Philmont Scout Ranch

Philmont 2015

Overall summary Nathan and I participated in a 12-day, 67+ mile trek at the Philmont Scout Ranch in Northern New Mexico. We were part of an 11-member (7 boys, 4 adults) crew from our Mercer Island scouting troop. Highlights of the trip: 

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Activities: we panned for gold (one scout found a small fleck), worked at a blacksmith forge, shot 50-calibre black powder rifles, pistols, a 2-barrel shotgun, and a rifle. We also rode mountain bikes on a 4-mile trail in the hills, led a burro for a day down the mountain, and attended numerous educational programs about the wilderness.

Animals: we saw a rattlesnake, a scorpion, several large beetles, prairie dogs, wild turkeys, mice, ground squirrels (“mini-bears”), deer, horses, cows, and we heard wolves and other creatures at night.

Mountain-climbing: we climbed to the summit of Mount Baldy (12,400 feet), the tallest peak in Northern New Mexico.

Fantastic weather: Two weeks of sunshine must be unprecedented at Philmont, especially after an unusually wet couple of months. We had to don raincoats only once at camp, and that was only for a few hours. No mosquitoes either. Really unbelievably good weather the whole time.

This is a running summary of our daily activities, with no attempt to be especially readable or interesting.

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Figure 1: Twelve days of hiking and climbing.

August 1: Flight to Albuquerque We met at the SeaTac airport at 8:30 for an 11am flight to Albuquerque. The flight and arrival at our hotel were uneventful. It was late afternoon when we arrived, so the group ate dinner at Fuddrucker’s, a local (delicious!) hamburger place.

Figure 2: Hamburger joint near our hotel.

The airport Holiday Inn Express has a pool, so most of the boys went swimming after dinner. One father/son went off to see the sights from the Netflix TV Series Breaking Bad while I joined two of the adults for a quick trip to the Albuquerque Old Town.

August 2: Base Camp We left the hotel early in the morning for the three hour charter bus ride to the Philmont Scout Ranch in the northeast corner of New Mexico, near Cimarron. Checking in at around 10am, we were assigned tents at the base camp, and ate lunch and dinner in the Philmont cafeteria. Eating times are early: 7am breakfast, 11:30 lunch, and 4:30 dinner. I guess everything is shifted to take maximum advantage of daylight.

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Figure 3: Base camp mess hall.

Our troop was divided into three crews, each of which is assigned a ranger to prepare us for the journey. Our ranger, Brooke, is an 18-year-old who will be attending Notre Dame University next month on an ROTC scholarship. Blonde, petite, and good-looking, we might have underestimated her until became clear that she was a very experienced camper who was much better than any of us at basic skills, and we learned a lot from her.

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Figure 4: Learning the ropes from our ranger, Brooke.

Part of our preparation involved weighing our packs, and this is where one of the first controversies of the trip surfaced. All gear is divided into personal gear, like clothing, and troop gear, like cooking supplies. Ideally the troop gear would be split evenly among the members, but circumstances make this difficult. Some people, due to size or ability, are simply unable to carry as much as others. Two members of the group have special dietary needs that require them to carry their own food. Of course, some people also prioritize differently; for example, my phone and a power source are important enough that I’m willing to sacrifice some extra weight in order to carry it. Still, somehow we worked out the various tradeoffs and ultimately most of the troop ended up carrying 30 to 40 pounds.

At home our Boy Scout troop isn’t tied to a particular church and isn’t especially religious, but to my surprise our crew elected to earn the Duty To God badge, which required us to say Grace at every meal, attend a church service (we attended two, one before the hike and one after), and participate in at least three devotional services out in the back country.

To simplify things, we ultimately agreed to all say the same Philmont Grace before every meal:

For food, for raiment For life, for opportunity

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For friendship and fellowship We thank thee, O Lord The Boy Scouts encourage everyone to practice their religious faith, so the entire camp shuts down each evening at 7pm for a religious service. Most of us attended the Catholic Mass, led by priest who has been coming here for twenty three years. A bit on the portly side, he inspired us with talk of his own back-packing; you feel like if this guy can do it, anyone can.

After Mass, the church distributed a number of (free) items: Bibles, devotionals, even lightweight plastic rosary beads designed to be carried on the trail.

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Figure 5: Attending Catholic Mass, held each evening at 7pm

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August 3: Sioux Camp We spent the morning with Brooke, who drilled us on our equipment to ensure we’d have enough of everything without being over packed. She also helped us find our way through Philmont logistics, which issued us an initial allotment of food for the journey, as well as miscellaneous items that we hadn’t already brought, such as a rain fly tarp.

