Philmont Trek 711-I, July 1994

Philmont Trek 711-I
Itinerary 12
July 10-23, 1994
Troop 104, Urbana, IL

Jason Chandler
Lowell Good (Colorado Springs, CO)
Mark Greeley (Asst. Crew Chief)
Justin Harmon (Crew Chief)
Eric Miller
Paul Wissman (St. Joseph)
Luke Woodbury

Don Greeley
Dennis Miller
David Willcox
Roger Woodbury

With only minor editorial changes, this is a direct transcription of my journal written during Troop 104's 1994 trek to Philmont. This explains the rather inconsistent use of tenses. Various later additions are included in [brackets]. I've reordered a few things to get the chronology right, and edited a few passages where the meaning wasn't terribly clear, but mostly this is as I wrote it on the trail. I hope you enjoy it.

New in October 1995 are pointers to maps of the areas we traversed. See the Philmont Home Page, from which these are taken, for more maps, a map index, and other Philmont information. Click on the map icon in the text below to go to the appropriate map for the area.

New on 2/15/96 are still more pictures. Little versions appear in this document. Click on a little picture to get a bigger version with explanatory text. Or go to the picture gallery to see an index of all of the pictures.

Please email comments to .

This account, and the images (not maps) referenced herein, are copyright 1995-1996 by David Willcox. Permission is granted for noncommercial use as long as the source is acknowledged.

If you like this journal, you might also want to read about our 1997, 1999, and 2006 Philmont treks.

For convenience, you can jump to parts of this document by clicking a link below:

• July 10, 1994 To Colorado Springs
• July 11, Philmont Base Camp
• July 12, Ute Springs Camp
• July 13, Sawmill Camp
• July 14, Mt. Phillips Camp
• July 15, Clear Creek and Comanche Camp
• July 16, Philips Junction and Apache Springs Camp
• July 17, Apache Springs Camp
• July 18, Fish Camp
• July 19, New Abreu Camp
• July 20, Aguila Camp
• July 21, Miner's Park Camp and Shaefer's Peak
• July 22, Tooth Ridge to Base Camp
• July 23, Return to Urbana
• Postscript

It has been a beautiful day, clear and sunny, but much cooler than it has been (the mid-80's). The car trip was uneventful. (We did spot a coyote in a field not far south of Urbana, though.)

We had a quick snack, then headed through security to the gate. While we waited to board our plane, Don Greeley went through the "emergency exam" answers with us. The Scouts didn't seem to take it very seriously.

The plane pushed back from the gate at 12:44 PM, just 7 minutes late. Not bad.

Jim and Pat Good met us at the airport. Lowell Good was in Troop 104 before his family transferred to Colorado Springs two years ago. He is the eleventh member of our Philmont crew. Jim had our rented van for us to ride in, and Pat their Caravan for the equipment. Jim drove us through the Air Force Academy where he works on the way to their house.

The original plan was to take the two vans to Philmont, but after some investigation we decided that everything could fit in the rented van. It will be cramped, but it will save the Goods from having to drive their car to New Mexico.

For dinner, the Goods served us a delightful sloppy joe. We appreciated it.

After dinner, Don, Denny and I took a walk with Jim through the field behind their house. (The land is owned by a Current catalog center.) The flora and fauna are different from Illinois! We saw lots of cactus and dry grass. Magpies are very common, in fact considered pests, and we saw a hawk sitting on a light post. And the rock formations looked like something in Disneyland.

In the evening, the boys rented the movie "Cliffhanger" and watched it. Most of the movie involves people climbing cliffs, and several of the boys kept claiming that the movie had been shot at Philmont.

July 11 (Day 1) Philmont Base Camp

We arrived at 10:45 AM. We were assigned our base camp tents, had lunch, and then went through the check-in rigmarole: check out equipment, medical check, stash our excess equipment in the crew locker. (I took more stuff out of my pack.)

At the crew leader/advisor orientation session, they made it clear that advisors were "on vacation," and weren't to be included in the duty roster. However, we adults agreed that, to set a good example for fostering crew teamwork, we'd be included as crew members. Let's see what effect that has.

It was hot (90 degrees) but dry. It tried to rain several times, but we only got a few drops and some hellacious winds that kicked up a lot of dust.

We had dinner, went to an advisor's introductory program, wrote some postcards. In the evening there was a campfire program on Philmont history. It was well done.

About a month and a half ago, Norm and Kathy James [friends from Mahomet] mentioned that they had a friend in Monticello, Marty Zvonar, who was very active in Scouts and was going off with them to a camp somewhere in the Southwest that summer. They weren't sure when. Well, on Monday evening I discovered that the other crew in our campsite was from Mahomet & Monticello, and that one of the leaders was Marty. We had a nice chat. They are taking a "super strenuous" itinerary, recommended only for seasoned backpackers. He was a little unsure about that being a good idea. [After the trek, he said "Never again!"]

We took the last hot showers for a while!

We slept well. It was chilly, good sleeping weather.

