From: CoopWright@aol.com
Date: Mon May 13 2002 - 21:00:47 CDT
I have included a section entitled "On The Trail" from the Philmont Advisor's
Guide, an unofficial publication designed to assist advisors getting their
crews ready for their Philmont trek. The Guide is available as an e-mail
attachment. For more info, please e-mail me directly.
On The Trail
Hiking Techniques
The first rule to hiking is that the crew must always stay together
regardless of the pace. Every crew will have its slowest hiker and that
person is almost always an adult. Even with intense physical preparation,
youth will always seems to recover faster than the older advisor. Around day
seven, some adults may have a hard time overcoming the aches and pains that
the younger Scouts do not have. Advisors may want to bring an
anti-inflammatory such as Advil, Aleve, Motrin, or Nuprin that contains
ibuprofen. If taken before hiking and at the end of the day, this supplement
can reduce the pain and inflammation of body joints.
Crewmembers are smart. They will know who has physically prepared for
Philmont and who has not. A helpful hint to the advisors. It is OK to
apologize to your crew for being slow. They really appreciate it when you
take the time to thank them for slowing down to give you a break. Some of
them would rather walk at your pace anyway. Wally was the slowest hiker on
four of his trips to Philmont. After apologizing to his crews for being so
slow, he was overwhelmed by their response when they began encouraging him.
The crews realized that they had to hike at his pace and they remained at
that pace for the rest of the treks. Another approach is to tell your crew
that they need you more that you need them. That does not work too well
though. The key is to have done your best in preparation. As long as the
crew knows you have prepared and helped them to prepare, they won't mind
slowing down for you.
Philmont recommends taking a five-minute "packs on" break every 30
minutes or so for a quick drink of water. Every hour, Philmont recommends
that the crew take a 20-minute "packs off" break to check their feet, get a
drink of water, and make any necessary clothes or pack adjustments. Taking
these breaks not only ensures that you stay hydrated but it also conserves
your energy over the length of the day. If you feel like you need to take
breaks more often, you are probably setting too fast a pace. You don't want
to arrive at your next camp early, only to be too exhausted to enjoy it.
Philmont uses a 5/20-minute rule for pack breaks due to lactic acid
buildup in the muscles of your legs. You can take a short, five-minute
"packs on" break just to get water and start walking without a significant
buildup of lactic acid. Should you need to take a break of longer duration,
you should spend at least twenty minutes to allow the lactic acid that is now
in your legs to dissipate.
A technique that we have found that helps keep the crew hiking together
at a steady pace up steep hills is called the "caterpillar". Imagine the
track of a tank. Half the track is on the ground while the other half is
moving. This same concept can be applied to hiking. When a crewmember calls
for the "cat", the leading member of the crew steps to the side of the trail
taking care to pick a location that will not cause erosion or widen the trail
in keeping with LNT principles. Be sure to face into the trail so your
backpack does not block the way for the next hiker. The next hiker takes 3
steps past the crew leader and then steps off the trail. As each hiker
becomes the first in line, he takes 3 steps and steps off the trail. When
the last person in line has passed the leading member by 3 steps, the leading
member rejoins the moving section of the hiking line. On long fairly flat
trails or on downhill sections of trail, the caterpillar can be employed
every 10 minutes so that each hiker can at least see each other thus breaking
up the hike. Finally, when caterpillaring, stand, do not sit. The
caterpillar is intended to give you a quick chance to catch your breath and
get a drink. Lean over and put your hands on your thighs. This will take
some of the weight of the pack off your shoulders and rest the muscles used
for climbing. Caterpillaring will also enable you to see the scenery behind
you. We taught the "caterpillar" method to several crews that we met on the
trail and they loved it!
A technique that can be used to rest leg muscles on long uphill climbs is
the "rest step". When crews begin climbing uphill, there is a tendency to
support the weight of the hiker on the front part of the foot. This is a
natural reaction on steep inclines because the ground slopes away from the
heel of the foot. Because the entire bottom of the foot is not on the
ground, the calf muscle must provide the support for the leg. This is an
easy way to tire yourself out. When climbing uphill, get your crews to keep
their foot flat on the surface of the ground. As you step forward on your
foot, lock your knee for a moment before taking the next step. This move
does two things. First, when your knee is locked, the skeletal frame of the
leg takes all the weight allowing your muscles to relax for an instant.
Second, it provides an opportunity to slow down the pace and take a rhythmic
breath. The "rest step" technique may be done every step, every third step,
or every fifth step depending on the steepness of the climb and the altitude.
Like the caterpillar, it gets you up the hill slower, but you will find that
you can hike longer without requiring numerous breaks.
As a courtesy to other hikers on the trails, crews hiking downhill always
move off to the side when meeting a crew coming up the hill. The trails are
too narrow for two crews to pass each other and it is a lot harder to get
started uphill once you had to stop. When you do step off the trail to allow
another crew to pass, face inward toward the trail. If you face outward,
your pack will hang over making it difficult for the other crew to pass.
Besides, if you face inward, you can see if the other crew looks worse off
than you do. You may also meet crews or staff on horses. In these
situations, horses always have the right of way. Crews should move on the
uphill of the trail so as not to spook the horses.
Another courtesy that is appreciated by staff members in the backcountry
is not to come up on a staff cabin porch unless invited. During the summer
months, staff members must call these cabins their home and it is tough to
have 20,000 guests tramping in and out of their house!
Cooper Wright
Advisor, Crew 1519
Co-author of the Philmont Advisor's Guide
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