Each crew has a detailed hiking itinerary that lists all the camps we’ll traverse and the activities we’ll do along the way. Itineraries having difficult ratings, from “Challenging” to “Strenuous” to “SuperStrenuous”. Ours is a “Challenging” one called Trek 10, notable because it traverses the northern part of the Philmont range, including Mount Baldy, the highest peak. Our sister crews will both be traveling in the southern part of the Philmont property, which has an overall lower altitude but tends to have more up and down. Because our routes are on different sides of the Ranch, we won’t see them again until the trek is finished.

We’ll take a bus to the starting point of our journey, but it won’t leave until afternoon, so much of our day was spent waiting around. Our waiting was compounded because the bus ran into trouble and was late, so we didn’t actually hit the trail until after 3pm.

After a 45 minute trip through unpaved back roads, we were dropped at a place called the Ponil Turnaround, a dusty parking area full of wandering horses. Now our training begins in earnest, an hour or two where Brooke quizzing us on Boy Scout survival skills like First Aid, as well as a few practical issues like how to go potty in the woods.

The weather is beautiful: bright sunshine but not too hot. The altitude is about 7,000 feet, and we are mostly acclimated, having been in New Mexico now for three days. We begin our hike toward tonight’s destination at Sioux Camp, down a beautiful trail that follows a small creek, with pristine hills in the background, and soon we are hiking and forget about the 40 pound loads on our backs.

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Figure 6:Setting off on our first hike in the Back Country, to Sioux Camp

Our hike takes us through Ponil Camp, where there are staff members dressed in period costume from the 1800s. I saw dairy cows nearby and asked if they had any milk and to my surprise one of them said “sure!” Disappointingly, it turned out that the milk was not from their cows, but rather some unrefrigerated vacuum-packed chocolate milk they distribute as part of the programs offered at this camp. We’ll learn more next week, at the end of our hike, when we return here again.

The sun sets at 8pm this time of year, so I was beginning to feel apprehensive about the slow, apparently unrushed pace of the rest of the group. We arrived at our camp site at 7pm, and we see that it is already crowded with other crews, who naturally have already chosen the most ideal sites.

Brooke wants us to follow all the Philmont rules, by the book, so before we can even think about setting up our tents (which is what I wanted to do), she makes us set up our bear bags. We learn that Philmont takes bears very seriously, and the rules about how and where to hang the bear bags are very strict. This campsite makes it easy because there is already a cable hanging between two trees, but even then there are several carefully compiled and meticulous steps we must take to ensure that not only will the bear not reach our bags, but that we don’t harm the bark of any trees in the process.

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Figure 7: Bear bags must be hung carefully from trees before setting up anything else at camp.

There is also the rain fly that must be erected, even though tonight doesn’t appear to have any chance of rain. Brooke insists that all scouts attend each of her training sessions, all at once, so the process takes much longer. It’s already dark by the time we finish enough to pitch our own tents.

This is followed by dinner, and then cleanup – all of which Brooke insists we do in a precise, leaveno-trace manner. All open food bags must be completely consumed, for example. Any waste goes into the bear bags for the night and then into our packs to be carried out until we reach a camp with proper garbage disposal. Even when we brush our teeth, we can’t spit the toothpaste onto the ground, but only into a special sump at a corner of the camp site.

After dinner, after cleanup, after we brush our teeth and are ready to sleep, we hang one more bear bag, the “oops bag” that contains anything we may have forgotten in the original bear bags. Ours isn’t up until 10:30pm, and we’re still not done.

There’s one more ritual we keep every night of the trek: a round-table discussion called “thorns, roses, and buds”, where we discuss openly the day’s frustrations, highlights, and expectations for tomorrow. This was our first day, so most of the “roses” focus on the fact that we survived, that we had a nice hike, and that we are sitting under the stars in some beautiful back country. The thorn for many of us is that it’s so late, unnecessarily so in my opinion. I express my hope, my bud, that tomorrow we’ll be more efficient and won’t have to endure such a late night tomorrow.

After this at last we are now allowed to sleep, but even then Brooke gives us strict rules. We must change into sleeping clothes that are packed specifically for that purpose. Our day’s clothing must go into our backpacks, which must not be located near the tents, but rather dispersed on different trees throughout the campsite. Following the rules strictly, I change into sleeping clothes inside my tent, 9

carry my day’s clothes over to my backpack, cover the pack with a rain cover, and then return to my sleeping bag. I didn’t actually hit my pillow until 11:15, exhausted.

August 4: Hike to Dan Beard Those of us who wanted to sleep a little later found ourselves awakened at 5am by other campers, all of whom are breaking camp early and whose voices carry easily in the empty field. But we don’t mind, because it’s another beautiful day and it feels good to know that we survived the first day and night. We have all our stuff: enough to camp plus luxuries like a solar charger.

We do our “business” in an outdoor structure called the Red Roof Inn, an uninviting structure that is nothing more than a hole with a roof on it. There is no pretense of privacy. Passersby can easily tell if the building is occupied. In fact, the room sits two people adjacent to one another if they like.

