[Philmont]: Double H Report

Double H High Adventure Base Update-

Greetings to all. I know that this time of year most people are looking for
updates on the Philmont treks, but I wanted to provide a bit of information
about the new Double H High Adventure program.

Trek 717-AA 1 and 2 returned this weekend from our weeklong adventure at the new
Double H High Adventure Base. We had a blast, it was amazing, it was by far the
toughest hiking I had ever done, it makes most Philmont treks seem like a walk
in the park and we can only hope that the program succeeds! To be honest, we
were a Class 3 trek, advertised as the most challenging, and it exceeded out
expectations. We were told that we were only the second and third crews to
finish a level three trek without an itinerary change.

In short the program involves getting from water source to water source via map
and compass and gps navigation. There is plenty of water at the campsites, more
on that later, but absolutely none in between. Consequently it was necessary to
carry 5-6 liters per person or more. We arrived in our designated campsites
with little or no spare water, and on one occasion had to side hike to get
water to make our campsite. This extra weight was a challenge and many crews
were showing up with 2-3 liters of capacity per person. We had a minimum of 4
and two 10 liter bags for the crew. Obviously since someone had to carry the
big water bladders, the crew had to carry that brave souls’ share of the crew
gear and food.

Campsites were designated next to water. Generally it was a windmill which
pumped into livestock tanks. If you were lucky the wind blew and you could
collect water from the outlet pipe. This only required polarpure, not
filtering. If you were unlucky, with no wind, or at one of several tanks with
no windmills, then filtering was necessary. The water was extremely dirty. Even
with double filtering with bandanas, adding a coffee filter to the pump inlet
hose we had to clean filters every half to 1 liter of pumping and at one water
source abandoned pumping all together in favor of boiling the water and then
polarpuring. Some water supplies did have solar powered pumps, but they seemed
in a different states of reliability or operation.

Pulling into base camp is a bit like the opening scene of the movie “Holes”, and
you wonder what the heck you have gotten into. Base camp is established in the
middle of the prairie, literally 15-20 miles from nothing. The bus driver
directions were to pass through Magdalena and turn right at the first tree!
They were very accurate. There’s only 1 large cottonwood for miles. Fortunately
for us we had met a group returning from Double H and they assured us it was
better once they took you to the mountains for the hiking. It was, but that’s
relative. The primary forest is juniper and pinion pine, with a smattering of
ponderosa. The footing is treacherous, very rocky, loose talus, that is unless
you are walking in the canyons. There you find your choice of very soft, silty
sand and deposits of boulders and gravel.

Despite all of this the scenery was breath taking, the amount of “life” amazing,
from rattlesnakes, to deer to elk, to horned toads. The flowers bloomed in a
multitude of colors, until it got hot anyway. You are accompanied by a
Wilderness Guide, not to be confused with a Philmont Ranger, they took pains to
tell us. The guide does the training, helps with navigation and puts on
programs such as astronomy, search and rescue, first aid, leave no trace etc.
Your trek is greatly influenced by the skill and personality of your Guide.

This was a tough trek and we heard of daily reports of people plucked from the
trail with sprained ankles, knees, severe dehydration and such. It was
particularly hard on adults. You do not hike on any established trails and
usually the shortest route from point a to point b was the least desirable. We
were told that some of the class 1 treks did hike jeep trails and did a lot
less ridge running. All of the campsites were accessible by vehicle, which made
evacuation easier.

At the midpoint you passed through the Martin Ranch. There was water, a food
pickup, chuck wagon dinner, black powder shooting and a guitar playing singer
available, as well as some shade.

Well that’s the bit for now. I’d be happy to answer any specific questions. We
will be posting pictures and video to our web site and writing an article for
publication. I’ll keep you posted as to the status of the endeavors. More to
come!

Yis
Hiking Czar
Fred Mussler, SM Troop 357
Raleigh, NC
Double H Charter Hiker 2004 717-AA1
Philmont 1990, 98, 2000, 02

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Received on Mon Jul 26 17:58:04 2004