Day
0 Sunday, July 17, 2005 Fort Worth to Lake Clayton New Mexico State Park
Day 1
Monday, July 18, 2005 Lake Clayton New Mexico State Park to Philmont Base
Camp
Day 2
Tuesday, July 19, 2005 Philmont Base Camp to Sioux
Day 3
Wednesday, July 20, 2005 Sioux to Pueblano
Day 4
Thursday, July 21, 2005 Pueblano to Ewell's Park (via Miranda)
Day 5 Friday,
July 22, 2005 Ewell's Park to Ewell's Park (via Baldy Town & Baldy)
Day 6 Saturday,
July 23, 2005 Ewell's Park to Santa Clause (via Head of Dean)
Day 7 Sunday,
July 24, 2005 Santa Clause to Deer Lake Mesa Camp (via Rt 64 and Visto Grande)
Day 8 Monday,
July 25, 2005 Deer Lake Mesa Camp to Clark's Fork (via Ute Gulch, Hidden
Valley, Window Rock, Cathedral Rock, Cimarroncito Reservoir)
Day 9 Tuesday,
July 26, 2005 Clark's Fork to Cyphers Mine (via Hunting Lodge)
Day 10 Wednesday,
July 27, 2005 Cyphers Mine to Red Hills (via Thunder Ridge, Comanche Peak
& Mt. Phillips)
Day 11 Thursday,
July 28, 2005 Red Hills to Shaefers Pass (via Big Red, Comanche Pass, Bear
Mntn & Black Mntn)
Day 12 Friday,
July 29, 2005 Shaefers Pass to Base Camp (via Shaefers Peak, Tooth of Time,
Tooth Ridge Camp)
Day 13 Saturday,
July 30, 2005 Base Camp to Fort Worth
INTRO
A TRIP, A TRIP. MY KINGDOM FOR A TRIP!
In May of 2005, I finally started getting serious about identifying a high adventure opportunity for the summer. Our Troop was going to Colorado for summer camp, and although Camp Ben Delature has a high adventure backpack program, our troop was only participating in the regular base camp program. I contacted work friends, church friends, and relatives, but nobody could seem to make anything work. Then I remembered that a notice had come out on our district's email list that one of the district (Trinity Trail District in Longhorn Council, Fort Worth, Texas) troops has a Philmont trek that still had six openings. The notice said that this was Trek 717 (about two months away) and would be Itinerary 30 (super strenuous). I discussed the possibility with my wife (this was more money and more vacation time than I had been planning on spending), and I got the OK. I contacted John from Troop 52 and we discussed the situation. He told me that they were close to full, and he would try to have a firm decision the following Monday. The day came and went, and I was getting ready to call him (I usually like to give people a little breathing room on things like this), when he called and said that I was a 'go' to participate on their trek. I attended their Troop meeting in June 14 and met John and the rest of the crew. So far, we had:
Myself (Troop 43 adult), John B (Troop 52 adult), Al W (Troop 52 Scoutmaster), an 18 year old from Troop 510 in Trailblazer District, a youth from Troop 510 in Trailblazer District), Jake H (Troop 52: 18 years old in 2 days), Jordan B (Johns son: youth), Diego S (Troop 52 youth), Teddy B (Troop 52 youth) and another Troop 52 youth.
John gave me a "Guidebook to Adventure" and a medical form. After writing a check for $300 (1/2 down), I reminded John that he might want to send out another reminder on the email list. It showed up on OlanNet on June 16. I went home and got my physical scheduled for July 1. The Doctors office later called and rescheduled it for July 13. This is a bit too late for my taste. I also have a dentist Appointment scheduled for July 14, but I later changed it to August 8.
I started thinking about my pack. For my trek last year, I had my pack weight down to 31 pounds, with a skin-out total of 39. I had done very well on that trip, but that was also a very easy itinerary (Itinerary #2), with many short days and few long ones. But this year it would be Itinerary #30, with more longer days and lots of mountains to climb. I really wanted to drop my pack weight by at least a pound. Maybe more if possible.
