From: Jeffrey W. Knoll (Jeffrey.Knoll@AZWebHost.com)
Date: Wed Feb 26 2003 - 17:41:17 CST
In 2002 we did trek 26 in late June (627H). Since it was in the south, it
was not rerouted or modified due to the fire.
This is one of the more difficult treks. We had a co-ed Venturing Crew of
older youth. They were very experienced backpackers in good physical
condition, so it was not too difficult for them. The trek does have some
challenges though:
- climbing S side of Urraca Mesa with full sun exposure on day 3 with
nearly a full supply of food and water.
- climbing Mt Phillips with nearly a full supply of food and water for a
dry camp at Comanche Peak.
- the repeated stream crossings up to Black Mtn.; can get monotonous, but a
beautiful area. One crewmember twisted her knee, which made it slow going
for us.
- four camps above 9000 ft
- no layover day
Some of the great points from my personal perspective:
- The sunrise from Sawmill
- Mt Phillips
- Comanche Peak
- Tooth Ridge Camp
- Climbing the Tooth
Philmont issued far more food than we could eat. Plus we had an odd number
of crew members, so we had an extra serving for each meal. The south side
of Urraca Mesa shouldn't have been too difficult, but we were carrying way
more food and water than we needed. Once at Urraca camp the crew reviewed
the food supply and determined what to dump in the swap box. They also came
up with a strategy for the next food pickup, so we were not carrying more
than we needed, especially since the next pickup was followed by climbing
Phillips to a dry camp. We climbed Phillips with little difficulty.
There is no layover day on trek 26, but it is only a mile or two from
Hunting Lodge to Clarks Fork on day 10. This worked to our benefit, since
in logistics we were told 8AM was the only open slot for horseback rides at
Clarks. The staff was quite surprised when our crew leader knocked on the
cabin door at 6:45AM and asked to check in. That gave us a lot of time at
Clarks and everyone enjoyed branding, pitching horseshoes and just
socializing with people from around the country. A shower and chuck wagon
dinner topped it off. Clarks was very crowded, I suppose due to the north
being closed.
We survived a hail storm on Comanche Peak. What fun eating dinner under the
tarp! Saw great views of the storm moving off in the distance, complete
with rainbows.
Tooth Ridge Camp was great. We arrived early and the crew had a great time
exploring the area, particularly the rock formations. After a
late-afternoon thunderstorm passed through we climbed the Tooth and watched
the storm moving off in the south. We watched sunrise the following morning
from the rock formations around TR Camp and were back in base camp around
9:30AM. We had plenty of time to get cleaned up, hit the snack bar and
trading post, etc. BTW- Make a point to use the renown latrine east of TR
campsite 10(?). I did around dinner time and not only had a great view but
could hear them singing in base camp.
-- Jeff
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Jeffrey W. Knoll
Venturing Crew #124
Phoenix, AZ
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