RE: [Philmont]: First timers & The Tooth

The good news: There's really something extra special about hiking over the
Tooth of Time on the last day, with lots of photos at the Tooth, and then
finishing up with the never-ending hike into Philmont Headquarters, with a
final Kodak-moment under the "We All Made It Back" sign. It's an
incomparable celebratory moment for your crew.

The bad news: There's no easy way to do this. When you look at all the
treks, and examine the last day, there's almost no such thing as an easy
hike over the Tooth into Headquarters.

I've hiked in over the Tooth for all three of my treks, and cannot imagine
doing it any other way. This past March, I encouraged my two sister crews
to strongly consider this type of itinerary when they chose their treks.
They all agreed, and I think everyone was glad we did it this way. Of
course it helped that we were lucky with great weather, and great views. We
sprinted as much as we were able, and were still able to get our gear turned
in, and then catch the last bus at 3:30pm to Cimarron for real food and a
visit to a real western town. But we knew ahead of time that we would need
to really hurry to get all of this packed into one day. And it was an
absolute necessity that we completed all of our post-trek chores before we
caught the bus for Cimarron, because our shuttle out of Philmont the next
morning was scheduled to depart at 5:30am in order to make it to the Col.
Springs airport in time for our flight.

The decision would be easier if you have leisure time the next morning (Day
13) after your last day of hiking, in order to turn in your gear and do
your post-trek business.

Before you decide, you need to get input from other folks whose last day has
involved a short hike followed by a bus back into Philmont Headquarters.
Some of these folks get back early (before lunch), turn in all their gear,
and have a leisurely day to do a tour of Villa Philmonte, or a side trip to
Cimarron for lunch or dinner. They may have advice and suggestions that are
completely different from my experience.

Other factors should be the stamina of your scouts and leaders. This last
day of hiking is very hard because the hike is so long. It also needs to be
completed very early so you won't be out in the hot sun during the afternoon
hours with no place to get refills of water.

Good luck.

Jon Mather, ASM

Troop 387

Kingsport, TN

Philmont, 1998, 2001, 2004

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-philmont@troop47.com [mailto:owner-philmont@troop47.com] On
Behalf Of Pete Swiggum
Sent: Monday, October 04, 2004 1:28 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list philmont
Subject: [Philmont]: First timers & The Tooth

To the veterans,

I've heard several people say it's really cool to hike into base camp on the
last day after coming over the Tooth of Time. Given the opportunity to do
that with an all-newbie crew, should that be a planning goal? There are a
few other treks that offer a side-hike to the Tooth of Time and maybe those
should be considered, too.

Our first crew meeting is coming up on October 17th and I'd like to be able
to share some of that information with them.

We'll also have a very respected local Scoutmaster and one of his Eagle
Scouts who's been to Philmont in attendance at our meeting. They'll be
sharing lots of information with us, and they hiked over the Tooth on the
last day. Speaking with the SM, he said it was a great thing for the boys,
but expect a long day.

I've already received a 2004 trek manual from Philmont to help plan our trek
in 2005. It's been quite helpful in describing what to expect, plus any of
your references to specific treks can be researched in the trek manual.
Maps and Fieldguide are on their way from the Trading Post.

All thoughts are appreciated.

Pete Swiggum

Troop 1173

Green Bay, WI

Peter.Swiggum@sbcglobal.net

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Received on Mon Oct 4 22:11:50 2004