HAPPENINGS Two Great Reasons to Visit Philmont This Summer Scouting alumni who return to Philmont Scout Ranch as adults are often surprised to discover how much steeper the trails are than they remember. And when they crawl into their tents at night, they realize the ground has gotten a whole lot harder in the intervening decades. Thanks to the Philmont Training Center (PTC), alumni can enjoy two on-site training events in comfort. The first option is the annual Scouting Alumni Conference, which is offered jointly by Scouting Alumni and Friends and the National Eagle Scout Association. Scheduled for June 16-22 at Philmont, this interactive conference helps local council volunteers learn how to reengage alumni in the Scouting program. If you’re involved in local alumni efforts—or would like to get involved—this conference is for you. The other option is a new program called BSA Family Adventure Camp, which lets families experience the excitement of the BSA’s New Mexico high adventure base while enjoying more creature comforts. This summer, PTC is offering BSA Family Adventure Camp during four weeks: June 23-29, June 30-July 6, July 28-August 3, and August 4-10. Each session runs from Sunday afternoon to Saturday morning, although half-week sessions are also available. “This is a way to get family members to experience BSA’s outdoor program,” says Andrea Watson, team lead, camping services. “This could be a way to experience Philmont’s outdoor adventure with your entire family.” Being comfortable starts with housing options, all of which promise a better night’s sleep than a backpacking tent. In addition to the familiar wall tents with cots that PTC has long offered, participants can use roofed housing that’s typically reserved for conference faculty and brand-new Eco Tents that include space for the entire family. Each tent has a main room with a queen-sized bed for the parents and a side room with bunks for up to four kids. “They all face the Tooth of Time, which is nice,” Watson says. (The Tooth of Time is the iconic 9,003-foot peak that looms over camping headquarters.)
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Besides choosing their own housing, families get to choose their own activities and their own level of challenge. Options include hiking, fishing, shooting sports, a ropes course, horseback riding, crafts, and more. Those options will be familiar to people who’ve attended PTC conferences in the past. What’s different with Family Adventure Camp is that families will participate in activities together, not in age-based program groups. (The Small Fry Center offers care for kids ages 2 months to 5 years during the day.) In addition, families can choose to skip formal programming to either hang out in camp or travel to other area attractions, such as the famed artists’ community of Taos. And, says Watson, Mom and Dad will have opportunities to leave the kids with the PTC staff while they go out for a special dinner. Watson expects all four sessions to sell out—an impressive feat given that weekly capacity is about 500 participants. But she already has plans to expand. What’s happening at Philmont will over the next few years move to the Summit Bechtel Reserve in West Virginia. And the program won’t be limited to summer: Watson wants each site to be open for at least 105 nights a year. “When you consider most Scout camps average being open 55 nights a year, this will be a good stretch for us to utilize our facilities more often,” she says. “We’re really excited about opening up our properties for families in new ways.” Both locations will offer tiered housing options, but programming will vary by site and season. According to Watson, every site will include activities that tie directly to Scouting values, which won’t be hard to do. “Strengthening family relationships has always been a core value of Scouting,” she says. “The addition of the BSA Family Adventure Camp program lets us do this in a new and exciting way.” For more information on Family Adventure Camp at Philmont, visit https://www.philmontscoutranch.org/ptc/ philmontfamilyadventure/. To learn more about the Philmont Alumni Conference and other PTC offerings, visit https://www. philmontscoutranch.org/ptc/conferenceso/.