SLEEPING PAD
My most obvious target was my sleeping pad. I have been using a 3/4 length ThermaRest Standard Classic, weighing 24 ounces. I began reviewing various ultra-light options, including:
Regular ThermaRest Z-Lite: 15 oz $35
Small ThermaRest Z-Lite: 11 oz $30
Long Blue closed-cell foam pad: 11 oz $0 (belongs to my son)
Small ThermaRest RidgeRest: 9 oz $17
Weight is pretty much proportional to comfort. Was I willing to subject my 48 year old body to 10 trail nights on a half inch foam pad? If so, I'll probably take Aaron's blue mat, and will probably cut it. More to come.
BOOTS
My other big issue was boots. For our troop's 2001 Philmont trek, I had purchased a pair of mid-high Vasque Clarions. They have served me pretty well, but have given me occasional problems, including many blister on a recent (high mileage) two day trip to Cross Timber Trail, and some blackened and lost toenails on some other trips:
March 2002 Guadalupe ?? ?? ?? OK
Nov 2000 (Troop) ?? ?? OK
January 2001 Cross Timbers Trail (Aaron) 10 mi 2 days OK
March 2001 Guadalupe 4 days OK
April 2001 ?? (Troop) ?? ?? ??
May 2001 ?? (Troop) ?? ?? ??
June 2001 Philmont Trek. (Itinerary 14) 68 mi 10 days OK
March 2002 Caprock Canyon Trailway 30 mi 4 days Blisters (Railroad Bed)
August 2002 Ansel Adams National Wilderness 32 mi 5 days Toe Nail Blister
???? Cross Timbers w/ Aaron 14 mi 2 days Black Toe Nails
January 2004 Cross Timbers alone 20 mi 2 days OK
March 2004 Ouachita Trail 26 mi 4 days OK
May 2004 (Troop) @ SR2 ?? ?? ??
June 2004 Troop @ Cross Timbers Trail 29 mi 4 days OK
August 2004 Philmont Trek (Itinerary #2) 65 mi 10 days OK
March 2005 @ Cross Timbers Trial alone 34 mi 3 days Blisters
I finally pretty much decided to start wearing my boots (to re-break them) and go barefoot (to toughen-up) from now on. I may also buy thinner Thorlos to take up less volume. Maybe that will help prevent black toenails.
TREKKING POLES
I was also considering getting a second hiking pole (I have a 45.5 inch long bottom section of a 10 foot WonderPole) or buying a new pair of a greater diameter. These cost between $8 and $12 each. The more permanent, but more expensive and heavier option would be to buy a pair of commercial Trekking Poles. I checked Academy 6-25-05, but they no longer carry the exact match for my existing pole. So either I don't match, or I buy a new pair. I'd like to use my existing pole due to its history & sentiment
Well, I finally just bought two new poles at Academy on June 27. $23 with tax. 'Apache' had one that was more similar to what I had, but the WONDERPOLE was of known construction/strength. The new Shakespear WONDERPOLE model TSP 10 is thinner than the TSP 10 I currently have. So I went with Shakespear WONDERPOLE model TSP 13. This is a little fatter and heavier than my TSP 10, and just a hair shorter. I brought them home, discarded the three inside sections, cut off the brass tangs (used to wrap your fishing line), filed and taped the modified areas with black electrical tape, and secured the bottom rubber caps (tips) with one screw each. I went ahead and left the top caps on and added wrist straps (webbing made for edging rugs). The combined weight was 10 oz for the pair. So the larger diameter, top caps and wrist straps added about 1 oz per pole. Not great, but not bad either. The larger diameter should make them stronger.
As a side note, ham radio operators use the Shakespear WONDERPOLEs (TSP 16 or TSP 20) as a center support for a portable dipole antenna. Some people also use them as portable flag poles for small light flags.
TROOP 412 ?
Another troop in our district, Troop 412, is also going to Philmont about the same time. My son Aaron has many friends in that troop, and one of them has borrowed his Camelback (the one I used in 2004), so that will not be available to me this year. He has another (off-brand), and was thinking that I would take that, but without the excessively heavy cloth sleeve/pack. I could just buy a 2-liter Platy & hose kit (to go with the 2-Liter Platy I already have), except I maybe need something with pack straps for the day we hike Baldy. Or I could just stick them in my empty pack. Hmm
I received an email on OlanNet 6-22-05 that Troop 412 had a last minute cancellation & now had one youth slot open. I know most of those folks (many of Aaron's friends), and would be tempted to join them, except:
o It is not as strenuous an itinerary, and I am looking forward to a greater challenge like Troop 52's itinerary offers;
o It misses Baldy & other placed where I have not been, while it appears to hit many of the 'South-Country ' places where I've already been;
o I'm already committed with Troop 52;
o They seem to need a youth (I think I had heard from them previously that they were already at their adult quota (max of 4 over 21).