Fortunately, if you don’t like the Red Roof, you are welcome to go anywhere in the surrounding woods if you dig a six inch by eight inch “cat hole”. By the end of the trip, we are all proficient at this and, strangely, it seems more convenient than bothering to make the trek to an appointed building.

Figure 8: The Red Roof Inn

Brooke wants us to hit the trail soon, but this turns out to be easier said than done. Nathan and I are packed and ready by 7am, but we are in the minority. The other boys seem to take forever to take down their tents, assemble their packs, and attend to other personal chores like teeth-brushing or applying suntan lotion. We didn’t leave camp until 8:30, a frustratingly long time of “hurry up and wait”. Our slow, inefficient way of doing things became my biggest annoyance on this trip. If it were just Nathan and me, I know we could have traversed a lot more country and enjoyed much more scenery; instead we spent hours each day waiting on the rest of the crew.

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Leaving camp, we passed through beautiful country, great views of the distant mountains as we followed a trail along the Ponil Creek which we crossed almost a dozen times as we meandered up and up to our next destination, Dan Beard camp, finally arriving at about 11:30pm.

This is a staffed camp, with several people who are there to organize activities for the campers.

Today’s activity is challenge course games, team-building exercises intended to get the scouts to learn how to work well together.

It’s mid-afternoon by the time the games are finished, and it’s time to set up camp. Brooke leads us to an empty field about ten minutes away from the staff cabins and here we begin the real training.

Unlike last night’s camp, which already included amenities like the bear cable and a laid-out area for cooking, tonight we do everything from scratch. This includes finding suitable trees for the bear hang, which turns out to be much trickier than expected. All told, it takes something like two hours to finish the task. Again, Brooke insists we do all camp preparation collectively, so nobody can start other tasks like dinner preparation or assembling the rain fly or tents, until the bear bags are finished.

It’s getting late, and dinner wasn’t ready until sunset. All of us are tired from last night and wish we could just finish eating and go to sleep, but there are other problems. We didn’t clean up properly, and Philmont rules require that all waste, including seemingly-minor things like spittings from teeth-brushing, be spread evenly over a large area. This is time-consuming and it’s well after 9pm and dark by the time we’re done.

Brooke, who is leaving tomorrow morning, walks us to an empty part of the meadow for one last talk, a discussion about the special nature of Philmont and the importance of preserving the environment in as pristine a condition as possible. The nighttime sky is incredible out here, and the boys forget their exhaustion for a minute as Brooke talks about the beauty that surrounds us. I’m glad to be here.

It was well after 10:30 by the time everyone was in their tent, and we heard voices talk about a mountain lion sighting. Later we learn that one of the boys, who is not feeling well, got up late at night to find the Red Roof Inn, seeing a bright pair of eyes with his flashlight as he headed home.

Although it was never officially settled one way or another, most of us agreed afterwards that he saw a deer.

Name: Date: Map: (valid until Feb 12, 2016) Distance: Elapsed Time: Avg Speed: Max Speed: Avg Pace: Min Altitude: Max Altitude: Start Time: Start Location: Zone: Easting: Northing: End Location: Zone: Easting: Northing:

Sioux to Dan beard Aug 4, 2015 7:39 am View on Map 5.17 miles 3:03:26 1.7 mph 6.5 mph 35' 27" per mile 7,203 ft 7,921 ft 2015-08-04T14:39:00Z 13S 495025mE 4053242mN 13S 492036mE 4059198mN

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Figure 9: Stream-crossing on the way to Dan Beard.

August 5: Hike to Seally Canyon Brooke left us at 7:30am to hike alone four miles back to Ponil and then base camp for her next assignment. Rangers work on multiple day shifts that aren’t tied to a particular day of the week. Once back at Base Camp, she’ll work on a lighter task than rangering (maybe in the kitchen?) before going back out to Ranger another crew.

We left Dan Beard at 9:30, after what seemed like an interminable delay. Some kids are ready quickly, but others seem to take literally hours to do what ought to be possible in minutes. I don’t think anybody is deliberately wasting time. Perhaps it’s just natural that 14-year-old boys are unable to take down tents and chat with one another at the same time. Even when we all seem ready, there’s always somebody who suddenly remembers the need to go to the bathroom and of course when he’s finally back, somebody else remembers that he needs sunscreen. Finally, just as we are all ready to go, the navigators must spend another fifteen minutes figuring out which direction. It’s all very frustrating to me.

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We walked past Beatty Lake, a shallow body of water in the middle of the meadow. Cows are everywhere.

At last we are meadow walking, the term that describes a way of walking that leaves as little impact on the field as possible. If the scouts all walk in a line, one behind the other, over time this will trample a new path through the meadow, making it less fresh for the future crews. Instead, we walk beside each other, at a distance of at least ten feet, to minimize the number of feet that land on any particular part of the grass.

