[Philmont]: Philmont Tour Guides

Re: Tour Guides

In 2004, our 2 crews (24 people) had a great experience with Timberline
Transportation out of Colorado Springs. The person who helped us over the
phone in planning our itinerary was Sharon Vails at 1-800-288-1375. We did
not use a tour guide; with Timberline's help, a tour guide was not
necessary.

It was more economical for us to fly into Colorado Springs than into
Albuquerque (we are from Tennessee).

Following Sharon's suggestions, we planned the itinerary described below,
knowing that we wanted to pack in as much touring as possible from 11am
until 9pm. Sharon had experience with other scout groups, and she helped us
decide how to make the most of our time avoiding traffic, limiting wasted
mileage, etc. She also suggested places for lunch and dinner, and told us
to make pre-arrangements with the 2 restaurants in order to get our food as
speedily as possible. We didn't pay for a tour guide, only for the bus and
the driver, and we budgeted a good tip for the driver.

In one short day, Timberline picked us up at the airport at 11am, took us to
Subway for lunch, drove us to the Air Force Academy for a tour of the
chapel, drove us to the parking lot of the Cog Railroad to Pikes Peak for a
2pm afternoon trip; picked us up at 5:00pm at the base of the Cog Railroad;
drove us to a pizza/salad buffet dinner at Sevali's Restaurant in Manitou
Springs, and then took us on a short loop after dinner through the Garden of
the Gods State Park, and finally on to our hotel. The next morning they
took us to Philmont. They also picked us up 2 weeks later after our
Philmont trek and returned us to the Colorado Springs Airport.

We spent the night at the Ramada Inn on Murray Blvd, which had an excellent
and free continental breakfast.

I'm sure if we had been able to do 2 days of touring, Sharon would have been
equally helpful.

We had 24 people and reserved a 25-passenger bus. With 24 people, the cost
of our ground shuttle for touring and for round trip to Philmont was $119
per person. This price included (1) pick up from the airport, (2) one day
of touring, (3) round trip to from Colorado Springs to Philmont, and (4)
return to airport, plus (5) driver tips on all 3 days.

It's possible that we could have done it for less with rental vans and using
our own leaders for drivers. However, we tried it that way in 2001 with a
crew of 12, and it was much more stressful on the leaders. They had to
worry about driving, navigating, getting lost, etc., not to mention the
hassle of renting vans and then returning vans to the rental companies. By
using Timberline for our day tour, the adults enjoyed the day as much as the
scouts did. We paid a little extra for the convenience of one big bus and a
driver, but it was well worth it.

Jon Mather, ASM

Troop 387

Kingsport, TN

Philmont 1998, 2001, 2004

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Received on Mon Oct 10 23:11:01 2005