I met with the crew on Thursday 6-30-05. Only three adults and two youth came. Still no real tent decisions have been made. An overnight hike is planned for the Cross Timbers Trail on Lake Texoma on July 8/9. My friend Lonnie died in a car crash July 5, so his funeral may conflict with the Texoma hike.
CROSS TIMBERS TRAIL SHAKEDOWN HIKE
I later learned that Lonnie's visitation would not be until Sunday, I was free to attend the hike. We were to meet at 4:30, but ended up waiting until 6:00 for people to arrive. The two boys from Trailblazer district had dropped out. There was a new boy, Paul V, from Troop 52. He was only Tenderfoot, but had been in the Troop for quite a while (advancement is just not a priority with all boys). So with Daryl and Paul we had 9 people. Those who were going to eat did so (Philmont lunch-style food) while we waited. I had eaten at home earlier, so did not have anything at this time. We didn't leave until after 6:30, then had to stop at Wal-Mart in Gainesville so Daryl, who is a new diabetic, could buy some extra food because much of what we had was not suitable for him. So we didn't pull into Cedar Bayou Marina (actually, right outside the gate) until dark. I was carrying 7 liters of water. Most had four, but I think a couple had less. We planned to try to hike to 5-Mile Camp (a 3.5 mile hike), but started losing the trail markers in the darkness just short of Lost Loop. So we made camp up on a hill on land that we later discovered was private property. Some of the boys pitched tents, while the rest of us just slept out under the stars. I took my Benadryl, and after watching Jordan trying to hang a bear bag, eventually drifted off. I must have slept pretty well, as the next thing I remember was Al waking everybody up. We took a fair amount of time getting everyone up and having breakfast.
We finally hit the trail, easily finding the markers in the daylight. We did Lost Loop, made 5-Mile Camp, and were to stop for our cooked lunch at Eagles Roost. Al and John continued to bring up the rear, but about 1/2 mile short of Eagles Roost turn-off, John started getting leg cramps. So we stopped and had our lunch (Ramen) there. It was all pretty sloppy, with people standing over gear while eating, and some food getting spilled on shoes. At one point, I asked one boy to stand back from my pack while he was eating. John had been sweating profusely and actually rung water out of his shirt. Clean-up was also pretty disorganized, but eventually got completed. We hit the trail. But John started having leg cramps again and we had to stop several times. At Five-Mile camp, I told the boys (before Al and John got there) that at Philmont, if they intended to make any time at all, they ought to relieve Al and John of crew gear and would need to make extra effort to rise and break camp early and quickly if they had any hope of making the programs. When Al and John got there, the boys took John's tent. Shortly thereafter, John cramped-up again, and Al had the boys take John's pack. I took his tripod stool and Daryl took his sleeping bag. But even then, John had two more rather severe leg (calf) cramps, and ran out of water (I gave him about a liter). Going was very slow for him, since he tried to take small steps and minimize leg strain in order to avoid further cramps.
We eventually made it back to the trailer around 3:00. Between watering up, cooling/drying off and changing cloths, it was about 45 minutes before we pulled out. We stopped at a DQ for cold stuff (sodas, ice cream, etc). I got a "Moo-Latte". Al drove, and I could barely keep my eyes open. Maybe I had not slept very well after all. We arrived back at Fort Worth, where it was announced that Troop 52's Tuesday meeting would be a final pack check, and that we were to meet at 7:00 Sunday for a 7:30 departure. I also promised Daryl that I would fax him the 2004 Philmont menu/ingredients so he could figure out what extra food he would need to bring. I did that Tuesday morning. I attended the meeting that night. I paid my remaining $300. John told me that Daryl had received the Fax. John also told me that he was NOT expecting to get the final OK from his doctor because he has not been able to get his blood pressure down to an acceptable number. I don't know what his blood pressure had been, but Philmont will not let you on the trail with a blood pressure above 150/95, while the goal is less than 135/85. The boys weighed packs. Mine weighed 17 pounds (without tent, crew gear, food or water): the lightest, of course. Al's weighed 37 with tent. It appears that Al has still not eliminated all the extra junk from his pack. John did not have one of the Troop's Half Dome tents with him, so John and I were not able to split/pack our tent. I made a note to call Al Saturday to ensure he brings one.
