Philmont Scout Ranch --7/26/2015-8/7/2015--

Post date: Sep 19, 2015 7:28:25 PM

This summer, I had the opportunity of attending Philmont Scout Ranch. This was one of the greatest events i have gone to throughout my life, as well as the longest scouting event I have gone to, 12 days of wilderness.

Our 1st day was not too special. We arrived at base camp, and we met our ranger, Joe Mullen. With Joe, we needed to get all of the food and supplies for the trip. We carried pots, pans, 6 days worth of food, rope, bear-bags, and micro-pure water tablets. In the evening, we went to the opening campfire and after that, we went to sleep.

The 2nd day was the first day we really started to hike. We hiked for about 4-5 miles through more then 100ft+ elevation. When we started to hike, we sadly needed to cross a stream, and all of our boots and socks were soaked in water. Because our boots all had water-proofing materials in it, once the water got inside the shoes, they could not dry out because they kept the water in. It was a great start to the trip as we had to hike with soaked feet for about 5 miles. When we arrived to our campsite (Campos Heck) for the day, we had to get our bear-bags set up, then we had to get our water ready to drink, then we set up our tents and we cooked dinner last. To drink water at Philmont, the water has to be purified to drink it. Certain campsites have water purified for you but not all of them have it prepared. To treat the water that was not purified, we used micro-pure tablets. One tablet purifies 1 liter of water, and it takes 30 minutes for the water to become clean once the tablet was put inside the water. Once water and dinner was finished, we went to sleep.

On the 3rd day, we hiked a few miles to do a certain program for the day. Most days, we have a certain activity we do. We hiked to a staff camp (Dean Cow), and we performed our activity which was rock climbing. Once we finished that, we hiked another 6-7 miles to the camp site we were staying at for the day. Once we setup camp, we had a few hours to just relax and do whatever we wanted to do. We did not do much in the evening that day.

Day 4, the day the weather started to make everything much more difficult. It was the first day of a 5 day rain storm. This was also the last day we saw Joe, because rangers will only say for 2 days to get crews ready for the rest of the trek. This day, we were going to stay at a staff camp (Pueblano). At staff camps, they have designated campsites for the crews that come in and stay at the camp for the rest of the day. Every staff camp has a theme. At this staff camp, the staff were dressed up as if it was 1915. We were going to do an activity at this camp, but we were not able to due to the rain. In the evening, they had a campfire performance, but they had to do it indoors due to the rain, again. Their performance was pretty much skits but it was very well rehearsed and well put together.

Day 5 and Day 6, we stayed at the same campsite (Ewells Park) for 2 days, because on day 5, we went to another staff camp (Head of Dean) for a program, which was team building activities, and then on day 6, we climbed Baldy Mountain. When we finished the program on day 5, we went to our campsite for the day, set up camp, and got ready for the next day. On day 6, we woke up at 4 am in the morning and emptied our backpacks completely except for our day packs and our water, and we went up to the staff camp (Baldy Town) to hike up the mountain. The campsite is around 9000 feet and the top of the mountain is 12,441 feet. When we arrived at the staff camp, we left our large backpacks and took our day packs and headed off up the mountain. After around 3 hours of hiking, we made it up the mountain.

The views were breathtaking at 12,441 feet. Reaching it to the top was one of the best feelings you can experience, and it will be an experience that I will never forget. When we came down from Baldy, we did not do anything for the rest of the day. We just relaxed, and waited for the next morning.

On day 7, we left our campsite and went to our next staff camp (French Henry). Our program consisted of gold panning, making a pot hook with the blacksmith, and we took a tour inside of a mine. Once we finished everything, we left off to our campsite (Upper Greenwood). This was the hardest day out of the whole trek, because we had to hike up a mile or two with a 1000+ feet elevation gain, then we had another 1000+ feet elevation gain consisting of 17 switchbacks. We went from 9000 feet and made an elevation increase to around 11,500 feet and then we went back down about 1000 feet once we reached the 11,500 foot elevation gain. When we made it to the campsite, we quickly setup camp due to the rain.

Day 8, we had nothing planned for this day, so we all decided to head out early so we could just be lazy and not do anything at the campsite (Iris Park). This campsite was much more different than other campsites because all the trees were burned down. For many years, Philmont has been struggling from flash floods and forest fires, and at this campsite, we really got to see the damage of the forest fires, because there was nothing left. There was just a field of burnt trees on the ground and it really was beautiful but also very sad.

On day 9, we were camping at a staff camp (Ring Place). Our hike consisted of hiking on just flat grounds, full of prairie dogs and chipmunks. This staff camp was a farm, so the ground was very flat and smooth. We did not do many activities but we did get to see the stars at night, something you cannot do easily here.

On day 10, we participated in 2 activities, Wilderness First Aid responding and another team building activity at a different staff camp (Dan Beard). In Wilderness First Aid responding, we learned what to do in various first aid situations when you are nowhere near medical attention, and the team building activity was pretty similar to what we did days before. Once the activities were done, we went to our campsite (Cooks Canyon) and did the usual stuff.

Day 11 was one of the most fun days. This was our final day of hiking and the ending of our trek. We arrived at our staff camp (Ponil) and we did a lot of activities. The theme of this staff camp was the Wild West. We did some gun shooting using the types of guns people had in the Wild West, such as double-barrel shotguns, revolving pistols, and bolt-action rifles. Once we finished that, we had the whole day to do whatever we wanted to do. This camp sells root beer so we all bought a lot. In the evening, the staff gave everyone a performance, and it was similar to the performance we had at one of the other staff camps at the beginning of the Trek, except this one had a lot more planning put into it and it was performed much better.

My last day of Philmont, day 12. We were driven in a bus back to base camp and we started out by giving back all of the gear we used for the Trek. As soon as that was done, after not taking showers for 12 days, we took showers and it was a very nice experience. Once that was over, we spent our money at the Philmont shop buying souvenirs and belts. After all of that, we took a bus to Cimarron, and we went to a pizza shop and ate a real meal after 12 days. Once that was over, we took a bus back to Philmont and went to the closing campfire.

Philmont was an amazing experience that I will remember for a long time. Saying so, I really wish to come back in the future, as this was an event that I will never forget.