[Philmont]: RE: Route selection

Pete Swiggum writes...

First post in this forum so please excuse me if this topic has been posted ad nauseum.

We're heading to Philmont next summer with a group of 14, 15, and 16 year olds. Most, if not all, of the boys are strong, experienced hikers, or at least athletic enough to adapt to anything thrown at them in the way of trek difficulty.

With the 35 available treks, are there any specific treks that are considered toughest or "must-do"? We prefer to take a trek that offers challenge and gratification once it's completed. What is the best way to determine which trek to take?

Comments...
Welcome!

Be aware that a frequent comment on this List is that "there are no bad treks." Another is that often the most memorable program or aspect of a trek is NOT one that the crew was really interested in before hitting the trail.
Is there a "toughest"? If you know there are 35 available, you also know they are rated "Typical," "Rugged," "Strenuous" and "Super-Strenuous", and there are a couple candidates in that last category. In the year 2000 re-numbering of the treks, the treks were grouped by rating. Several errors made at that time plus new treks added since then have resulted in a couple being mis-classified (in my opinion), but for starters I would go by the published ratings.
How to choose a trek? Take an interest survey of the crew - do they want to climb a mountain (or a lot of mountains?), discuss what programs are available and which they are interested in, their (and the Advisors) physical ability (sounds like you have that covered already), etc.
Realize that the longer, generally strenuous and super strenuous routes both offer more opportunity for program (because you are covering more ground and passing through or near more staffed camps) AND less opportunity (because you are spending more time hiking on the trail, not in camps). A crew that wants to both cover a lot of ground and do a lot of program can, if they understand that they will be using all the available daylight for those things, and not relaxing in camp.
Anyway, once the crew has an idea of what is available and what they are looking for, review the 35 routes from 2004. Sometime in March you will get TREKS 2005 with the routes for next year - several of those routes will likely be completely new and there will be changes to a handful of others. You will need to look to see if one of the new routes fits your crew's interests (or if a trek they were interested in is not available), rank your top five choices, and fire off the selection post card.
So, for most crews what you are talking about now is normally done in February, though there is no harm in getting a head start. The planning process can and should be used both as a crew building exercise (learing to work together as a crew and make decisions that affect the crew) and to build excitement/anticipation for the trek.

--
Al Thomson, Troop 236, 
Schooley's Mountain, NJ 
Treks 1999, 2001, 2003 
Autumn Advenures 2000, 2002, 2004
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