My trekking poles worked fine with one minor exception. I had placed one screw in each to help hold the bottom rubber tip in. But on at least one pole, the tip repeatedly slipped out sideways, hanging by the screw. Had the screw not been there, I would have lost the tip. I never had this problem with my first pole. The rubber tips on the new ones seem to fit in much looser and do not appear to be made with quite as much rubber. I need to add a second screw to the other side of each pole in order to prevent the rubber tips from slipping out sideways.
I got my physical Wednesday morning, July 13. Everything was OK.
Other things I dealt with over the next few days included:
o Sleeping Pad decision
o Hair cut (second week of July)
o Camera(s)
o Bought Pole @ Academy 6-27-05 ($23)
o Bought Bladder/hose/valve 7-5-05 ($__)
o Bought Thinner Thorlos @ Academy 6-25-05
o Bought Tube Vaseline
o Bought Wipes @ Walgreen's 6-25-05
o Bought Bug Repellant (DEET ?) @ Academy 6-25-05
o Bought Sun Screen @ Academy 6-25-05
o Selected Sun Glasses from what we had @ home
o Borrowed Hat (Aaron's) (has Velcro)
o Installed fresh Light Batteries (swapped w/ Garrity light)
o Bought a blister product (like Second Skin)
o Bought Benadryl @ Walgreen's 6-25-05
o Bought Ibuprophin @ Walgreen's 6-25-05
o Bought Comb @ Walgreen's 6-25-05
o Selected a pair of black stretch Gloves 6-25-05
I called John Friday and asked how things had gone. He told me that his doctor had NOT cleared him, so he would not be going. He also said that Daryl had failed his EKG, and also would not be going. I was somewhat relieved that Daryl would not be going. He was only diagnosed as diabetic a month ago, and was still adjusting to controlling his sugar with diet and activity. We would also have had to deal with bringing special food for him and also hoping that that food made it to Ute Gulch Commissary and Baldy Town for our food pick-ups. So the crew was now down to seven. On Friday and Saturday, I finished up my trekking poles, adding an additional screw to each to ensure that the bottom rubber tip did not come off. I made repeated calls to Al to make tent arrangements, but was unable to get hold of him (I think he was still out of town). In desperation, I went ahead and purchased from Backwoods a GoLite Lair-1 just in case I would have to tent alone. I pitched it in the back yard to measure for an appropriate ground cloth. My intent is to not use it, and return it unused when I get back. I have my doubts that my Philmont Ranger would let me use it anyway, since they pretty much require an entirely enclosed tent. Having been unable to find single-use panorama cameras anywhere (like I had used in 2001 and 2004) I finally went ahead and purchased two simple disposable cameras. I did my final packing, including a CD player and several CDs for the trip.
Note: I was able to return the Lair-1 to Backwoods on Saturday, Aug 6, and had a nice talk with Tim about his experiences at Philmont. Apparently the other adults had been unwilling to share tents, so he ended up carrying his own. Between that and other things, he ended up carrying about 40 pounds in his GoLite Gust pack.
Day 0
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Fort Worth to Lake Clayton New Mexico State Park
THE GATHERING
I arrived at the church parking lot at 7:00 as agreed. Lauren drove me, since my car was in the shop. Everyone showed up and parents stood around talking. One of the ministers showed-up and we all gathered for a short prayer. We loaded up and pulled out around 7:30. Along with Al and I and the five boys (Jake H, Jordan B, Diego S, Paul V and Teddy B) was Dave Wyatt, whose son Chris was working in the Philmont Dining Hall, and whose job was ending the next day. Dave would ride to Philmont with us, then drive back home with Chris. I had never met Dave, though I later learned that he works at Lockheed on the JSF program. But Dave's wife, Barbara, worked in the SIL for many years. I had never officially met here, but saw her often and knew who she was. She had actually been in the parking lot to drop Dave off in the mornings, but I had not recognized her.
