Unsubscribe send text email to:

     To: listserv@troop47.com
     Subject: unsubscribe
     Body: unsubscribe philmont@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 Thu Apr 5 09:01:09 2007