I found that this has the side benefit of forcing each of us to pay more attention to our surroundings rather than blindly follow the person in front. As a result, we find new things in the meadow, like bones, odd plants and insects, and even a whole nest of prairie dogs.

Figure 10: Meadow-walking to Whiteman Vega.

Name: Date:

Dan Beard to Seally Canyon Aug 5, 2015 9:21 am

Map: (valid until Feb 11, 2016)

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Distance:

3.46 miles

Elapsed Time:

1:58:31

Avg Speed:

1.8 mph

Max Speed:

6.6 mph

Avg Pace:

34' 16" per mile

Min Altitude:

7,921 ft

Max Altitude:

8,294 ft

Start Time:

2015-08-05T16:21:22Z

Start Location: Zone:

13S

Easting:

491769mE

Northing:

4059398mN

End Location: Zone:

13S

Easting:

489103mE

Northing:

4063436mN

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Seally Canyon is a single yurt, staffed in summer only.

The boys did the wilderness survival training class while the adults finished setting up camp. We are learning that hanging bear bags seems to take forever, but fortunately Mr. Ricci is becoming quite proficient. Even so, we finished just barely before the kids returned from their training.

After dinner, the kids went to the second half of the wilderness training, making human backpacks.

These are rubber cords that you fasten around one person to make it easier to carry another. Nathan achieved some fame by being the only kid to not only carry somebody (Vinnie) but to run him around the yard too, proving his strength.

After 10pm, when the kids were all in bed, Mr. Ricci and I sat under the stars to watch for meteors (we saw two) and talk until late.

August 6: Hike to Whiteman Vega 16

Up 5:00am, left camp at 7:30 We are faced with two navigation options: the first, most direct route takes us over a high peak; the less direct route lets us follow a ridge around the peak. The problem with the ridge route is that we have no way of knowing what might be in the way. It could be very steep, forcing us to walk like mountain goats on an uneven slope. After some deliberation, we choose the less direct route.

Figure 11: We walked along a ridge from Seally Canyon, rather than scale the peak

By 8:30am we arrived at Ring Place, the former cattle ranch that serves as a food drop-off location. It turns out to have some history too, constructed originally in the late 1800s by a man for his wife and seven (!) daughters. As tough as we might think the circumstances are for us on this hike, I can’t imagine how much more desolate (and self-sufficient) these people were who lived here then.

We had hoped to arrive early enough to pick up food and then make it to Whiteman Vega in time for the morning conservation project, but we are too late for that now, so we paused for a long break, ultimately including lunch.

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Figure 12: Eating lunch among the "mini-bears" of Ring Place.

At noon we set out for Whiteman Vega, which involves a long meadow walk through unfamiliar ground. Without trails, we are forced to use our map and compasses to identify the correct direction, and mostly we do this pretty well. I had my GPS as a backup, but I used it mostly as a way to encourage more accurate headings on the part of the navigators, to avoid walking further than necessary.

This time, meadow walking really was through a meadow, with high hills in the distance and nothing but grass for miles around us.

We arrive just in time for the afternoon conservation project, which will require some use of shovels and wheelbarrows to help construct a new feature for the mountain bike trail. It’s a one mile hike from the staff tent, and some of the boys (including Nathan) are asked to carry gallon jugs, which will be used to help pat down the dust at our destination. We helped this way for three hours, working wheelbarrows and shovels together with other crews until a new section of the trail was complete.

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Figure 13: Pushing wheelbarrows to help with a trail conservation project near Whiteman Vega.

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One highlight of the conservation project came when one of our adults spotted a rattlesnake in the path. It was probably just as scared as we were, and it ran off into the grass.

Dinner: jambalaya We had to take the bear bags down twice in order to get some camp soap we had forgotten.

It’s long past dark by the time all the chores are finished, and most of us just want to go to bed, but as always, we gather for a Roses and Thorns discussion before hitting the sack. Most people are pretty happy today, and in spite of the mishap with the bear bags we feel we are finally becoming a lot more efficient.

August 7: Hike to Iris Park Mountain biking: this was the moment that many of the boys considered the highlight of the trip. We rode nice bikes on a four-mile trail along the same route we worked for yesterday’s conservation project. As always, the weather is perfect, and we saw some great scenery. The area around here is a national forest, and as public land it’s free for anyone to visit. But we’re so remote – miles from the nearest road—that scouts are the only ones who will ever use this trail, so we feel lucky to be here.

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Figure 14: Mountain biking at Whiteman Vega.

We finished biking at 10am and were getting ready to depart when we remembered that we hadn’t had time in the morning for a camp sweep. A group of boys returned to the camp site to doublecheck that nothing was left behind. The whole process of getting started seems to take forever, because even after the camp sweep there are boys who suddenly remember things they forgot, like bathroom breaks, filling water bottles, applying sunscreen lotion, and a host of other items that I don’t understand why they didn’t think of hours before now.

