[Philmont] Increased Participation

My two crews (Crew 807H1-#21, Crew 807H2-#24) came off trail on the second
to last day of the season. We had great fun on our treks but we also had
only our sister crew in our campsites. Even at Ute Meadows, there were only
about four crews in camp the two days we were there. When we went to
Philmont in 2001(704H, #30) and 2004 (702F1-#24,702F2-#21), clearly earlier
in the season, we had on average at least three other crews in every camp.
Plus, Ute Meadows was full -- 8-10 crews -- every single night. But, I
don't think anyone is asking to overload the camp sites either. Part of the
beauty of Philmont is the rugged outdoors and the feeling and understanding
that you are "out there", making it on your own.
 
The biggest thing we noted was the size of the staff at the staffed camps.
Because we were so late in the season this year, most had already lost well
over half of their staff. Most camps were unable to host evening activities.
They did have the Advisors Coffee's, but not the music, singing, skits, etc.
we had expected as their "musicians" had already left for the summer. Most
staffed camps only had four staff, but a couple like Cito and Clark's Fork
had 5-6. This was noticeably down from our previous early season treks where
most camps had 8-10 staff and some even more. Finally, our Closing Camp Fire
Ceremony was crowded and still memorable, but that was because they had a
sizable number of provisional treks, the 5 and 7 day treks, that ended the
same day ours did. We were also the last crew for our Ranger, who was set to
depart Philmont the day after he left us on the trail. His college classes
in New York started four days later. So with travel and all, he wasn't
getting much of a break before classes started.
 
But it isn't as simple as just saying increase the treks to XX or starting
earlier or going later. Everything has dependencies that must be considered.
If you increase the number of treks, you increase the environmental loading
and environmental impact in countless ways, which leads to other problems.
More treks and more crews will mean more support staff for a longer period
of time. Philmont is already the second largest consumer of prepackaged
food, behind the Department of Defense, so increasing trek and/or crew
loading will impact logistics and increase trash production, leading to
increased impact upon water, sewer, etc.There really is no easy answer here.
 
R/
Mark
AA, VC 850, T850
Stafford, VA

  _____

From: Philmont@troop47.com [mailto:Philmont@troop47.com] On Behalf Of Craig
Winney
Sent: Friday, September 29, 2006 10:03 PM
To: Philmont List Member
Subject: [Philmont] Increased Participation

Another problem, at least in part of the country, is that the public schools
start their year off earlier and earlier. The school district where I live,
this year had opening day of classes K-12 on Aug 17. Next year (2007) its
Aug 13. Take two weeks off that for fall sports practices. The parents in
our Troop would not support a trek date after Aug 1. And since this same
school district doesn't end classes until about June 3, we have no choice
but to take prime dates in late June and July.
 
The trick may be in adding treks. Reconfiguring routes could conceivably see
a gain in the number of treks to maybe 40. I'm just thinking off the top of
my head here, but something like that could work. Certainly the number of
available treks has changed over the years. I can't recall if there were 35
treks available when I was a kid, but I doubt it. This could possibly add
capacity, thus allowing more participation.
 
Craig Winney
UC, Troop & Crew 787
GSLAC
 

----- Original Message -----
From: Dr. Bob Klein <mailto:drbob@troop111.org>
To: Philmont List Member <mailto:Philmont@troop47.com>
Sent: Friday, September 29, 2006 5:20 AM
Subject: [Philmont] Increased Participation

The problem with extending the season is that many of the staff members have
to be gone by mid-August, either because their colleges start up their fall
semesters in mid-to-late August, or their college sports team practices
start up. Ditto for many of the trekkers - in many parts of the country,
fall sports start on the middle Monday in August. This is why you saw so
few Crews on your trek.

David K. Palmer wrote:
Good evening.
 
One way to increase participation would be increase the number of crews in
August, perhaps extending the season several days.
 
We arrived at Philmont August 6, 2006. Our trek #22 was not crowded. We had
no sister crew. We were not crowded in camp: Vaca, a trail camp, no other
crews; Deer Lake, a trail camp, no other crews; Ute Springs, a trail camp,
perhaps 2 other crews; Lambert Mine, a trail camp, no other crews; Mt.
Phillips, a trail camp, perhaps 2 other crews; Porcupine, a trail camp, no
other crews; Beaubien, a staff camp, maybe 5 or 6 other crews each night;
Abreu, a staff camp, maybe 4 other crews; and Miners Park, a staff camp, no
other crews.

-- David K. Palmer Scoutmaster & Advisor 2006 Crew 806-C Trek #22 Olympia,
WA

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Received on Sat Sep 30 15:43:46 2006