The Phil-list Mar_2005: RE: [Philmont]: Trail / Distance questi

From: Thorn, David J <DThorn@winona.edu>
Date: Mon Mar 14 2005 - 08:02:56 CST

Trek #4 - Hiking from Clear Creek to Cyphers mine - does it go over
Phillips?

Here is the section of my Journal from 2001 on Clear Creek across
Phillips.

There was no evening campfire and as I said we were all very tired so
everyone was in bed early.

June 26, Tuesday

Early morning wake up and we broke camp quickly. We loaded up on water
and after some confusion as to the trail out of camp we headed up to the
peak of Mt. Philips. We were told to expect a rough and difficult trail
for that would take about 2-3 hours to reach the peak. Paul came up with
a method where we instead of catipiller (which was causing more
grumbling then just stopping ) where half the crew hiked forward until
they rested and then the second half hiked to them while they rested.
(We called this the inch worm) This seemed to work for us and we were at
the flag on top of Mt. Philips. (just over 2 hours.) The crew loved it
up there and our sister crew was waiting for us. We took many pictures
and had a great time throwing snowballs in the last week of June and
just enjoying the great views. While we were alone (our sister crew had
started down toward Thunder Ridge) we all said the Pledge of Allegiance
to the Flag . The boys really enjoyed sitting in the chairs that were
made out of rocks looking at the great views. Finally we headed down the
trail to Thunder Ridge. The trail down was not very difficult at all and
each of us by now were much better and the down hills and we made very
good time. We stopped at Comanche Peek Camp for the a snack. At thunder
ridge we debated if we should go via the 4WD road to Cyphers of the
trail. We ended up taking the trail. I have come to dislike the rutted
4WD roads so I am glad we took the trail. It is thundering again and
looks like rain so Brian asks us all to get in our rain gear for the
hike to Cyphers. We are soon on our way. The trail is again very easy
but we have been hiking a long time and are all looking forward to the
rest when we get to Cyphers. About 5 min from Cyphers we pass a crew
headed to Clear creek. They are in bad spirits and I am glad it is not
almost 1pm with a 2,400 ft climb and 1,500 ft rough descent ahead of us.
I finally understand exactly how well our crew is doing. I am reminding
myself that most evening the boys have very few "thorns". With a crew
that only has 2 boys age 16 or older my expectations have been very high
and the crew has been great and so has Brian. What a mood swing from
yesterday when I was so grumpy.

Suddenly the crew halts and I hear trouble ahead. Someone is down. I
rush forward and see Jason lying in a hole where the trail has eroded.
His legs look to me to be bent at an unnatural angle. My heart says oh
no he has injured or broken his leg. As I get to him he begins to move
and says that he seems to be ok and nothing hurts. What a relief. My
goal for the last year has been that everyone will be able to attend and
complete the treks and no one injured. This would be the only time I
thought we would not make that goal. With Jason ok we all drink some
water and head on down the trail.

Five minutes later we are at Cyphers and it is 1pm. Brian checks in and
we are asked to wait a bit, have some lunch and they would check us in
after they had a chance to get some lunch. This was ok with us as we
been on the trail since early morning and needed the break anyway. There
were rumors of no mine tours left and the fact that we would not be able
to go to the stomp because of the ban on night hiking. All of this
proved to be untrue as the Cyphers staff continued to put on programs
right up until the tough man contest at 8pm. As we ate lunch we could
see them off loading the food for the work crew that was building a new
cabin at Cyphers. The food included: milk, watermelon, hamburger, etc.
We were all just drooling.

After we finished lunch and just before we finished our check in a new
crew arrived. It was a venture crew and again had girls. (The elusive
Swedish crew has again surfaced.) We learned that they were on their 3rd
day and on of the crew had been quite ill. They wanted to change their
schedule so that they could stay at Cyphers instead of pressing on. It
turns out that their Ranger had been Bill and he had actually taken
bedding and clothing back to base camp (from their last nights camp) to
get washed after the sick crewmember had soiled them all. (Way to go
Bill) We would see them again later at the stomp.

