July 5 2018 trek 10

You will see alot of wildlife at Deer Lake.  We saw plenty of large deer and turkeys. I must say that by the time we got the Beaubiens   we were  ready for a break from the trail and the chuckwagon and campfire was was great. They also have a nice showerhouse at Beaubiens.

That’s one of our top choices.  Submitting tomorrow am

We also got Trek 10, arrival day is 7/15.  We’ll be following you down the trail.  Looks like it’s downhill after day 6, but day 5 and 6 won’t be easy!  Lots of shooting and lots of other fun.

We got 11.  Which figures, as it’s the “Rock Climbing Trek,” and I’m afraid of heights.

7/17, I better start practicing my deep breathing exercises now…

I’m a first timer for Philmont, and trying to pick the perfect pack (i.e. as light as possible) for this trek.  Sorry to the OP if this takes his thread off track.  My ULA Ohm fits everything with room to spare for my normal troop overnights and weekend trips, even with extra water for our SoCal dry camps.

With Itinerary 10, I’m seeing (2) 4-day resupplies, and no dry camps.  Anyone know how much a 4-day food re-supply might weigh and/or the size I’ll need for it in my pack?  Also how much water should expect to carry at any given time (or at the max) on this itinerary?

Details aside like this and our crew leaders and WFA certifications, I also can’t wait!

We did a similar trek in 2016 then it was trek 11 both Vaca and Deer Lake ended up being dry camps.

At the commissaries where you resupply do not forget to ask what kinds of fresh fruit they have on hand. They also have trading posts for replacement stakes, fuel canisters, white gas, and other goodies.

Unless they got upgraded the showers at Beaubien are heated by a wood fired boiler, you supply the wood and the area near the showers are well cleared.

Try be trail ready at first light if possible on the Beaubien to Aguila trail day. When we went the trees around the summit of Trail Peak were coated in Lady Bugs.

Zastrow has or had propane heaters.

That’s al for now.

So I got a stairmaster and have only been doing 5 or 10 minutes a night.  I did my 5 tonight and just for grins out a bunch of 2 liter bottles of water in it to weigh 40 lbs.  I get on the stairmaster and WOAH, Mother Of God, I lasted 2 minutes.  Man do I have a way to go physically.  I need to drop 35 lbs and carve off pack weight.  Nearly everything I am carrying is from Zpacks.  I couldn’t find any lighter gear anywhere.  Back to the scales…….

20 minutes with 30 pounds of weights in my pack.

Bob Shuff

“Anyone know how much a 4-day food re-supply might weigh and/or the size I’ll need for it in my pack?”

4 days of food can add 10 pounds and take-up nearly a cubic foot of space. We strip down our food issues to reduce the extra weight and space removing excess packaging, cardboard, and food items we would not eat while at the commissary where we could deposit the trash and put un-wanted food in their Swap Box.

All commissaries and staff camps have a Swap Box on their front porch. Everyone is welcome to leave or take any food items. You can find some really good food in them.

Some suppers may have a side dish we may not want to put in with our one pot entrée so we search the Sway Box for a substitute and leave the other.

“Also how much water should expect to carry at any given time (or at the max) on this itinerary?”

During hiking most days every camper should have 2 one-quart water bottles to go between water sources. Filling and treating both before bed time. In the morning drink, refill and treat one bottle while striking camp. Drink from the second while hiking. Finish off the second, refill and treat when you reach another water source and so on all day.

Water for dry camps. Your Ranger will advise you to cook a supper at lunch time while you are near a good water source for boiling and clean-up. Then eat a dry lunch that night in your Dry Camp.

But you will still need to carry extra water into Dry Camps to keep you hydrated until the next day when you find water again. Philmont will issue your crew a couple of 2-1/2 gallon boy killer collapsible water jugs. At 2 pounds per quart that’s 20 pounds of water, who can carry that very far?

It is much better to spread that weight around to every camper. Every camper should have capacity for 4 quarts, their usual 2 one-quart water bottles and another collapsible container of at least two-quart capacity for Dry Camps. That turns out to be more overall water than the jugs and enough to satisfy everyone’s personal hydration needs.