[Philmont]: 2003 Philmont Trek Comparison

It is good to see the List coming to life. We are moving into my second
favorite part of the yearly cycle of postings - talking about how and what
to choose for each crew's five trek selections. (My favorite? The reports
of crew just back from the ranch, of course!)

Anyway, back in 1999 I prepared a relatively simple Excel spreadsheet
comparing the programs available for each of the treks for my crew. For my
troop's 2001 crew, I expanded it to include other information for the 2000
complete overhaul of the routes, including my first stab at assessing the
day by day mileage of each route since by then a number of errors in TREKS
2000 had been identified by members of the predecessor of this List. I made
that summary available to members of the List, and it was posted on the web
by Earl Owens of Troop 764, Dunwoody, Georgia, as well as Selden. The 2001
and 2002 versions have also been posted.

I have completed my analysis of the 2003 routes, and Earl has again made it
available at http://www.troop764.org/Philmont/, about a third of the way
down the page - I'd give the direct URL, but then you'd miss seeing all the
other stuff he has available there.

A wealth of information has been pulled together from a variety of sources,
so that the 35 routes can be compared on five sheets of paper (preferably 11
x 17!). Since 2001, I primarily have been working on refining / defining
the day by day mileage for each route. Finally, last year as a crew
advisor, I got a trial version of the Philmont Interactive Ranger and was
able to look at each day of each route, in detail.

This year's summary list four different total miles for each route. Why
four? Because the nominal total shown in TREKS for each route does not
always agree with the total shown on the profile provided which does not
always agree with the profile in the Philmont Interactive Ranger, which
supposedly is where it came from. For example, Trek 7 is listed nominally
as 52 miles, but shown as 62.02 in the profile, but only 48.30 looking at
each day individually in the Interactive Ranger.

Other discrepancies are that different treks treat the same activity
differently - for example, including the hike from Cito to Ute Gulch for a
food pickup, or sometimes not. Or including or ignoring a sidehike to a
camp for program.

The fourth total shown is my assessment of the route from examining it both
in TREKS and the Interactive Ranger, and trying to consistently present it.
I have a problem reporting the mileage to 0.01 mile (53 feet) - I decided a
tenth of a mile was close enough. For Trek 7, I called the total mileage
56.7 miles.

In mid-March, this year's crews will get TREKS 2004, which will detail the
routes for this summer. The majority will be the same as, or only slightly
different, from the 2003 routes, and a few will be completely new. By
reviewing the 2003 routes before TREKS arrives, a crew will be in a position
to quickly assess the choices available and get the card with their top five
choice ranked back to Philmont. I hope my summary is a help in that
process.

 - Al Thomson, Troop 236, Schooley's Mountain, NJ
2004 Autumn Adventure
2003 726P2 (short trek)
2002 Autumn Adventure
2001 703E11 Trek 21
2000 Autumn Adventure
1999 703K2 Trek 9 (now 4)

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Received on Tue Jan 20 20:26:40 2004