2019 Philmont Post Trip

Philip

Are you monitoring Philmont’s facebook page?

Some folks are posting brief highlights on the philmont.io group
To learn more about the philmont@groups.io group, please visit https://groups.io/g/philmont 

I am not seeing any report as detailed as your questions though.

Bruce

Yep I have been watching the Philmont Face Book. page. The other one is new, just joined,

Thank you.

We arrived back July the 3rd. The tags are orange this year. The bugs were not really bad at all… But we were on Trek 12 so I can’t really speak for your areas. There were plenty of snow sections coving parts of the trails on top of Baldy but it was really more of a refreshing change than anything else.

I came off the trail on 7-5. Mosquitos and no see ums were bad in the south country. Staff had shoveled the snow off the trail on Mt Phillip’s. There were still some patches in the shadows. We had storms  and rain from the June 28-30. Everything is green and lush from the wet winter. Camp is understaffed this year. Many of the staff did not return this year. Some trails had not yet been cleared of fallen trees by the conservation dept as they were spending time opening new campsites. The sriracha peanut butter is actually good, not overly spicy. We had trek 5 which was started at Lovers Leap then to North Fork Urraca (camp was a shithole). Next we went to Beaubien by way of Black Mtn for program. We wanted to hike to Trail Peak on our layover day but we had a trail ride scheduled for 10:00 am so that took to much time. We left Beaubien and headed to Comanche Creek. Next day found us headed for Clear Creek and then our summit of Mt Phillips and Comanche Peak. The trail from Comanche Peak through Thunder Ridge to Sawmill gave some impressive views of snow covered peak to the north. Sawmill camp was very lucky to not have burned. The fire came within 50 feet of the cabin. We hiked from Sawmill to Cyphers Mine to Lamberts Mine (another shitty camp). At least the Stomp made up for the shitty camp. After Lamberts, we headed down to Hunting Lodge. Got bit by chiggers somewhere around Hunting Lodge. Our next camp was Schaefer’s Pass. The spring at the camp was just a trickle but the water board listed it as dry. So we all hauled 7 liters up from Clarks Fork. We woke up at 1:30 am on our last day to hike in the dark to climb Tooth of Time at daybreak. Made just as the sun was coming up. Definitely worth the night hike. Then we hiked in the Trail of Tears to Base Camp. Not too much drama from the kids but they did burn through more fuel than they should have. At least our sister crew could give us some on the last night. This was my 3rd trek and it will probably be my last as my Troop won’t have enough kids to go for a few years.

Chris,

7 liters of water each, up from Clarks Fork to Shaefers Pass. Wow, that must have been fun.

It doesn’t sound as through you had a great experience, shithole camps, humping 7 liters of water up to Shaefers, running out of fuel, what other fun things???

“Philmont should be enjoyed, not endured.” Moonshine

<p style=”padding-left: 40px; text-align: left;”>All said it wasn’t a bad trip. We originally planned to eat our cooked supper at Clark’s Fork but we got there at 9 am and it was too early for lunch. We decided that we did not wait around until lunchtime so we filled up our extra bags and climbed. We had swapped out hot meal out for trail lunch when we climb Phillip’s and Comanche Peak but didn’t  want to do that with this meal.As for running out of fuel, the kids weren’t listening to us and would turn off the stove as soon as the first pot of water boiled. After eating they would need to reprime the stove. If they had added some extra water to the still boiling water it would not have used as much fuel. Our lead advisor wanted them to use warm water for washing dishes. The shows at Beaubien, Cyphers Mine, and the impromptu show at Hunting Lodge were all great. The Stomp cabin at Cyphers was packed to capacity. The kids loved shooting at Black Mtn and Sawmill. Most had never shot blackpowder or center fire rifles.</p>

Glad you had a good time and great trek despite some difficulties. Like some say, “A bad day at Philmont is still better than a good day in the world.”