At last, around 11:30, we set out for our next destination. The Philmont-suggested route will take us on a distant hike down the long and meandering McCrystal Creek, but upon closer inspection of the map, we notice a simple shortcut: walk back to Ring Place (we know the route having been there yesterday) and then continue on in a straight line to a trail that will take us to today’s destination.

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When we finally reach Ring Place, it’s long past time for lunch. We set our packs in a pack line and people go around, to the restroom and to collect water or check out the swap box.

Figure 15: resting in the meadow on the hike to Iris Park

At 3:15, we leave for Iris Park, meadow walking most of the way, relying for navigation on nothing but compass and map, since there are no trails.

I cheat, using my GPS to help simplify the directions and so I see Iris Park first: It’s a wonderful cow pasture, with cows everywhere! There’s also a solar-powered well in the middle, with a water spigot.

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Figure 16: Nathan among cows at Iris Park.

The kids tonight are much better at setting up camp on their own, so mostly the adults just wander around or rest. One of the boys discovers cell phone service on a nearby hill, so I went up myself to call Stowe. Mr. Ricci followed later.

We had a wonderful dinner, followed by a nice campfire and our first devotional, led by one of the boys, who reads from the Boy Scout devotional manual they issued us at base camp.

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Figure 17: Campfire at the end of a long few days.

Mr. Ricci leads a few scouts outside afterwards for some star gazing, but it’s late and I’m tired and I go to bed by 10pm.

Name: Date: Map: (valid until Feb 12, 2016) Distance: Elapsed Time: Avg Speed: Max Speed: Avg Pace: Min Altitude: Max Altitude: Start Time: Start Location: Zone: Easting: Northing: End Location: Zone: Easting: Northing:

Ring Place to Iris Park Aug 7, 2015 1:14 pm View on Map 4.89 miles 4:07:57 1.2 mph 7.0 mph 50' 43" per mile 8,114 ft 8,597 ft 2015-08-07T20:14:16Z 13S 489019mE 4069549mN 13S 485939mE 4064569mN

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August 8: Hike to Upper Greenwood There was a terrible wind storm late at night, enough that I got out of my tent once to double-check that we were not near any “widow-makers”, dead trees that might fall on our tent while we sleep. I concluded that the sound of the wind was worse than its effects, and slept soundly after that.

Iris Park is even better in the morning, with deer sauntering through the camp site and rays of sun breaking through the trees. Very early, we heard something we think may have been a wolf, perhaps taking down some prey in the distance. Other than that, everything was peaceful and beautiful.

The last several late nights have left most of the crew exhausted, so we agree to let everyone sleep in., some scouts not rising till long after 8am. There is no staff at this camp, nor at the one we’ll visit tonight, so timing and activities are entirely up to us and it’s time to relax.

The troop left at 11:45.

We stopped at a stream along the way for a long lunch that included spam, squeeze cheese, and plenty of jokes about the inedibility of the food. It tasted fine to me, though, and I ate extra.

Figure 18: Enjoying a typical lunch on the trail.

By now my iPhone battery is becoming critically low, so I have to turn everything off. I’m no longer able to keep GPS tracks of our location.

By the time we arrived at our campsite, the sky was gray and threatening rain. We rushed to eat before darkness hit.

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Dinner: spaghetti.

Name: Date: Map: (valid until Feb 12, 2016) Distance: Elapsed Time: Avg Speed: Max Speed: Avg Pace: Min Altitude: Max Altitude: Start Time: Start Location: Zone: Easting: Northing: End Location: Zone: Easting: Northing:

Iris park to greenwood Aug 8, 2015 10:45 am View on Map 8.04 miles 7:05:38 1.1 mph 4.2 mph 52' 54" per mile 8,234 ft 9,224 ft 2015-08-08T17:45:57Z 13S 485959mE 4064614mN 13S 479856mE 4058947mN

August 9th: Hike to Baldy Town 5am wakeup, we left camp at 8am to get an early start on what would be the most difficult hiking day of the trip. In total we traveled 8.25 miles, with a total ascent of 4,933 feet, descending 2,126 feet – lots of up and down, mostly up. The good news is that there is a well-defined trail the whole way, so navigation is not a challenge.

My iPhone battery is now critically low, in spite of yesterday’s all-day charging, so I’m conserving power by not taking photos. Hopefully Leslie and others will lend me their photos of the day.

11:15-11:50 we had lunch at 11,000 feet. In a group like ours, with many younger (14-year-old) boys, there is a lot of complaining about the difficulty of the track, with lots of requests for breaks. This often meant we spent time at less-than-optimal places, such as where there happened to be a flat section of trail, rather than at key places like the summit area.

12:50: The summit of Mount Baldy is now in view as we ascend to the highest point we’ll achieve today, just over 11,500 feet.

