From: Greg Leuch (philmont@adventures.port5.com)
Date: Fri Aug 02 2002 - 09:38:03 CDT
I toally agree. When I was the crew leader for my 2001 crew, and the only one with Philmont experience, they turned to me to get my decison on when we should leave Ponderosa to get to the Tooth at sunrise so we can link up with the other 2 crews from our contingent. I told my advisors that we were not going to do night-hiking, but agreeded to wake the crew up about 30 min earlier than we were usually doing. A lot of my crew members were not happy with my decison. And with it being the last day or two, anxiety and irratablilty were quite high. I mean, there are some things which need to be followed and listened to. And how many crews were still try puzzles me. You would think that staff would also do a better job of "reminding" them of the consequences. So hopefully since the last time I went, they will be a bit more strict on that rule.
Greg Leuch (waitin for my PS staff app form)
Crew 35 - Memphis, TN - Chickasaw Council
Eagle Scout - 2001
PSR: 727-P1-00; 618-G1-01; Staff in '03?
email: philmont@adventures.port5.com
aim/aol: philmontRedneck -or- Backpacker005
aol/aim bot (computer program): MochaFrapBot
site: http://www.xipia.org (down for data center relocation)
"you know, art is the reason why i get up in the morning. but my definition ends there. you know it doesn't seem fair that i am living for something i can't even define..." -ani difracno
What time did y'all get up and did this follow Mark Anderson's
stern admonitions about NO night hiking?
The only reason I mention this is that we camped at Schaeffer's
Pass and heard several crews coming thru at 2 and 3 AM. There was a moon,
but not that much light.
No they didn't follow Mark's admonitions. In fact, I was on a crew that witnessed the bragging of an advisor claiming that is what they were going to do. I asked if they thought that wise and the answer was "we do it all the time" to which I asked "have you seen the size of the rattlesnakes on that trail? To which they answered "never seen any". I guess not, at 2 AM it's prettty hard to see anything. But don't you believe that you only see then in daytime. They are out at night in full force. IN fact during graduate school, nightime adn early morning were the times we went out to look for rattlers. They were the most active then.
And don't believe you will see them first. One of our boys showed courtesy to the girls in the crew by walking ahead and showed courtesy to other crews also by stepping OFF TRAIL to take a leak. He almost wet on a big Prairie Rattler. I was able to pin the rattler with my trekking poles for some up close and personal observation and photographs.
I'm not going to tell you who one of the girls on our trek was, but I will say her daddy works at Philmont. She was standing beside me when that advisor touted they "night hike" all the time.
Since this appears to be blantant with some crews, I look for the PhilAdmin to crack down on this one soon. I for one would agree that any advisor guilty of night hiking their crew deserves a permanent ban from the ranch just as fire ban violators do.
It's a safety issue Pholks, pure and simple.
John LeBlanc
Eagle Class of 1959
Phirst Phil Ptrek 1959
PhilTrek 2002 630H2 Trek 16
My latest adventure was yesterday,
Today is not over yet!
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