Brian now had our schedule for programs. We would go on to Lamberts Mine
about 45 min ahead and set up camp. We would then return with our
dinner. Take the mine tour, cook dinner at Cyphers, and then go to the
forge. While the boys were at the forge the advisors would go to
advisors coffee and we would all meet for the toughman contest and then
on to the Stomp. We would then return after dark to Lamberts Mine.
Everyone seemed to be in good spirits as we headed to Lamberts Mine to
set up camp.

Just before we arrived at Lamberts it began to rain. It was slow at
first but it continued and started to pick up as we arrived. Brian
quickly picked a site and everyone dawned rain gear and set up camp. I
was again impressed at how well things went. Despite a very hard rain by
now, things were getting done and our camp was set. I think a special
thanks should go to Brian and Paul who stayed out in the heaviest of the
rain and continued to do chores (getting the bear bag up etc.) as the
rest of us waited to under the fly for the heavy rain to pass. This time
the rain did not put a damper on our overall spirits as we were all
looking forward to getting back to Cyphers and the programs. The rain
continued for more than an hour. (our longest rain so far) It finally
quit just before we had to leave for Cyphers. Brian loaded up his pack
with food, a stove and pot and each of us took our water, rain gear and
dishes and we headed back to Cyphers.

Upon our arrival at Cyphers Mine for the second time we headed straight
for the mine and took the mine tour. The staff member who gave the tour
was great and as we headed out of the mine in the dark several members
of the crew (which I will not name) had quite a scare as the unexpected
loud noise clamored in the dark.

We then found an unused Adrondack shelter and used that area to cook
dinner. After dinner the advisors sent the boys off to the forge and we
rested and waited for the Advisors coffee. At the coffee we learned that
our sister crew had been fortunate to see a bear earlier that day on the
trail ahead of us. They too agreed that today they had hit their stride
and were in great spirits. Soon the boys arrived from the forge and had
a camp screwdriver that had made. It looked great and I was impressed
once again today. The tough man contest then began with much fanfare. To
my surprise Brian made the finals with a story he made up on the spot
followed by breaking a board with his head. The winner ended up being
the boy who had started the board breaking but the decision was close.
The venture crew with the girls had a story about assisting a scared
staff member (male)to a staff camp after a cougar had frightened him and
then dismembering the cougar. I think that got them third place.

On to the stomp. Everyone was in a festive mood by now as we all filed
into the cabin for the stomp. Every since last year when I first started
to research Philmont I had heard many stories of the stomp and Cyphers
and I had been looking forward to it for a long time. For those of you
who have not been it is hard to describe. For those of us lucky enough
to get to the Philmont back country it is one of the memories we will
never forget. Almost everyone got in the spirit. (There were a very few
who somehow just could not get the spirit but only a few) The band sang
and played a strange mixture of folk and rock and roll that somehow
didn't feel at all out of place together. The washboard player was the
hit of the night and several attempts to form a "mosh pit" worked to
some degree. When the boys started to "stomp" to the music the whole
cabin shook. As I stood and enjoyed the festivities I reflected on our
trip so far. Overall it had been great. There were several small
setbacks and times that I was mostly disappointed with myself but as I
stood in the darkness of the cabin and listened to the music and stomped
my feet, I knew what a special place Philmont had become for me in just
9 days. As I watched the boys in my crew I knew in my heart that for
most of them it had also become very special. We stayed until the
official close of the stomp and then one additional song as most of us
found it hard to tear ourselves away but we also knew that we had to
still hike to Lamberts in the dark and another day of trail lay ahead
tomorrow.

The hike to Lamberts after the stomp was uneventful and we were all soon
asleep. Brian would allow us to sleep in tomorrow. Today had been our
hardest physical challenge but had become our best day of the trip.

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Received on Mon Mar 14 08:29:17 2005

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RE: [Philmont]: Trail / Distance questions