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2:00 we arrive at Copper Park, taking a break. I filled my water bottles and we were out of there at 2:30 3pm we arrived at French Henry following a brutal 30-minute descent on a rocky trail. This is an old mining site, left over from the early 1900s, when a small amount of gold was discovered in these hills. The staff issued panning equipment to each scout and soon we had our own private gold rush, with each boy eagerly scouring a different portion of the creek. Several of them found various specks of shiny stuff, adding to the excitement, until finally Vinnie found a single flake that the staff confirmed is real gold. It was so tiny that I doubt it was worth more than a few cents, or perhaps a dollar, but it’s always nice to find.

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After the panning, the boys were taken to a working blacksmith’s shop, where they were given a chance to try smithing in a real, coal-fired forge. Mr. Z presented the blacksmith with some dies he had carried the whole trip, which the boys applied to a new metal object they created: a hook that can be useful for carrying a pot of water.

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Figure 19: Panning for gold at French Henry.

After the long hike and the afternoon programs at French Henry, we are looking forward to Baldy Town tonight. Besides the advertised amenities like showers and laundry facilities, and a camp store, we’re expecting another food drop that will replenish our supplies. But we need to arrive before 6pm to make the pick-up, and this turns out to be difficult given our normal pace. So we split the crew, with one group running ahead as fast as possible and the other lagging behind.

We made it to Baldy Town just in time, but overall it was a disappointment. Yes, there is a store and the other facilities, but everything is quite primitive. Like the other staff camps, the only electricity is from the solar panels that are needed for well-water pumping and critical staff needs. There are no street lights, for example, and certainly nothing that would justify calling it a “town”.

The good news is that we’ll be staying for two nights, which means there won’t be a camp setup time tomorrow. Unfortunately when we reach our camp site, we find that it is a good 15 minutes walk from the main staff area, and it is extremely hilly and rocky. Nathan and I end up with one of the less hilly areas, but even then we pitch our tent on a pretty steep slope—at least ten degrees. This will not be a comfortable night, as our sleeping bags slide down to the base of the tent all night long.

Dinner: rice and chicken Devotional: Our boy chaplain led the group in a discussion of how precious life is.

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11pm bedtime.

Name: Date: Map: (valid until Feb 13, 2016) Distance: Elapsed Time: Avg Speed: Max Speed: Avg Pace: Min Altitude: Max Altitude: Start Time: Start Location: Zone: Easting: Northing: End Location: Zone: Easting: Northing:

Greenwood to Baldy Town Aug 9, 2015 7:01 am View on Map 8.25 miles 26:26:54 0.3 mph 3.8 mph -- per mile 9,192 ft 12,045 ft 2015-08-09T14:01:51Z 13S 479808mE 4058939mN 13S 480995mE 4053563mN

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August 10th: Mount Baldy Climbing the highest peak on the Philmont Ranch is supposed to be the pinnacle achievement of any trek, but I almost didn’t go. Scout rules require “two-deep leadership”, meaning that no boy may ever be left alone with an adult other than his parent, so if a single scout refuses to climb, we may need two adults to stay behind. Both Mr. Ricci and his son Vinnie decide they don’t want to climb, which is not a problem since they’re father-and-son, but then we learn that Mr. Z’s son Adam also wants to stay at camp for the day.

In the end, this turns into a non-issue. The two boys, plus Mr. Ricci spend their day at Baldy Town, where plenty of other adults fill the two-deep role, so everyone got what they wanted.

So, just before 8am we left camp and began the long climb to the top of Baldy Mountain. We’ll ascend about 2,500 feet, covering a distance of probably six miles. Typical climbers are able to do this in 2-3 hours, we’re told. We practiced a similar climb back in Washington, making it up 3,000 feet to the top of Mount Si in under two hours, but Baldy starts at a much higher elevation. By the time we reach the peak, the oxygen content of the air will be only 63% what it is at sea level. After a week on the trail, we should be mostly acclimated to this, but still, we are prepared for a very tough trip.

Figure 20: Climbing Mt. Baldy with makeshift trekking poles.

It was much easier than we expected. We reached the summit at 10:30 (about 2.5 hours) and although of course the trip was difficult, for some reason the trail seemed easier than Mount Si. Many of the others climb with hiking poles, professionally-fashioned metal rods that protect the feet and knees from the full force of climbing. I didn’t have poles, but I was worried enough about my 31

knees that I ended up making some of my own out of sticks I found along the way. I think that helped a lot, especially on the way down.

We reached the summit on a cloudy day, so we didn’t see much at the top. There was, however, cell phone service, including 4G data, at the summit, so a few of the kids called their parents. I uploaded photos and sent texts.

Figure 21: Me and Nathan at the top of Mount Baldy.

We didn’t stay long. The climbing instructions say it’s dangerous to stay at the top much past 11am because weather conditions deteriorate by mid-day. We ate some snacks and headed back down. At about 11:30 we encountered another troop that was on their way up; a few minutes later we heard thunder, making us wonder if that troop would be okay or not.

