Philmont Trek 2004

Crew One’s Journey

          Allow me to use one word to describe this trek: Wow. Philmont Scout Ranch is a place like no other. Philmont is huge, comprising of 137,493 acres in the mountain wilderness of Northern New Mexico. The trails of Philmont wind through rugged mountains ranging in elevation from 6,500 feet to 12,441 feet as well as sloping valleys and majestic rivers. There are also over 70 staffed and trail camps operated by Philmont where scouts can participate in activities ranging from mine tours to shotgun shooting. Philmont was by far the best trek I have ever gone on. In my opinion, the beauty and splendor of nature in Philmont is unrivaled. The programs were also very enjoyable and some I had never experienced before, like shotgun shooting and horse riding.

          For those of you not familiar with the Philmont experience, a Philmont trek is comprised of a crew of 7 to 12 scouts and adults who hike for 10 days between 50 and 95 miles. Troop 680 had two crews and the Venture Crew 680 had one crew, so for our math challenged readers that would be three crews total. Each crew had different itineraries so we obviously did not hike together or even meet each other very much throughout the ten days of hiking. I was the crew leader for Crew 1, also known as the original Flaming Kybos (for those of you that don’t know what Kybo stands for, don’t ask while eating your dinner). While I will not go through an extensive day by day account of my crew’s adventures, I will write a summarized description of some of our favorite activities and experiences.

Day ½: The day before we hit the trail was basically checking out equipment and food as well as going through logistics. While in logistics with Mr. and Mrs. Long, I received my Life. No, not the Scout rank. A Life in Philmont is a piece of paper with all sorts of important stuff written on it that is given to each crew leader. Basically, a Life is an all-access ticket to activities, campsites and food while in Philmont. It was made very clearly to me in logistics that if I lost my Life while on the trail, I would be sent immediately to the gallows.

Day 4: The first couple days were spent training us in the ways of the Philmont Method. Our wonderful Ranger Rachel taught us well and then left us early morning on Day 3. Anyway, on Day 4 we got to our campsite at Lambert Mine and then hiked 1 ½ miles up to Cyphers Mine. Cyphers Mine is a large staffed camp where we enjoyed such activities as gold panning, blacksmithing and an awesome campfire called STOMP. Our crew also went on a mine tour the next morning, which in my opinion was one of the best activities. For the tour we put on some mine helmets that wouldn’t really stop thousands of tons of falling rock, and continued along a damp trail that led us 473 feet into the mountain. For the finale, our guide had us turn off all our lights and stumble in pitch darkness back to the start of the tunnel. But of course, our guide jumped out of a side tunnel and left us to perform heart surgery on some of my fellow crew members.

Day 5: On day five we climbed Mt. Phillips. The climb was tough but the view was worth it. We performed Thorns and Roses on the summit while watching an approaching thunderstorm zapping the animals and terrain below.

Day 7: On day seven we arrived early at Beaubien (pronounced bow-bee-en), one of the largest camps in Philmont. Here we had the treat of horse riding. I really didn’t have to do anything besides make sure my horse did not head butt the horse it front of it. Some of the horses’ names included Denver, Tiny, Freckles and Bugsy. One of my goals was to get a picture of someone being thrown off a horse, but I guess you can’t have everything.

Day 9: With only one and a half more days after this one, we entered Abreu (yes, this one is hard to say too, pronounced Ah-bray-you). We entered the several buildings and met the staff members who were in 1910 period clothing. A favorite activity of Abreu was the cantina, where Mrs. Weeks (our crew advisor) bought everyone a few cups of root beer. We also had a great Mexican dinner with fresh tomatoes and onions (for those of you that don’t know a lot about backpacking, anything fresh on a long hike is an extreme luxury). After dinner, we watched the all-American sport of chicken racing, and let me be the first to say that those chickens do not go very fast with boy scouts on their backs. This was followed by a game of bridge taught by Mrs. Long. It was a great way to end the evening.

Day 10: We arrived in Miner’s Park camp in the early afternoon, and did the daily ritual of setting up the dining fly, tents and bear bags in the Woodrow Wilson campsite as the staffers called it (if I remember correctly, Woodrow Wilson did not end his presidency in the best of health, which is kind of scary). At around two o’clock, Woodrow Wilson sent his wrath upon us. Rain and half-inch hail stones fell down around the camp and led us to seek shelter underneath the staff porch. We ran back to camp during a lull in the storm and tried to dry our clothes and keep warm to avoid hypothermia. Obviously, no one could partake in the scheduled activity of rock climbing.

Day 10 ½: For our last day on the trail we woke up at 4:30. Yes, that is AM. Some of our crew had to fly back to San Diego for band camp the next day and we all decided we wanted to summit the Tooth of Time together. The Tooth of Time is the recognized symbol of Philmont. It looks basically like a huge molar sticking out of the side of a mountain and is on the route we would be following to base camp. So we started hiking and reached the top of the Tooth at around 10 o’clock. On the summit, we met Crew 2 and chatted and took pictures for a while. Finally, we presented an American flag to Mrs. Weeks, our crew advisor. The views from the top of the Tooth were fantastic. Not to mention the near vertical drop from the side. I thought to take a picture of the thousand foot drop-off but decided against once I noticed a Mini-Bear near by. What’s a mini-bear you ask? A mini-bear is a squirrel, chipmunk or other evil vermin. Why do I bring this up? Because a mini-bear is one of the most evil and sadistic creatures to walk this earth. They may look cute and cuddly, but if you turn your back they will steal items such as toilet paper and chew through your fleece (don’t ask). Anyway, our crew split up at lunch, with Brice, Colin, Jeff and Mrs. Weeks heading to the car at base camp and Brandon and the Longs and I staying back and taking a leisurely stroll down the switchbacks to base camp. We arrived into base camp without a problem under a sign that exclaimed “WELCOME BACK – YOU MADE IT”. We attended an awesome ending campfire and then drove through the night and the next day back to San Diego.

          In total, our crew (Crew 1) hiked 75 miles and had a terrific time. I would like to thank Mrs. Weeks and Mr. and Mrs. Long for their support of the entire crew. Since I could not write about the entire Philmont experience in this article, I would be happy to answer any questions about our trek. I would highly recommend Philmont to anyone 14 and older that would be interested. I guarantee you won’t regret going.

PHILMONT HYMN

Silver on the sage                              

Star-lit skies above

Aspen covered hills

Country that I love.

Philmont, here’s to thee

Scouting Paradise

Out in God’s country – tonight

Wind in whisp’ring pines

Eagles soaring high

Purple mountains rise

Against an azure sky

Philmont here’s to thee

Scouting Paradise

Out in God’s country – tonight

                                                          By Nick Chambers

                                                          Crew 1 Trek Leader

Crew 1 and Crew 2 on top of the Tooth of Time.