HIT THE ROAD
Al, Dave and I spelled off on the driving. Most of the time that Dave was not driving he had his laptop out working on a program schedule for work. We stopped for lunch at a very nice Texas rest stop. John Bock had bought and packed groceries, so we had sandwiches, bananas and cookies. After eating under an outside pavilion, we went inside where there were many educational displays about the early Texas cattle-drive days. Eventually, we got back on the road, passing through Amarillo and then on into New Mexico. During this leg, I went through the paperwork John had given us, and learned that we did not have any insurance info for Jake. We also did not have an insurance card for John. We got on the cell phone and began making calls for the required info. When we finally arrived in Clayton, I was driving and initially missed the turn-off to Clayton Lake. I turned around and we headed up a winding road.
DO A GOOD TURN DAILEY
Along the way, we came upon a girl and woman whose car had broken down. They were already being helped by an older man (retiree?), but we stopped anyway. Their battery was dead and worse yet, the caps were missing and the battery was dry. We grabbed some bottles of water and Al's starter battery, and got their car started. After they left, we all gathered outside the van near the barbed-wire fence for a 'listening' exercise. We gathered up some roadside trash, loaded-up and continued on to the park.
CLAYTON LAKE STATE PARK
None of the park rangers were around, so we cruised around looking for a good site to camp. While roaming around the park, we noticed the car of the elderly man who had stopped to help the woman and girl earlier. We found a couple of unoccupied pavilions and got camp set up. We noticed another troop across the way setting up tent on top of the hill above their pavilion. Al, Dave and I set-up two tents under one of the pavilions, and the boys took another. The boys were just making some sandwiches for dinner when it started raining. The rain got progressively harder, eventually hailing, followed by a prolonged driving rain. We just hung out under the lee side of one of the pavilions trying to stay dry. It let up some, and we got back into the food to have some diner. The boys had left quite a mess in the food bin. By the time most of us had finished eating, the rain had pretty much stopped. Because of poor drainage under the pavilions, most of the tents had gotten a considerable amount of water in them. Our (Al and I) tent was an exception. This was a good sign. We took advantage as best we could of the windy conditions to get things dried out. But the boys began making plans to sleep in the van and the trailer. Another crew later moved into the large pavilion that they had previously reserved. Eventually, AL chased the boys out of the van, making some set up tents, but allowing a couple to use the trailer. I visited the rest room, and we eventually all settled down to sleep. All took the picnic table while Dave and I each took a tent.
Day 1
Monday, July 18, 2005
Lake Clayton New Mexico State Park to Philmont Base Camp
HI-HO, HI HO
We woke up and began spreading out anything that was still wet to dry out in the morning sun and breeze. Eventually we loaded up and drove on into town. We stopped at a gas station, where Al asked where we could to for breakfast. We were directed to the 'Hi-Ho' on the east end of town. There was already another crew finishing up (the same that had camped across from us last night?). The service there was slow, but the portions were pretty good. While waiting for their orders, some of the boys started drinking the lemon juice out of the little packets (Jordan taught them this trick). I had sausage, an egg, toast, potatoes and coffee. After paying up (separate tickets), we headed on for the final 2.5 hour drive into Philmont. After several more tries, we eventually got a call back from Jake's dad, who supplied most (but not all) of the required insurance info. I also finished filling out the roster and talent release forms as we drove through Cimarron (see http://www.legendsofamerica.com/HC-Cimarron1.html) and then down Rt. 21 (part of the old Santa Fe Trail (see http://www.legendsofamerica.com/WE-SantaFeTrail.html)), and was not quite finished then we pulled up to the Philmont Welcome Center.
