[Philmont] What I'd do, if anything, different!

Hello Scouters,

We just got back on Friday night from our trek. It was fantastic. Here are some thoughts on what, if anything, I would do different if . . .
Trail Shoes - I took Crocs Off-Road shoes. Loved them. Wouldn't take anything else.
Trekking Poles - Just started using these this year, Christmas present. I lost count of how many times my poles kept be from falling as I tripped and stumbled on rough trails. Your nuts if you don't have a nice lightweight pair of trekking poles.
Boots - EEEEEK! My lightweight Dunham Waffle Stompers blew out about 60 days before our trek. I freaked. The only boot in my market that I could find to fit my wide feet were heavier Asolo boots. Much heavier & stiffer. What a blessing. After we got on the trail I was so grateful to have a heavier and stiffer pair of boots. I can't imagine hiking in lightweight "sneaker" like boots.
Tent - My son and I tented together because we were with a council contingent crew and he didn't care much for the other Scouts . . . we took my Go-Lite Hex 3, a ultralight 3-man tent. Total weight was 6 pounds with stakes and ground cloth. Loved having the extra room in the tent to read, write post cards, play cards & getting dressed and undressed. Glad we didn't take our smaller lighter backpacking tent.
Spices & Eating Gear - We did not take enough soy sauce, salt or pepper. We did take some fast food packets of mayonaisse and pickle relish for tuna fish and ham. Fantastic. Some of the backcountry commissaries had packets of mayo and pickle relish. Some did not. We also took a couple throw-a-way plastic forks to mix and eat the tuna and ham. Great idea.
Clothing - At some time during our trek I wore all the clothing I took except the long underwear.
Camp Chair - Didn't plan to take one but at Tooth of Time Trading Post they had Crazy Creek chairs discounted to $14 because "Mexico" was miss-spelled in "New Mexico." The best 20oz I carried. What a wonderful luxury.
Camp Suds - at our ranger's recommendation we left camp suds in basecamp and them purchased more on the trail. Didn't take enough to wash hands before meals and clothing.
Cup - at our ranger's recommendations all the adults left their cups at base camp on the premise that the staffed camps would provide cups for the 7pm advisor's coffee. Bad call. Many staff camps did not have cups and we ended up purchasing cups at the general stores. Take your cup if you want to have a cup of coffee, hot chocolate or hot apple cider at the advisors coffee. Fun fellowship.
Pocketknife - Our ranger recommended we take only one or two pocketknives in our crew. Everyone ignored him on this and we were all glad later. Take you knife.
Handwashing Before Cooking - Our ranger taught our Scouts that they didn't need to wash their filthy dirt crusted hands before handling food. They just used some hand sanitizer. My opinion, this was stupid and disgusting, but our Scouts followed their ranger training.
One Pot Cooking - Worked great. However our ranger didn't have a clue how to cook and advised our Scouts to use too little water thus we ended up almost every night with this thick goo that you couldn't shake off your spoon. Play around with the the receipes. My son and I added water to our bowl everynight.
Dish Cleaning - Our ranger taught our Scouts not to wash dishes after eating and to sterilize the next night by dipping dirty dishes into boiling water for 5-10 seconds. Personally I think this was stupid. We were lucky we got through our trek without anyone getting sick. Some of us washed our dishes & spoon and then made sure our spoon and bowl were sterilized for 2-3 minutes in boiling water.
Water - We didn't carry pump/filters and didn't need them. We did carry 4-litres of water most days and abut 75% of our crew drank 3+ litres on the trail. Personally I liked having the extra litre but never drank out of it . . .
Good Luck,
Kevin

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Received on Mon Jul 2 09:37:05 2007