RE: [Philmont]: Gear Questions

Kelly,

There are no restrictions on tents *except* that bivy sacks and hammock
shelters are disallowed. Having said that, larger tents are harder to
backpack and are especially hard to set up at some Philmont camps where tent
space is at a premium. 2-man tents give you more flexibility to fit into the
available terrain. 3-man tents should be ok pretty nearly everywhere though.

The brands are 1-1/4" square, and branding is still a popular activity.

The 50-gallon trash bags (I'm guessing here) may be recommended for pack
covers at night, since packs must remain outside the tents. Or, they may be
suggested for protecting stray straps on the packs during airline or train
travel.

I'm intrigued by your practice of bringing along your own wildlife, although
I suspect Tooth Ridge already has a sufficient quantity of "trail snakes"
:o) Seriously, the suggestion to bring along extra snacks is a good one,
for while the quantity of food is adequate for most crews, some scouts may
do better with items that they're familiar with. It's the old trade-off of
weight vs. comfort. In 2004 I packed the ingredients for a birthday cake
(complete with balloons and can't-blow-out candles) for our crew leader for
several days, which was well-received by not only the birthday boy but the
other scouts as well. Some of our scouts shunned the various varieties of
Gorp, which made for some occasional low blood sugar on the trail and hearty
appetites at dinner.

>Ched Hudson
ASM Troop 994
Fairfax Station, VA
Philmont '67, '04, '06

(Are we on-topic yet?)
  -----Original Message-----
  From: owner-philmont@troop47.com [mailto:owner-philmont@troop47.com]On
Behalf Of Kelly Pennington
  Sent: Wednesday, November 16, 2005 7:28 AM
  To: Multiple recipients of list philmont
  Subject: [Philmont]: Gear Questions

  Hi,
  I have recently been researching gear suggestions from prior posts, Cooper
Wright's "Advisor Guide" (which is great, thanks Coop) various web sites
etc. I have a few questions from the information I gained.
  1. Are 2 man tents required? Can you use 3 man tents?

  2. How big are the brands (1 inch 2 inch)? Do they still brand boots? I
was very proud of my brands from 1978 when I went as a young Eagle Scout.

  3. I have seen at least two different packing lists that suggested that
we bring 50 gal trash bags? What do you do with them?

  4. In the past two years our troop has taken 10 crews to the Northern
Tier, most of those crews packed extra trail snakes in the form of "Power
Bars", "Luna Bars", "Cliff Bars" 1 each per day. They initial weight was
heavy, but the daily treat was very well received, a different flavor and
style bar each day.

  YIS

  Kelly Pennington

  Troop 787 Orlando, FL

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Received on Wed Nov 16 15:18:02 2005