[Philmont]: Mt Phillips

Am I missing something here? We have been "listening", mostly, to all
the interesting stuff that gets shared about Philmont and the various
treks over the past year. Our Crew went on Trek 16 in 2001 and returned
again in 2005 to trek 11, both of which included Mt. Phillips. Once from
each side. In 2001 we left from Clear Creek and ended up at Red River
for the night. In 2005 we came up the other side and got to camp on top
of Mt. Phillips. Now we're from the beaches of Santa Barbara, so we have
no claim to being high altitude hikers but both our crews were sort of
surprised that some(many?) other crews felt that the ascent to Mt
Phillips was grueling and/or strenuous. While we felt that it was
definitely not a "walk in the park", the feeling was that it was more of
a moderately difficult hike. Actually, the girls thought it really
wasn't much different from any of the hilly climbs during our trek. We
had a mixed crew both times fy2/my6 andfy2/my7. I went on both treks and
I am a grandmother,just turned 60, not in superb shape but good enough
to pass the Philmont physicals.(and yes, I carried a full pack- probably
too full at 55#!} On the 2001 trek we also had one adult with a bad
knee,who found the descent from the Tooth the "worst" part of the
adventure- as do many of us!( Last year we got to do it in the rain!)
Perhaps we had a more positive mental attitude as no one had been
telling us (other than the map!) that it was going to be really tough.
Or perhaps it was because we didn't try to rush and took our time. We
arrived both times in plenty of time to really enjoy the view and
socialize with other crews by leaving just after sunrise from the
previous camp. So,I just felt that I had to add a more positive view to
counter the mostly negative remarks I've heard. Anyway, I'd love to be
able to do it again, as we had hoped to do Mt. Baldy, but it's not
likely until 2008 if the comments I've seen about the wait list are
accurate.. I do hope that all of you do get to experience either a
sunset or sunrise from Mt. Phillips .
  Happy Trails..
  Zea Bauer AA Crew 105, Santa Barbara, Ca
I used to be a Buffalo..
RE:Jet Boil: I like my coffee in the am but had to forgo it a lot on the
trail, unless we were on a layover or were going to have a hot breakfast
anyway. We just got up a little earlier and started a small pot of
water- also used a little on a washcloth, it really perks one up in the
am to steam open the eyes! So a faster, smaller stove might be a really
neat thing to have.
RE:Alone time: I found I barely had time to write my journal in the
evenings but usually while the crew was setting up camp I had enough
time to enjoy the scenery:)

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Received on Tue Feb 7 15:38:52 2006