WELCOME TO PHILMONT
Al and Jake checked us in while we began unloading. Dave got himself checked in as a visitor. Al parked the van/trailer, and we all waited until our Ranger, Christine, showed up. We hauled our gear to our tents in 'Trail bound' Tent City, then Christine took me to Registration. I signed us up for a full breakfast on our return. Eventually, Al showed up and we completed the registration process (they needed to see his First Aid & CPR cards). We all headed to the Dining Hall for lunch. Chris was working the serving line, and there were many greetings and smiles. Something new this year: they have added three dispensers inside each of the two main doors so campers can sanitize their hands as they get in line. Al commented that he wished that we had this at our council summer camps. I'm sure part of this was due to his experience two weeks earlier at Worth Ranch, when half the camp caught something and had a vomit-fest for three days. According to the Philmanac, the Dining Hall serves about 18,000 meals each week. After lunch, we visited the Trading Post, where we ran into Mike and Susan Cawood. Mike is from my troop (Troop 43), and his entire family was here with him while he attended the 'Key Three' course at the Philmont Training Center. His son, Andrew, would be doing Cope all week with six girls and a boy. His daughter was is another group with five other girls and two staffers. We visited for awhile. Al had been in Four Winds with Mike, and Mike used to work for Dave, so both Al and Dave already knew him.
MEETINGS
We met up with Christine again. She went over map symbols while Al and Jake went through Logistics. Then we all headed over to CHQ Services to get our food, equipment and grew gear. After dinner, we had some downtime until meetings. Al and I attended the Advisors' Meeting while Jake attended the Crew Leaders' Meeting and Jordan attended the Chaplain's Aid meeting. The Advisors' meeting was pretty much the same, though I did not fall asleep this time. Several familiar faces from Longhorn Council were there, including Gary King from Troop 412. My son, Aaron, hangs out a lot with Gary's to sons, and has worked on summer camp staff at Sid Richardson Scout Ranch with them as well. New this year was a display of camper graffiti at Indian Writings and at Mount Phillips. It amazes me that these scouts so blatantly identify themselves and their troop on their vandalism. Afterwards, Al made up a coffee care package. Then we started gathering up the crew for Chapel. Jordan and Christine could not be found, so we headed on over to the Chapel. We were a little late, and found Jordan and Christine in the Catholic service, so we all attended the Catholic service with him.
OPENING CAMPFIRE
After Chapel, we gathered at the Welcome Center in preparation for the opening Campfire Program. I grabbed some hot chocolate while waiting for role call. Our Crew's response to the role call was "Texas, Oh Yeah". Some other notable responses were: "Bingo" and "Oh" (after 'H2'). The crowd headed over to the campfire site. As usual, there was a uniformed policeman stopping traffic as we all crossed Rt. 21. Christine did not save a bench for us. We still made it to about the fifth row, though. The program was the usual, with various characters telling parts of the Philmont story: a narrator (a young female staffer who read off the script), a conquistador, a mountain man, a female hotel keeper, a cowboy (actually a lawman) and finally Waite Phillips. The 'conquistador' was not very good. He did his part entirely in English (no Spanish). The 'mountain man' was reasonably good, though he seemed to have some trouble keeping his (coon-skin) hat on. The 'hotel keeper' was pretty good. The 'cowboy' could not be heard very well, and there was no way that the 'Waite Phillips' was going to compare to last year's exceptional performance. There was also no video for the Philmont Hymn just the music.
PHILMONT HYMN
David Westfall 1947
D G D D G D
Silver on the sage, starlit skies above
A D G D
Aspen covered hills, country that I love
D G D D G D
Philmont here's to thee, scouting paradise
A D - G - D
out in God's country, tonight.
Bm -- G D
Wind in whispering pines, eagles soaring high
A - D G D
Purple Mountains rise, against an azure sky
D G D D G D
Philmont here's to thee, scouting paradise
A D - G - D
Out in God's country, tonight.
http://www.troop288.org/songs/philmonthymn.mp3
This is certainly not the best arrangement of the Philmont Hymn that I've heard (the mp3 version linked above is much better), but I suppose it is too traditional to update until absolutely necessary.
Afterward, I don't think anyone went to the Cantina, but rather everyone headed straight for the tents. I showered and went right to bed.
