[Philmont]: Philmont info, part 2: rangers, crew gear, cooking, water purification, pack weight.

The rangers seem to get younger each time we do a trek. Our ranger was a
first year staff, 19 year old. She knew the "Philmont way" inside and
out but had no experience with multi-day backpacking trips. Her longest
backpacking trip prior to her employment with Philmont had been 1 night,
2 days with her brother, who was also on staff as a ranger. She was open
to our opinions and worked with us well and we gave her high marks on
the evaluation. Apparently the ranger job is not as attractive as it
used to be. She told us they were still several job openings available.

The nylon bear bags and rope supplied by Philmont are much lighter than
the old burlap bags and rope of the late 90's. They issued us (a crew
of 8) one nylon bear bag per 2 men, one nylon bag for the crew oops bag
and two 100 feet sections of 3/8" lightweight rope. You'll need a
lightweight carabineer for the oops bag which is not supplied.

The only Philmont issued crew gear we took were the bear bags, oops bag,
ropes, Polar Pure (1 per two people), 1 bottle hand cleaner, 1 bottle
Campsuds, sump Frisbee and scraper. Since we used the zip lock bag
method for cooking, we didn't need or use the Frisbee or scraper.

The zip lock bag method of cooking worked great with the Philmont meals.
Less weight, no pots to clean, and lots more fun at supper time. We
didn't have a single meal ruined because of poor preparation. With the
food packaged in two men servings it gave the guys a chance to swap
food. Rarely did everyone eat the same supper on any given night. This
also gave the guys opportunity to compare "soak" time for the various
meals.

Our ranger said Philmont required everyone to use the Polar Pure in
their water even if we used a filter or purifier to obtain water.

Wayne White
CC Troop 222
Moulton, AL

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Received on Mon Jun 30 09:58:23 2003