“Philmont should be enjoyed, not endured.” Moonshine

Just got done with my 1st Trek At Philmont. We were in the North Country on Trek #3.  Day1 was pretty easy but Day 2 was a Killer hike along with fact it was a dry camp. Rest of trip was Awesome!!!  Music at Pablano was Absolutely Awesome!! We actually went back a second time towards the end of the trek.  Santa Clause was great reloading shells and shoot sweet over/under shotguns. Staff was great.  Head of Dean had a beautiful view from the porch and the firepit.  Dont skip the evening  sunset hike as Views were incredible. Black Horse was a decent camp for 2 nights but the bomber box was not the safest thing to get to.  Baldy was incredible but cold and windy.  Hilke from Black Horse to Miranda was easy. We were told to pick up burro at 8 when we could have slept in as actually pickup times were 8, 10 and 2. Last two days were easy hiking. Music at Ponil was good as well but Pablano was overall better.  We did the shooting in afternoon which was great and did horse back ride on last morning at 8-10. Hike out was maybe 10 minutes from the horse corrals.  Would recommend an early start to day 2 as all up hill and u are carrying xtra water.  Tip…  next morning we found water in about an hour of easy hiking that had to be treated.  Will for sure return if given the opportunity.  Parents with kids arent allowed to share tent at Basecamp or on the trail while the ranger was with us

John said, “Parents with kids arent allowed to share tent at Basecamp or on the trail while the ranger was with us.”

That is interesting. How do they deal with odd numbers of Scout or adults? Philmont used to discourage solo tents because of “bear safety”.

Our troop discourages dads tenting with their sons too so the Scouts can better assert and develop his independence and growth, bound and work together with his peers without parental influence (hoovering). We don’t allow dads to even direct or correct their sons, other adults intervene to allow the Scouts do that (police their own).

But, at Philmont in the past we have allowed a dad to tent with his son only because there was an odd number of Scouts and adults. Having one 2-man was better than two solo tents because of lack of descent tent sites in most camps and generally, few solo tents are lighter than half of a 2-man tent. We have carried a 3-man tent rather than have a solo tent.

We may not have that option in the future, interesting!

Thanks for sharing your experience.

“Philmont should be enjoyed, not endured.” Moonshine

We have 7 scouts and 3 adults.  My son is in our crew as is the son of another adult.  I will be tenting in a 1 person tent and 1 scout will tent solo.  I wonder if there’s any actual evidence that solo tenters are more likely to be attacked by a bear.

Trek 32 in early July with all older (15-17), experienced boys from Ohio.

1.  Very proud of our boys together standing up to a bully.  Too bad it was the lead Advisor.
2.  Boys could have done Philmont with no adults. We saw more than a few crews far less prepared than us (and we totally wasted our pre-season).  We adults mostly stayed away from the youth — let them do all the camp chores, sleep in, get lost cross-country, stay 3x long for some programs & skip others.. as it should be.
3. Quite crowded this year.
4. Boys decided to sleep 3 per Philmont tent to reduce total weight by 12#.
5.   “78 miles” was rated strenuous but the boys could have easily done 100 miles.  Some of us adults, maybe not.

Philmont 2019 done and dusted, bonus no charges pending.

We hiked Itinerary 7 in the South country. Looking at the extended weather forecast we opted to carry a second dining fly, Noah’s Tarp 12 and a Mountain Smith Mountain Shade 12. Five nights we made use of both, one for gear the other for cooking/eating.

Our ranger did not have a issue with a father/son combo in the back country.

Apache Springs to Garcia Cow Camp we got to sit out a storm for around 90 minutes, ditched the packs under covers around a couple of trees, then beat feet down a ravine for better lightning protection. The scouts filled the time with a series of one word stories.

Once the storm cleared and with a check of they weather RADAR, thanks to full LTE, showing no storms incoming we made a bee line across the meadow to Garcia. The 15 minute walk from the staff area to the camps was a muddy sloppy mess, same for route from Garcia north to Wild Horse Camp for a good distance.

Dinner on Phillips we ditched the entree and created an individual trail meal from what was in the swap box at Clear Creek, for me it was the plentiful Sriracha peanut butter and tortillas

Clark’s Fork to Base Camp via Shaefers Pass started with 5 liters each and I had drank every bit of mine by the time we got back to Base Camp. On the way to the Tooth we met a crew that had spent the night at Tooth Ridge camp and were apparently completely out of water, a long dry day ahead for them. Unfortunately we had  to skip the Tooth as a storm was spooling up when we reached the fork.

Just back from trek 12.  No dry camps and finished with a climb of Mt. Baldy.