SHAKEDOWN
Somewhere during the day (I don't remember exactly when) we did our shakedown. Christine had us all pull out our cots, and lay our gear out on it. Then she went through the gear list item by item, making us show her what we had and making recommendation on what to take or leave behind. We had some discussion about water capacity, and decided to leave Troop 43's 6-liter Platy behind. We only had one dry camp, and it appeared that everyone had enough water capacity to get us by. I continued to encourage Al to leave various items behind, but He still ended up taking a bunch of extra stuff. I took my trough. Between the whole crew, we had two containers of Sun screen (Diego carried one and I carried one) and two of bug repellant (I don't think we ever used any). Christine did not like that the hip belt on my GoLite Gust pack was not padded, but I assured her that it was not really an issue when your pack weight is only 30 pounds. (I later talked about the Gust pack with Tim, the manager at Backwoods. He had just returned from a trek with an Arlington troop. He said he had carried about 42 pounds in his Gust, and had not found it uncomfortable. He was impressed that I had been able to get my pack weight down to just 30 pounds)
MEDICAL RE-CHECKS
I believe we also did our Medical Re-Checks that afternoon. Christine went over basic First Aid issues, while we each went in for our re-checks one-at-a time. I was the third one in. My blood pressure checked-out OK (blood pressure often increases at higher altitudes, and is the biggest thing that keeps advisors off the trail). When asked about ankle, knee or back problems, I explained that I sometimes suffered from strained back muscles (currently in good shape) and often had knee problems on the trail, but wore an ACE knee bandage for that purpose which usually solved the problem. When asked about medication, I explained that I was taking six OTC Ibuprophen tablets a day to ward off any knee inflammation problems. She seemed satisfied with all these answers. She looked through my paperwork, and I noticed that she made note of the copy of my insurance card. I mentioned to her that two of our boys, Jake and Jordan) did not have theirs, and asked if this was going to be a show stopper. (Most likely, Jordan's problem was that his dad, John, had that info with his form, but failed to transfer it to Jordan when John washed-out). She said that, by Philmont policy, it was supposed to be. She asked that we contact their parents and have them fax copies to the number that she supplied. Everyone cycled through, and Christine finished up her First Aid instruction. Al and Christine has some disagreement about the minimum number of boys that should stay back with a wounded person Al said that two were needed, especially if they were administering CPR, leaving just three to go for help if there were only six in a crew, while Christine insisted that four needed to go for help, leaving just one with the victim in a six-man crew. Christine pointed out that this often would not be a major problem at Philmont, since you could usually recruit members of other nearby or passing crews for help. When we finished our Med Re-Checks, Al got on the phone to try to ensure that Jake's and Jordan's Insurance cards got faxed to Philmont ASAP. As far as I know, we never followed-up or heard any more about this, so I don't know if it happened or not.
Day 2
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Philmont Base Camp to Sioux
GOOD MORNING SUNSHINE
We were up by 6:00 and had a 6:30 breakfast in the dining hall. We then headed back to tent city to pack up and sweep out our tents. We did a distribution of food and crew gear at this time. I ended up with the Hot Pot Thongs, Micro-Pur water purification tablets, Sump Frisbee & spatula, kitchen bag (containing Camp Suds, Purell, salt, pepper, matches, scrubby and extra Yum-Yum bags), toilet paper, trough and sunscreen. Pretty light, like last year. For our tent, I carried the poles, stakes and rain fly, while Al carried the groundsheet and main tent. Everyone took the same number of food bags. Since we would have two commissary stops this year (Ute Gulch and Baldy Town) our food load would not be very great.
PICTURE TIME
After packing up, we put on our class-As and went over to get our Crew Photo made. We were using Class-As because we did not have a crew T-shirt. We were told to look down (to keep our pupils from dilating) until the photographer counted 'three', when we looked up and he snapped the picture. Several of the boys made the '52' sign with their hands, so the photographer asked Christine to remind us to keep our hands at our sides or on our knees. He took another shot. We then went back to our packs, changed into our trail cloths and took our uniforms (and other unneeded stuff) to the van/trailer, then took our packs over to the Welcome Center.
