Re: [Philmont]: Philmont 'Chicken Soup'

Here is another story. Hope this thread stays for a while.

We had an opening. Someone else had a large vehicle and we needed more seats
to cut the costs for our trip to Philmont. We agreed to take the Scout son
of the vehicle owner.

He was of minimum age. Mom was the Scoutmaster of his troop, as I remember.
He had no training. No practice hikes. He was a very young scout in mind
and body.

We, on the other hand, were and are a very pragmatic troop with regard to
promoting self-reliance and an atmosphere of "no excuses." We’re not big and
tough physically, but we always stress that the Scout bears responsibility for
his own actions. This became a new concept to the young Scout.

All went well until Day 2 on the trail. As the trek increased in difficulty,
he fell further and further into the abyss that Philmont can become when a
crew member finds himself in over his head. Day after day, this Scout ended
every hike by leaning against a tree and crying, although he never shirked his
duties or failed to pull his own weight.

His tent mate, a wonderful Scout, observed the young man’s distress and often
took time to sit with him and talk. Although quite adept at Scouting skills,
the second young man had packed away his own troubles on that trek, ones that
sometimes branded him as a loner and would lead ultimately to an
alternative-school classroom.

But the two formed a bond in the backcountry that served both well.

Day after day, the young Scout cried and his tent mate talked him though it.
Adversity daunted him, but he never talked of quitting.

Finally, on Day 9, the light came on and the inexperienced Scout became
transformed from a child to a young man. There were no more tears. No more
self-pity. The Philmont experience, and a caring young tent partner, had changed
him forever.

Mom didn’t recognize the young Scout who returned home tempered by his trek
in the Sangre de Christo Mountains. She had kissed a little boy goodbye and
welcomed back a young man brimming with hard-earned self-confidence.

What became of him? I ran into him two years later on the trail at Philmont.
 He had become a Ranger! Some of you on this list may know him. He might
have even served as Ranger to your crew. You will never know. I don't know
what has happened to him since then, but I do know that his first Philmont trek
changed him forever.

Unfortunately, fate dealt coldly with the tent partner who had so
thoughtfully aided the young Scout. After battling successfully through later adolescent
turmoil, and finding an abiding vocational interest, he died senselessly in a
shooting that found him quite innocently in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I think often of both young men and that trek at Philmont, proud to have
observed the maturation of a young neophyte, and doubly proud to have known his
sensitive and caring mentor.

S. Unger & C. Dierker
 

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Received on Thu Jan 6 19:48:46 2005