Soon we were fighting rain, bad enough that all of us had switched to rain coats by the time we arrived at camp at 12:45. The descent took a total of just under two hours.

Mr. Ricci and the boys weren’t at camp when we arrived, but by now it was pouring rain. We had no choice but to sit under the rainfly for about 30 minutes until some of us fled to our tents and napped an extra hour in our sleeping bags until the rain ended.

After waking up, Nathan and I decided to walk to base camp. Mrs. Moore and some of the boys want to join us (always need that two-deep leadership), but since Nathan and I (father-and-son) are not 32

subject to the rule, and because we’re ready right now, we decide to take off ahead of them. “We’ll join you in five minutes,” the boys insist.

We walked the 15 minutes back to base camp, and I took a shower, my first in a week. The water is delightfully warm, and although the conditions are more primitive than at home of course, I do feel better. I change to clean(er) clothes, and head out to meet the rest of the crew.

Mr. Ricci is waiting for us there and, disappointingly, he tells us that he still hasn’t had a shower himself. He had been looking forward to a morning of quiet, but between one thing and another he wasn't able to leave camp until a few hours ago. He was stranded in the rain at Baldy Town, and spent most of his time talking with the staff and with passersby.

After about 45 minutes, the other boys from camp arrived with Mrs. Moore and to my surprise they all took showers, one after another.

Mr. Z asks the kids one-by-one to update their postcards home with a note about climbing Mt. Baldy.

One of the boys resists, saying he feels awkward writing it, since he already told them by phone. It’s true: in the Facebook age, postcards just don’t mean what they did in Mr. Z’s era.

5pm: Nathan and I returned to camp 7:30 dinner: The Philmont menu tonight is stuffing, cooked in a big pot of boiling water and served with a few bags of chopped chicken. It was pretty good, though the cleanup was a pain.

Roses and thorns tonight: Mr Z he made us sing a song about Big Bad John and then he gave us a lecture on the importance of being kind to the mini-bears.

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Figure 22: The famous Philmont Mini-Bear, scourge of all campers.

Nathan’s thorn was that he was unable to visit the Aztec mine.

9:30 bedtime.

August 11: Hike to Miranda and Baldy Skyline We felt a gentle rain in the middle of the night, but by morning it was gone. We’re in for another, beautiful clear day.

Our crew leader wants us to get out earlier, so he calls for a 6am wakeup time. I got up at 6:15, an hour after I usually do. The steep slope of our camp site makes it difficult for me to sleep and I’m still groggy as I get out of the tent.

At 6:45 I’m still one of the few people out of the tent, though I see the lonely crew leader take down the bear bags by himself. breakfast: cooked biscuits and gravy

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9:15 we leave camp, stopping at Baldy Town to stock up on water and to do miscellaneous check-out procedures. (Philmont crew leaders are required to sign in and out of every camp we pass through).

10:00 we leave Baldy Town.

10:30 break 11:15 we arrive at Miranda, and soon we are at their featured program: black powder rifles. The staff trains us on how to put gunpowder (50 grains) into the barrel of an old-fashioned rifle, insert a round lead bullet, tamp it down with a ramrod, and finally point and shoot at a target.

Nathan’s target was my hat (without me wearing it) and he hit a bulls-eye right through the visor and exploding a hole at the top of the hat. It’s still wearable, and a hilarious sight that I enjoy using for the rest of the trip.

At 1pm it’s time to pick up our burro, so we go to the coral and meet Ashley, who trains us on the complicated methods of attaching a harness, saddlebags, and saddle cover. I can’t believe the number of steps involved, which I have no hope of memorizing, but somehow the boys pay enough attention that soon we’re on our way down the trail with our own pack animal, dubbed “Churro” the burro, who carries 50 pounds of our gear over trail and stream.

We ask about burro safety, especially given the Philmont obsession with bears and mountain lions.

Ashley explains that not only are burros a hardy bunch, but they actually are known to kill other animals when attacked. She mentions several incidents from the past few years when the handlers awake to find a dead mountain lion in the corral, victim of terrible kicking blows in the middle of the night. Apparently bears have met a similar fate. Bottom line: our burro can take care of himself.

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Figure 23: fording a small stream with our burro.

With the burro finally saddled and ready, we take off for our next destination.

We stopped along the way for a 2:30 lunch of Wisconsin cheese and salmon plus wheat thins.

3:30- we hike with the burro across streams, which he tackles not by wading but by jumping: a single leap through the air, often after a distracted break for a drink of water.

5:15: we arrive at our next destination, an unstaffed camp named Baldy Skyline. The main distinguishing feature is a corral where we can park our burro for the night. The corral comes with a solar-powered well, but the water comes out a thick yellow. Gross. The purification tablets will supposedly take care of any microorganisms, but who wants to drink that stuff? I opt to just go thirsty until morning.

