[Philmont] 30 & Burros

Greetings,
 
As you have mentioned, the past two years if your itinerary said "Burro
Packing" you did burro packing unless there were *very* compelling
reasons not too - allergic to burros might work. My opinion (which I
kept firmly to myself) was neutral to negative, but it was one of the
"have to" items in our crew's itinerary selection process. And I'm
pretty sure that they were glad they did it and so am I. As an aside,
it provided numerous opportunities for ". . . your a**" jokes and gags;
one of the favorite pictures from the trek is one of the crew members
(the one who was Eyore's primary handler) kissing his a** goodbye, as we
checked the burro back in.
 
Due to the Rivera Mesa fire our itinerary got changed to 21 but we
started at Sioux and picked up our burro at Ponil the next morning.
Burros are not allowed on trails between Ponil and Pueblano, so Wilson
Mesa is off limits while you have your burro. With the number of crews
on Northern itineraries seemingly increased because of the fire, the
road was well populated with crews and burros. We also missed out on
the spar pole climbing at Pueblano but I don't think it was strictly
Eyore's fault; the crew took a somewhat relaxed approach to the
afternoon at Flume Canyon (and the rock recliners) before hiking down to
Pueblano for "Loggerball" and the campfire. We could have done it the
next morning, but we were anxious to get moving.
 
Burros are kept in holding pens overnight; available at all of the
intermediate camps between Ponil and Miranda. There is water, hay and
brushes etc. available to care for them and instructions are provided as
part of the training process. We also dropped our burro off at Miranda
and did the Rendezvous program activities on our way up to Ute Meadows.
There is a burro trap (or horse corral) at Baldy, but it was not in use
when we went through. This might be for Cavalcade crews.
 
If you have a hankering to view Baldy from Wilson Mesa, you could side
hike it after you get settled in at Pueblano; perhaps with a trail
lunch for dinner.
 
Happy Trails,
 
Roy Fisher

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Received on Thu Sep 28 23:13:27 2006