From: Dr. Bob Klein (drbob@troop111.org)
Date: Thu Aug 01 2002 - 21:03:36 CDT
In followup to some of the comments and queries:
A) Al Thomson wrote:
Okay, I'll bite. What is a "usual second day diaper hike"?
* Disparaging term referring to the very short Day 1 and Day 2 hikes on
nearly all treks, designed to "help" Crews acclimate to altitude and
backpacking. I picked this term up from Rangers in the early to mid
90's. As an aside, if I have any perpetual beef with the otherwise fine
logistics staff, it is with their assumption that every Crew (no matter
how light, how experienced, how acclimated to altitude, or how well
prepared) will crap out after a mile and a half. Those of you who have
read my diaries will recall that we have routinely wrangled 6, 7, 8 or
more mile Day 1 and Day 2 hikes on most of our recent treks, and have
the Crew Leaders' copies to prove it - so it's IS a bit irritating to
have a first year Logistics staff member telling us how we can't
possibly hack it when we quite obviously can and have. [BTW, due to the
ongoing problems, we didn't fuss about this (or anything else) at
Logistics this year; besides, instead of McBride Canyon to Cottonwood,
we got Dean Cutoff to Pueblano Ruins (via Pueblano), for Day 2 - not
bad....]
[BTW-2, one of the funniest comments I ever heard from a Ranger was:
"My last Crew crapped out on their diaper hike!" I tried to tell him
how that must have really stunk, but I broke up laughing before I could
get it out....]
B) Alex in LA <EA1981GLE@aol.com> wrote:
There were 3 terms related to "bad things" that could happen to a Ranger.
1) Backed was the least feared issue. This occured when a Ranger picked
up a crew the next day after your hike-in day, no day off.
2) Cracked was when you were "recruited" as you came in from your
hike-in day. There were some benefits of taking the scenic route back to
base camp. :>)
3) The worst was when they came and got you or, you met your crew as
they got off the bus at the turn-around. This was a rarity, but it
could happen. This was referred to being "sanded." Hint: Think about
a trip to the beach and sand getting where it ought not too. :>)
* In most of the cases where the Rangers I talked to were grousing about
it, they were being "pre-cracked" - that is, they weren't being
recruited as they came off the trail; rather, they knew they had to get
to Basecamp as quickly as possible after leaving their Crews because
they were already scheduled for another Crew as soon as they arrived.
[As an aside, I suspect this and the lack of days off are going to cost
Philmont dearly next season, and I so stated in my evaluation.]
C) Greg Leuch <philmont@adventures.port5.com> wrote:
I know the rangers I had in the past told us to not tye things to trees
unless absolutly neded (i.e. dining fly). And really it is common sense
to no do that. ut then again, I knew a lot of people that have gone out
there w/o a whole lot of backpacking experience. (yes, i was a newbie
once too!)
I am actually somewhat suprised by the some of the changes in the past
year (besides the fire related things). But some supirsed me as finally
being recognized!
* Just for grins, I surveyed for tree and shrub damage at our various
campsites. The only trees that showed significant damage were those by
the bear bags - it is clear that many a heavy bear-bag assembly is being
lowered by allowing the rope to slide around the tree. This results in
obvious "cut" marks, especially on the aspens. Some shrubs in some
campsites showed some branch breakage, but it's hard to say what from.
D) Chas Clifton <Txnscout@aol.com> wrote:
I saw some of the same things on the Ranch last year. Crews would
blatantly violate posted rules. When the bears did not bother them,
they just kept on doing the wrong things. However, the crews that
followed a day or so later found food, wrappers, etc behind.
* Actually, other than at horse corrals, the rules aren't posted, and I
have oft suggested that at least the most critical rules should be, to
make sure everyone gets the same story and can't claim they "didn't
know" or "The Ranger didn't tell us that". This would be easily done at
bus drop-offs or at the standard starter camps. Yes, this would detract
some from the "wilderness experience", but what the heck, bus drop-offs
and starter camps aren't Philmont any more than Basecamp is - they're
just way-stations....
* On bear capriciousness, I always warn people not to get complacent
just because they got away with a mistake or two. I use the following
analogy, which some of you have seen before: I have a stop sign near my
house, joining onto an only occasionally used street. I can probably
take that stop sign at 60 miles an hour twice every day for a month, and
almost certainly won't even see another car that whole time, never mind
run into one... ...but if I do run into one, it's gonna be one Hell of
a wreck. So it is with bears. Being lucky is no substitute for being safe.
E) On hiking the Tooth Ridge trail at night:
* I have only one comment - Don't. The trail up to the Shaefers Peak
"T" (the giant "Z") is reasonably graded and easy to follow - but once
you turn right at the "T" and head down to the ToT, it is brutally
rocky, very uneven, and sometimes difficult to follow. In addition,
there are at least 2 and I think 3 places where half a dozen steps in
the wrong direction can put you over the side of a cliff. Some of these
spots are overlooks, so there are short spur trails going to them. The
fact that they're not the main trail is obvious in the daytime, but not
at all obvious at night.
* Yes, many people have done the Tooth Ridge trail at night,
successfully, but once again: Being lucky is no substitute for being
safe. I have walked the Tooth Ridge trail 8 times in my Philmont
career, and I suspect I know it better than at least 95 percent of the
folks on the list, and I would never dream of putting my Scouts at such
risk. If you have to see a sunrise on your last day, go to the top of
Shaefers Peak; it's damned near as good, a lot less crowded, and a Hell
of a lot safer to get to.
-----
I think all other comments and queries were previously answered by other
folks on the list.
- Dr. Bob
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