Recommend a Day Zero at Basecamp

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We did this — it is called Early Arrival — the cost is $10 per person for a tent in tent city and $6 per meal. We really liked it. We got started with our Ranger 1st thing in the morning and were done pretty early in the day.

We really liked it. Though, I did talk to 1 crew that stayed at an NRA facility nearby and that sounded pretty awesome.

+2

You will need a reservation for early arrival.  Room in the inbound wall tents will depend upon availability.  You may wish to make the short drive into Cimarron for a meal instead of eating in the cafeteria.

In 2016 my crew and I stayed at the NRA Whittington Center and loved it…Shot skeet that afternoon, went to the museum and just hung out and decompressed watching TV.  We stay in what’s called the  “competitors barracks”  Total cost per person was around $30 each.

2018 we’ll do what you are talking…base camp a day early…It’ll let the boys that haven’t been to check out base and maybe calm some nerves.  I like the early treks, before Philmont is at 100%, staff is fresh and happy…some of the camp fires are lacking since they haven’t developed there show completely….still worth it though!

I’m ready for trek #4!

Jeff,

Our crew is travelling from Northern Virginia, most likely out of Dulles.

What were the mechanics of driving rental vans from Denver to PSR and back?  Was the rental during trek a sunk cost?  Or is there an opportunity to one-way rent from either direction?

I appreciate your feedback in advance.

Never heard of a one way rental…..Philmont has shuttles from Raton and Colorado Springs…not sure about Denver.  (I can drive there in less that 10 hours so I don’t have much knowledge on this)

John O, the van sat in the basecamp parking lot while we were on the trail. For us the total cost of renting the vans and arriving a day early was still cheaper than a commercial shuttle from Denver. The van also gave us a place to store our non backcountry gear while we were on the trek. Philmont does supply lockers but they are not very big.

Thanks Jeff.

I hadn’t been that far into planning the cost analysis. Intuitively, you wouldn’t think it would be that much but as we get closer to getting onto the trail, we’ll consider it as a viable option.