From: pooyie (pooyie@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Sat Jun 22 2002 - 10:47:23 CDT
I have just retruned from Philmont and woke up in my own bed this morning.
HALLELJUAH!
We were originally scheduled for Trek 2 but it is no more. We were given a
Trek 5FM at Logisitics. This is not Trek 5 but a variation or alteration of
the trek 5. Here is where we went.
We were dropped at Cimarroncito turnaround turnaround with our Rangerand
hiked into Cathedral Rock camp(trail).
Cimarroncito Camp (staffed) for Rock Climbing and a military shower. We took
a sidehike up to window rock and down Hidden valley, our choice.
Headed north to Ute Gulch for food pickup and then on to Sawmill via Sawmill
Canyon (a beautiful hike though long. We filtered and purified (PP) water
along the way. At Sawmill(staffed) we did 30.06 shooting.
Headed SW for our most challenging day to conquer Mt. Phillips. Get up
early and get out of camp early.
Be sure to camel up and refill your water at Sawmill.
Hiked up hill to Thunder Ridge camp. Four of our crew (2 advisors and 2
strongest hikers) went down to Ciphers mine to get more water while the
remaining crew members cooked supper for lunch while we were gone.
It is 1000' down to Cipher's and approx. 3miles so for water duty you will
be adding an additional 6 miles and 2000' of elevation change to your legs
(uphill leg with approx. 20# + /person of water weight), obviously we
emptied our packs of everything except Nalgenes, Dromedieries and anything
else that could carry water.
This is a very tough day be prepared.
When we returned we layed down for our rest and our food. You should be
prepared to eat cold food and have your crew members, who stayed behind,
have everything ready to get out of camp. We did not and lost an additional
hour trying pick up and repack to make the final leg of this hard day.
>From our lunch/water replinshiment stop at Thunder Ridge(trail/dry), we left
for Mt. Phillips (trail/dry). You are climbing steadily from Sawmill to
Phillips but the greatest rate of change is from TR through Comache Peak
(trail/dry) and up to Phillips.
Our in ability to get up early,get out of camp and our slowness at lunch
meant we didn't reak Phillips camp until about 9:30.
Clouds had moved in (like walking through fog) and we hiked through broken
visiblity after sunset. Damp and cold and tired are not good combinations.
We were concerned because one of our boys had developed Bronchitis and
struggled and then near the peak, another scout had a fairly large nose
bleed.(Just another day in scouting adventures). We were concerned for
hypothermia and exhaustion.
In the morning we saw two bears near our camp, one was failry large and a
beautiful golden color (cinammon). This one stayed a comfortable distance of
probably 50 yds. moving around the perimeter of the campsites. Our sister
crew from our troop had seen this bear at 6:00 PM the evening before and
placed a notice on the camp map using duct tape as paper. Thanks for doing
that. We were extra careful that night, though it was hard to go to sleep
even though we were exhausted.
The other bear must have been a younger bear, he was more agrresive and
smaller. He circled our camp, we had called all our crew members into the
fire ring for safety when we first saw him, lifting rocks and tearing at
logs. He eventually came to our sump, 30' from the fire ring and us and
sniffed our dishes and eyed us for a very long time, as though he wanted to
come over. At that point a few of us raised our arms and he moved very
slowly away and on about his business.
His coloration was similar to the larger bear, golden but more dark brown
around the edges. He also looked as though he was thinner and his coat less
healthy.
Practice stringent bear procedures when you are at Phillips.
We awoke to clouds and reached the peak without the view, our only
dissappointment for our efforts.
Clear Creek (staffed) was the next. We did Black Powder shooting.
Next camp was Wild Horse (trail/spring). At Wild Horse we had our next bear
encounter while most of the crew was sleeping. We had a bear walk through
our camp and around our tents. Myself, another advisor and a scout all heard
him pass by our tents. You could hear him approching the camp because, like
thunder gets louder as a storm approaches, I heard him lifting and dropping
rocks and the sound getting louder and closer each time. Not a very
comfortable feeling, I must say. As he passed out tents you heard the
crunching of pine straw beneath his feet. Intially, I thought an advisor had
gotten up to find a flat rock but very quiclky realized there were too many
foot steps and the pace was too short. He tore at a fallen tree in our camp
before moving on. He was never seen but be prepared to practice good bear
procedures!
Crooked creek (staffed) was our next stop at lunch for program before moving
on to Porcupine (trail/creek).
The next day we went through Phillips Junction (staffed/food pickup) and up
to Beaubein(staffed) with a military shower.
The water was extremely cold but we felt very fortunate to be able to have
showers period!. At beubein we had a chuckwagon dinner, beef stew and horse
riding is program.
We left Beaubein and passing through PJ (Phillips Junction) we did our
conservation project which consisted of working on a new trail to Buck
creek.
We ended up at Fish Camp(staffed). This camp was probably the most beautiful
on our trek. I was very dissappointed with the staff here only because when
we tried to leave early the next moring to hit the trail for another long
hard day, the staff would not accept our trash and extra food before 8:00
am. Even though they were awake and inside they said they wouldn't take it
before 8:00. This staff had 6 crews waiting to unload, sitting aound instead
of hiking early. I let logistics know that this was unacceptable to do this
to scouts who wake early to get out of camp before the heat. A new CD is
needed and it should an older individual, I believe the current CD lacks
consideration.
After Fish Camp, another big day going up and out over Webster's pass to
Crater Lake (staffed) for Spar Pole climbing program.
After Crater Lake you go to Lover's Leap camp, we ate dinner (lunch) on
Lover's Leap. An incredible view.
The next day you hike to Lover's Leap turnaround for pickup to base.
The mileage is listed at 64 miles and rugged.
Beubein and Crater Lake wer crowded camps but the staff work to make this
successful.
Best of luck to all.
Paul Yates
Lead advisor
609-A3 '02
----- Original Message -----
From: "David F. Ball" <y2kdave@prodigy.net>
To: "Multiple recipients of list philmont" <philmont@troop47.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 11, 2002 8:52 PM
Subject: Re: [Philmont]: RE: trek 2
> Thanks Bill. We will be waiting to hear more!!!
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Bill Lentz" <blentz@prodigy.net>
> To: "Multiple recipients of list philmont" <philmont@troop47.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, June 11, 2002 5:53 PM
> Subject: [Philmont]: RE: trek 2
>
>
> > Hi Dave and list;
> >
> > Just received a call from Gary Dodge who is now at Philmont. He asked
me
> > to pass on to you that his contingent also had trek 2 and they have been
> > re-routed to trek 5 (you may have seen this on the list), but YMMV. He
> > also mentioned that the staff is doing a great job and that things seem
to
> > be going well out there.
> >
> > I mentioned to him the water shortage that had been discussed on the
list
> > today and he said that he and his crew leader were on their way back to
> > study the water locations board. He also mentioned that you can see the
> > smoke plumes, but everyone there was in good spirits and looking forward
> to
> > a good trek.
> >
> > Best regards;
> >
> > Bill
> > (This is my first posting to a list server - hope I've done it right.)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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> >
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> As you gather around this virtual campfire with fellow
> Scouts and Scouters, do your best to be trustworthy,
> loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient,
> cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.
> -------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
>
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Subscribe/Unsubscribe at http://usscouts.org/lists/
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-------------------------------------------------------
As you gather around this virtual campfire with fellow
Scouts and Scouters, do your best to be trustworthy,
loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient,
cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.
-------------------------------------------------------
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