Philmont Gear Review

I might depend on your ranger, but they seem to allow adults to solo tent. We had 3 adults and the other 2 tented together.

There’s no such thing as a level tent spot, but all of the campsites we used had enough spots. Sometimes it gets a bit tight.

In 2019 they let each adult tent alone. We had two crews with three adults for each crew.

I brought my BA Fly Creek UL2 and it worked out great.

Going back this summer (2021) for the third time.

First year used a Tarptent Moment DW, second year a Durston XMid 1P.  Both worked well – XMid is a bit lighter/roomier but the Moment had an easier time finding a spot.  Probably bringing the XMid this year as I appreciate the taller headroom.

I have an XMid 2P as well. IMHO would be overkill for 1 adult at Philmont – you don’t take much gear into the tent with you, and you won’t be spending any down days waiting out a rain storm etc.  Site selection gets a little harder due to footprint.

I encourage the scouts to use the Philmont tents (MSR Thunder Ridge), unless they want to triple up (i.e. to avoid an odd scout out).  Adults use singles, either 1P or small 2P, whatever they have.  Our crews both times were large (12 people), needed to crowd a bit in some sites but not bad overall.

My Aeon had an unfortunate incident due to its owner not noticing 1 stake was still attached.

We go again next year. I’ll likely take a silpoly 1P Cirriform with inner.

My son shared a Duomid with another scout last time. He might go again as an 18 year old next year along with another 18 year old. They could probably share a Philtent as adults. They’re too tall now to both fit in that Duomid.

I agree for scouts, it’s probably simpler to have them use Philtents.

We had 9 last time. Not sure what we’ll have next year.