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Figure 24: Drinking water at Baldy Skyline has a yellow tone even after adding water purification tablets.

7:30 dinner: beef stroganoff. It looks like rain and we feel a few drops but nothing major ever comes.

We refer to Thorns and Roses tonight as “Guns N Roses” because for most of us, the black powder rifles were the best part of the day.

9:30 bedtime

August 12: Hike to Ponil We wake to see deer near our tents. Last night’s rain threat is completely gone and we see sunshine sprinkling through the trees. Our burro is standing lazily in the corral where we left him for the night. It’s our last full day in the back country.

5:45 wakeup, because the crew leader wants an early start. We leave at about 8:30.

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The weather is beautiful and we are mostly walking downhill, looking at gorgeous faraway mountain vistas as we descend closer to civilization. At 10:15 we arrive in the lumberyard at Pueblano to water the burro.

10:50 we are back hiking again, burro still in two.

Everyone on the crew feels more comfortable now and Mr. Ricci engages me in a long discussion about the financial crisis. We continue talking during the 11:30-12:15 lunch on the trail.

2pm we arrive at Ponil and return our burro 3-4 set up camp and the bear bags 4:45- Chuck Wagon dinner, with disappointingly meager but delicious stew portions At every staffed camp, there is a tradition of “Advisors Coffee” from 6:30-7pm every night, but because we usually run so late, we’ve rarely been able to attend. Tonight, however, our camp is set up and we have time, so the adults gather at the staff cabin to chat informally.

We met a group of Texans and the talk quickly turns to guns, at which they are obviously very proficient

Figure 25: Cantina at Ponil Camp

Cantina (7:30-9:15) 38

The staff has prepared a series of skits and songs for our entertainment after dark. They are dress in 1800’s cowboy costumes and they perform a story about a stranger who comes to the town, and who later turns out to have murdered somebody on suspicious circumstances. The whole skit was welldone and a welcome change from our days on the trail.

One song I especially liked included these lyrics:

Oh, there ain't no rest for the wicked Money don't grow on trees I got bills to pay I got mouths to feed And ain't nothing in this world for free No I can't slow down I can't hold back Though you know I wish I could No there ain't no rest for the wicked Until we close our eyes for good

The program lasted about an hour, after which the staff invited those who liked to stay for an encore.

Anyone in camp who has a musical interest is invited to come to the front and play for the rest of us.

One of our boys steps forward. He’s a trumpet player in the Mercer Island band, and plays a piece from memory.

9:45 we were in bed. We all slept without brushing our teeth, because we were too tired to take down the oops bag.

August 13: Return to Base Camp Up 6am. Nathan and I had everything packed within 45 minutes. The crew is getting much more efficient at this point and I think we’re all eager to get back to civilization, so everything flows more quickly. By 7:15 we left the camp site.

7:30 we meet at the horse stables for some training and waiting. I am issued a horse called Vega and from 8:30 – 9:30 we are riding down the same trail by which we came into Ponil last night. It’s so much easier on horseback.

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Figure 26: Horseback riding at Ponil.

Afterwards, we mostly just hang out near the Cantina. We ate our lunch of Wisconsin cheese and crackers, and then headed to the rifle range for our final activity of the trip.

Rifle, shotgun, and handgun shooting. Each of us gets to shoot a pistol five times, three shots from a rifle, and both barrels of a double-barrel shotgun.

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Figure 27: Shooting pistols at the Ponil gun range.

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2:30 bus back to base camp (it left at 3pm)

3:45 arrival at Base Camp

7-8: We attended another Catholic Mass, which the priest assured us had already been cleared by the Archbishop as equivalent to attending Sunday’s regular Mass, which we missed because we were out in the country.

8:30 Final Ceremony The staff gave a presentation to the hundreds of people returning from their treks today. Lively, interactive and up-beat, it included some of the memorable moments that crews were asked to write as part of their arrival check-ins earlier today.

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Appendix 1: Trek 10 Overview

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Appendix 2: Costs  Costs: o Expedition fee is $855 per participant. $100 deposits due in February 2014. $377.50 due Oct. 2014. $377.50 due in March 2014. All fees non refundable. o Airfare $400 round trip from Seattle to Denver or Albuquerque. o One night hotel accommodation $125 for 2x occupancy in either of the two cities above. o Charter bus – ~ $11,070; this can vary but will be several hundred dollars per participant o Gear – you may need or want to buy some gear for the trek.\ o Food – you will need to buy (at least) 1 dinner, 1 breakfast and 1 lunch.

Budget Estimate

Total

Per Camper

Philmont Fees

Camping Fees

35,055.00

855.00

Airfare estimate

Assume $400 per

16,400.00

400.00

Hotel estimate

Assume $125 per double room

2,562.50

62.50

Motor coach estimate

$270 / round trip

11,070.00

263.57

100.00

100.00

65,817.50

1,681.07

Food and Gear Total

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