Budgeting the total cost of Philmont

[Gerry H]

This was a sidetrack from the thread about duffel bags for packs (yeah, I don’t know how we veered from baggage handlers to money). I decided to detail (dump) my general trip budget points in this thread. This isn’t about gear or trail skills, so go back now if that bothers you.

Anyhow, I will say up front that I have not been to Philmont – yet. We are going July 2018. I have made many budgets for Scout events from 10 to hundreds of people, so I know some scouting money pitfalls firsthand. I also have the benefit of several veteran advisors guiding me, plus an unnatural urge to search for stuff on line. Speaking of which, you would be AMAZED what Google turns up is you search for something specific, like “Philmont Budget xls”. There were a few troops and councils that had spreadsheets lurking on their web pages that were indexed by Google. That was how I started my budget, I found one that was fairly detailed. If it was your troop, thanks. I lost track of that a while ago.

Everyone considers the Philmont fee and the travel tickets, lodging, and some meals. The ground transport is not hard to get a price for, but there are many variables. That is a whole separate thread by itself. Do yourself a favor, read the page at PSR that lists ways of getting to Philmont, and email places for pricing – NOW, not in January. Some places told me the prices would change after November. Search on Google, too, there are surprises hiding out there. Groups over 24 people definitely help lower these expenses. If you are flying, check prices for more than one airport. I have 4 that have similar drive times (We live in a small East Coast state).

But if you want to let your parents know what going to Philmont REALLY costs, you need to add in things like all the patches, the shakedown costs, and custom trek shirts. Are you going to go sight-seeing before the ranch? The tickets for the Pikes Peak Cog Railway are $35 each. The Sandia Tramway is $20 for teenagers. Whitewater rafting isn’t cheap. You get the idea.

Our troop includes all that in the number we told the scouts a month ago (which was higher than the estimate we told them last spring). That way the parents don’t get surprises in February when trail food gets paid for, or the shirts are ordered. The only thing we did not include was souvenirs, junk food, and personal trail gear.

I went to classB.com and setup two sample crew shirts with their online editing tools. They have many “templates” for BSA-licensed Philmont shirts to get you started. Pro-tip – they have templates with the maps and elevation profile chart for all the Philmont treks. I made up one shirt with 2 screen print colors, another with a single color. I picked non-cotton shirts, and got a price for each. In my case it averaged out to $22 per shirt (old source said $20 – maybe inflation?). They are cheaper than Tooth of Time Traders, and local printers don’t have ready-to-go artwork and trademarked logos.

The patches each crew member should earn during a trek include the “Philmont Wilderness Pledge” award, “Philmont Duty to God” award, and the “BSA 50 Miler”. Each one is $3 (first two are buried in the PSR web site) and the 50 miler is from the Scout Shop. Our troop annual budget doesn’t cover event patches, High Adventure trips included.

You are going to need fuel for the stoves during the shakedowns and at Philmont. $3 was what my unknowing source listed and my veterans thought that was as good a number as any. My original source rounded the “Miscellaneous” number up to $20 via a “contingency fee”. Use whatever term you want: “Petty cash”, “oops funds”, “slush money” (maybe not that one). But it always is better to have a group party with leftover funds when you get back home than to have the kids greet their parents saying they owe the advisors more money. My veterans had tales of replacing broken gear at backcountry commissaries, unlisted lodging taxes, and emergency morale booster ice cream stops. Stuff happens.

Our troop DOES buy tents, tarps, and stoves for Philmont as needed using general troop funds, but those belong to the troop afterwards. We are a large and active troop, so things don’t gather dust.

Whatever you do, DOCUMENT the basis for your assumptions, and/or your sources. And in the spirit of scout leader training boilerplate, DELAGATE. Parents who aren’t going can help plan things. Parents who see the sausage being made are your best defenders. Plus they are less nervous about sending their child across the country if they see you really are “prepared”.

I should have a clean version of my spreadsheet for various ground transport options available via Google Drive after Halloween madness is over at my house.

[Brad P]

As our troop’s high adventure coordinator, I greatly appreciate this!

[Charles L]

Thank you, great post, very helpful.

This is the third year of existence for the troop I’m with, and we’re also going to Philmont in July 2018.  As a young troop, we only have eight scouts qualified to go, of those six are going.  With the three adults that’s only nine people, I’m hoping to add a couple more scouts and an adult.

We’re working to keep the total cost under $2400 per person, but it’s a little hard.  We don’t count the costs for the shakedowns, mostly because we’d be doing those anyway as part of our camping program.  But, yeah, we’re hammering on everything now.

 

 

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