MUSEUM
Since we had an afternoon bus, we had quite a bit of time to kill, so we crossed Rt. 21 and walked on over to the Seaton Museum. I pointed out the face sculpture and told a little of the story of Black Jack Ketchum (see http://www.legendsofamerica.com/HC-BlackJackKetchum.html) and the local lawman. We went inside and Jake tried to make a reservation for the Villa tour, but there was not going to be enough time to complete the tour before lunch, so we scheduled a tour for after we got off the trail. We then toured the Seaton museum. The Woodbadge display from last year has been replaced with a display of early Philmont camping. The rest was all the same: some Native American artifacts, with Seaton's drawing in the hall. While viewing the drawings, it became obvious that the boys did not know who Seaton was. I explained that Earnest Thompson Seaton had founded a youth organization called 'Woodcraft' which drew on Native American culture, while Daniel Carter Baird had founded 'Pioneer Boys' which focused on early frontier and pioneer skill. These two organizations merged to form the new BSA, with Seaton and Baird sharing leadership until Seaton left over disagreements. I told them that I had an old book by Seaton's wife, Julia Butree Seaton, which described many aspects of Native American culture and dance. Al then mentioned that he had an old book (original printing) of Native American Sign Language by Seaton. Shortly thereafter, while browsing through the museum bookstore, I found a reprinting of that book, which I took and showed to Al. Al was very interested in this. We all eventually drifted outside where we sat around talking for about 15-20 minutes. I got bored and got up to head back over. Everyone followed.
We had lunch in the Dining Hall then made one final trip to the van/trailer. We went to the Welcome Center, loaded up on water and waited for Christine. I noticed that the scale has been moved to the southwest corner of the Welcome Center. I took my pack over to weigh it, but was told that the scale was broken and the crew currently there was weighing their pack using a digital scale that they had brought. One of them told me to go ahead and weigh my pack before they put it away. My pack, with four days of food and 2.5 liters of water weighed 29.8 pounds. I returned my pack to our pack line and started wondering around the Welcome Center to see who else I recognized.
An adult stopped me and asked if I was the guy who did the Indian dancing in our OA Lodge. Obviously he recognized me from various Lodge and Section events. He said that he wanted to expose his Chapter to Native American Dancing, and asked if I would be willing to come and address them sometime. We discussed the current situation in the Lodge regarding Native American Dance (that is, I was about the only one promoting it these days, and we did not have a regular team, or even a regular pool of youth who were committed to supporting it when asked). I assured him that not only was I willing to do this, it was something that I aggressively wanted to do in an effort to build this activity up. We both managed to dig out business cards and made the exchange. I'm still waiting to hear from him. Perhaps at the next Ordeal...
LOAD 'EM UP
The bus and Christine arrived at about the same time. We all filed over to the bus, where Christine and the other Ranger took our pack and stacked them in the back of the bus. We all went around and took seats near the back. We each had a seat to ourselves. The other crew came in and took seats toward the front. They also had seats to themselves. This other crew was NOT our sister crew. We later learned that we did not have a sister crew.
BUS RIDE
As usual, Christine and the other Ranger acted as tour guides during the ride to Ponil Turnaround. They pointed out the usual landmarks and Cimarron businesses (the Museum & Library, PTC, the Villa, the arrowhead behind the Tooth, the buffalo pastures, the polo barns, the landing strip, St James Hotel (see http://www.legendsofamerica.com/HC-Cimarron5.html), school, Simple Simons, Creamery). We pulled onto the highway which parallels Middle Ponil Creek down the middle of Middle Ponil Canyon, passing the Chase Ranch and Six Mile Gate. We heard some of the usual jokes (mountain factory, mini bear traps, zip lines, circle brand and star brand). We arrived at Ponil Turnaround, which is six more miles past Six Mile Gate. Six Mile gate is actually the location of the first gateway back when Ponil was the base camp for Philturn Rocky Mountain Scout Camp.
We pulled into Ponil Turnaround, disembarked and unloaded the packs. Christine gathered us together and did a lesson on map orientation. There was some discussion on declination, which is 10 degrees East at Philmont. Al pointed out the saying "East is Least", meaning that for an Easterly declination, you subtract 10 degrees from all bearings. We then walked over to the Red Roof Inn for our latrine lesson: don't pee, barf or dump excess food in the latrines, run a stick around inside before sitting down, pee on a flat rock. She then explained the starting question: "Is anyone not ready?" If nobody answers, you're ready to go.
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