RE: [Philmont]: Best Hiking Season at Philmont?

I was on a 628 trek this year, and everything had cleared up by that point
in terms of the snow. Baldy had a couple of deep snow drifts in some areas,
but that was about it. In fact, I think the last week of June or the very
beginning of July is the best time to go. The weather is not the only
factor.a good number of Rangers are first-year staffers - while that's not a
bad thing, it often takes them a couple of crews to get "settled in." Once
they take one or two crews out, most of them tend to be a lot more
comfortable in their job, and, as a result, more effective. Sometimes it
also takes backcountry staff a little while to "fine-tune" their programs.
I really think that the end of June is ideal, as the staff is motivated and
enthusiastic and they're not to the point where they're worn out. By the
second week of August, most staffers (Rangers and Backcountry) are ready to
go home, back to school, their girlfriends, whatever. Sometimes, I think
some of the staff may lose focus or perhaps even get burned out by the very
end of the summer. I don't think it's a huge deal, but it may effect
program delivery to an extent in some cases. Also, the weather is typically
more tranquil during the first half of the summer. In fact, we only
experienced one brief afternoon shower on our trek. Once mid-July hits and
the monsoonal flow starts moving in, all bets are off.

Just my thoughts.

Brian Gannon

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Received on Fri Aug 26 12:58:38 2005