This was the first trek for all of us, but one of our adults, a 21 year old who went through our troop to Eagle did NAYLE training there.  We had a young crew of 14 and 15 year olds.  Two just turned 14 prior to the trek.

This was the most physically demanding thing I’ve ever done.  I’m very glad I’ve been hitting the gym several times per week for the past few years.  I saw guys there who clearly did not meet the height/weight requirements.  I saw a few on trail who were slowing their crews down.

The bulk of gear/food was a bigger issue than weight. We began with our longest food haul of 4 days.  I had to show our crew how to mash their mashable gear to make more room.

The crew like the COPE course, spar pole climbing, horseback riding and most of all, summiting Baldy.

My youngest and smallest in the crew went from collapsing on the trail from New Dean to Ponil and wanting to quit to 2 days later asking about being a ranger.  That change was cool.

Speaking of rangers, our ranger Emily was ranger of the week for good reason.  She was awesome.  I have no doubt she will be a success in life.  I gave her a great review.  She brought a pound cake for us and iced it on trail.

The root beer at Ponil was a big morale booster.  Glad we went through there twice.  The only time we got lost was trying to find our campsite at Ponil, though.

At New Dean, we had campsite 3.  When we arrived, there were 3 horses in our site.  Just staring at us. We stayed.  One started coming a little close to our lunch, but otherwise they left us alone.  They’d go out in the fields together to eat and then come back.  We named them Moe, Larry and Curly.  That was interesting for a trail camp.

Horse Canyon was a beautiful campsite on top of a mountain with a great view of Baldy.  We really liked that one.

Baldy Town was very interesting.  I knew that climbing to the top was a challenge, but until you experience it, there’s no way to truly know.  That last steep part was really hard.  The crazy thing was going from calm air to taking the last step up to the top and getting hit by 50? mph wind and wind chill that felt like it was in the 20s.  The view was worth it.

Our crew leader has 3 younger brothers.  He took 3 small rocks from the peak that his brothers will have to take back up. Pretty cool idea.

In our regular activities, we adults cook for ourselves and we eat well.  It was nice having the crew do all the work and we just showed up to eat.  They weren’t perfect, of course and mornings took longer than ideal, but for a young crew, they really took on the challenge.  I’m so proud of them.

I appreciate all the advice from here.  One thing that kept coming up was how tight the camping sites were.  We had 6 scouts and 3 adults, so 5 tents.  I took a 1 person tent as the solo adult, but could have easily fit a 2 person tent in every spot I chose.  That’s what I’d do again.

Six quart pots worked just fine.  I’m glad we took our own. If we had more experience, I’d have tried the 1 pot method.  Maybe next time.  I will suggest this to Philmont as it meets all of their requirements (patrol method, etc.), reduces bulk/weight and by cleaning with cold water (which we did), you use less fuel.  Thrifty and good for the environment.

We flew into Denver a day early.  We spent time at Garden of the Gods and the Air Force Academy.  I rented a 15 passenger van.  They tried to give me a 12 passenger van, but with no storage behind the last row, you need a 15 passenger van for 9 people with luggage.

We stayed at a hotel in Colorado City, CO and drove to Philmont the next morning.  I might find a place even further south next time.

Heading back, we had a red eye home. We had time to check out the Red Rocks Amphitheater.  What an amazing venue.  Wish I could have stayed a day to see Joe Bonamassa.  We drove around Denver and ate at this great, cheap Mexican hole in the wall restaurant El Taco de Mexico. Definitely recommend it.

Having the van let us pick and chose on our own schedule.  I like that.  We also stored stuff in it.

The crew wants to go back!  Looks like we’ll plan for 2021.

Great report and thanks for sharing. I hope we helped make your adventure great.

If you want more specific information on our One Pot Cooking methods, please email me.

Great report and thanks for sharing. I hope we helped make your adventure great.

If you want more specific information on our One Pot Cooking methods, please email me.

Definitely.  Thank you!  I’m sure I’ll ask when the time comes.

@ Brad

“My youngest and smallest in the crew went from collapsing on the trail from New Dean to Ponil and wanting to quit to 2 days later asking about being a ranger.  That change was cool.”

AWESOME.  Thanks for sharing.