[philmont] Last full crew / Backcountry soda and candy

I am a big fan of having a surprise goody of some kind for trek high points. In 2000, I carried 2 pounds of peanut M&Ms to be eaten on Baldy. In 2002 & 2005, carried a pound of plain and a pound of peanut M&Ms to be eaten on Mt. Phillips. In none of these cases did the crew know the M&Ms were there until I pulled them out.

Some sort of surprise can also ease those "Day 3 Syndrome" tensions that some crews go through. A good crew talk with a little goody will help smooth over those "rough edges." Did this on Father's Day in 2002 about 2 miles from Fish Camp... I remember because I brought out hidden goodies to have during our crew talk, and after, the crew brought out hidden Father's Day cards my girls had them carry to give to me.

We have also carried Ding Dongs well hidden and preserved to hold a birthday party on the trail. As always, be bear smart with any of these things you bring.

Shane (from work)

---- GEORGE TAYLOR <gmtaylor@prodigy.net> wrote:
Jim, I want to elaborate on Larry's toblerone comment. I became an amateur expert on Philmont by reading everything that comes out on this list (the old pros here are really awesome in terms of the depth of advice and soundness of reasoning, and some of them aren't really that old (50's doesn't count)), and one of the suggestions I read early on was that it is good to have something to do to celebrate making it to the top of Baldy. One adviser carried a bag of M&M's to the summit and shared them with the crew. Others have used other candy, all of which has to be purchased at home and hauled a long way.

Buying the M&M's was one of those things on my list that didn't get done prior to departure, but when we arrived at Baldytown on our way to the summit, I ran in to the trading post (which actually has all kinds of stuff) and bought two small Toblerone bars for each Scout. When we got to the top, I gave them to the Scouts to celebrate our accomplishment. You would have thought I served them a steak dinner with all the words of thanks, and it really turned out well. My only cautionary note was that I required that one Scout take up and account for every single wrapper so that none were left in pants pockets or backpacks, but I highly recommend a couple of a pieces of chocolate as a good way to acknowledge a significant milestone in your trek.

George

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Received on Mon Aug 6 11:26:14 2007