July 12 (Day 2) Ute Springs Camp

Our first day's hike was short, only about three miles from Cimarroncito Turnaround (7200 ft) to Ute Springs (7650 ft). (Of course, it wasn't a smooth climb all of the way, so the total climbing was more than 450 ft.) We stopped for lunch at Cathedral Rock Camp, and took a side trip up the stream to Cimarroncito Reservoir at the base of Cathedral Rock. (Brian, our ranger, stayed at camp for a nap.) The canyon up to the reservoir was challenging, not to be taken with a pack. On the way back we had an "incident." Eric and Lowell apparently got past us while we thought they were behind. Don and I went back up the canyon looking for them. Of course, we didn't find them. So, we returned to the group to find that the missing scouts were with the rest of the group. It was disconcerting for us adults. The guys were never in any danger, but we didn't know that. We'll need to have a discussion with the group on how to avoid this kind of thing.

Brian showed us how to purify water here. We filled water bottles from the stream and then used the Polar Pure on them. Paul apparently thought that the cold stream water looked awfully good and took a swig before we purified it. We kidded him a lot about giardia, saying that it had about a 10-day incubation period, so if he was going to get it he'd get it about the time we were done. [He took a lot of ribbing about this throughout the trek. People kept saying "Well, Paul, only four more days."]

After lunch we continued on to Ute Springs. On the way there our crew missed the well-marked turn to the camp. Brian let the guys continue for a hundred feet or so before calling them back.

At Ute Springs, we had even more excitement. As we entered camp, we encountered a ranger who was trying to chase off a bear that had laid open his backpack. [We learned several days later that the same bear had also gotten into several packs of a crew that was at the camp the previous night.] The bear had an orange tag on its ear, a sign of a bear who has already caused trouble. (We were told later that it had been tranquilized and carted 150 miles away about 4 days ago. That it had returned means that it will soon be an ex-bear.) They were going to try to tranquilize it again, but it eventually eluded them. We were told to use a lunch in place of dinner to avoid cooking and to make a lot of noise if the bear came around.

One other crew at Ute Springs left because the bear kept chasing them away from the bear cable. Another crew was told to move to another site. We haven't seen him in our part of camp.

In the evening (after our lunch for dinner), the boys played "Philmont Basketball." They hung a cooking pot from a tree and played with a ball made from duct tape.

No rain today, but several thunderclouds.

There was supposed to be water at this camp, but we never found it. We got water at Ute Gulch, instead.

We had to put everything into the bear bags and hang our packs from trees tonight, just in case the rogue bear came around. It isn't SOP, but is prudent given the day's events.

A couple of things that you are struck with at all of the Philmont camps, or at least what we've seen so far. [This continued to be true through our stay!] The biggest is the fact that they are immaculate. There is not a bit of trash or a crumb anywhere. This is true on the trails, too. In our entire first day of hiking, I picked up every piece of trash I saw, two small pieces of paper about the size of a gum wrapper. Compare this with any public park!

The other is how dusty everything is. It is very dry, and every step kicks up a cloud of dust. Brian says that this is part of why the bears have been such a problem this year: there is much less natural food for them and they are hungry. [This statement conflicts with information we got later, to the effec that the bear problem is partly due to an abundance of bear food. This translates into a lot of cubs, which have trouble competing with the existing adult bears. Apparently, the momma bears make cubs and kick them out in a year. Adult makes normally control the population by killing young bears, but there aren't enough adult males around.]

Something I forgot to mention earlier: When we arrived, Roger Woodbury realized that Luke had an infected ingrown toenail. He took Luke to the medical center. They removed part of his nail and gave him some antibiotic to take for a few days. He also has to change the dressing twice a day. Luke's toe has been hurting a bit, but apparently not badly; he hasn't complained.

July 13 (Day 3) Sawmill Camp

Lowell got a lot of ribbing about forgetting things all over camp. He took it very good naturedly, bemoaning the fact that his mind was going at such a young age. I told him that when you get old the mind is the first thing to go. I couldn't remember the second.

We packed about a mile up the road to Ute Gulch (7880 ft) to fill up with water and pick up the next few days of food. While there, we were told that the "rogue bear" from last night had been killed near one of the Ute Springs campsites the night before. He ended up only about 20 ft from someone's tent. It was too bad he had to go, but they can't let the bears start messing with people. [People have been killed by bears here.]

From Ute Gulch, we set out for Sawmill Camp. After backtracking down Ute Gulch, we headed up Grouse Canyon. This was quite pretty. The base of the canyon was lush, with lots of vegetation. The canyon walls have sheer cliffs, not much compared to, say, the Grand Canyon, but pretty nonetheless. We then followed Sawmill Canyon up to Sawmill Camp (9200 ft), about a 4 1/2 mile trip from the commissary. I embarrassed myself today by orienting the map incorrectly, reversing north and south. The problem was that the trail we were on wasn't on my map. We were on a switchback, actually moving away from Sawmill Camp. I inadvertently switched the map so that our direction was correct for the trail I thought we were on. It was pretty confusing.

One thing I noticed today was the range of different aromas. In the lush, damp valleys was the earthy scent you would expect there. (Brian doesn't like it. I do.) In the upland forests there is the constant smell of pine, which reminds me of Michigan. And today, we learned that the bark of the ponderosa pine smells like vanilla.

On reaching the ranger cabin at Sawmill Camp (which has a beautiful view of the valley below), we were assigned our campsite. Thunderstorms were threatening [naturally], so we quickly set up camp. The ranger said that they've been having bear problems, so we should be sure to keep things hung up. We told him that he had nothing on us.

Soon after camp was set up, it started to rain and hail. Our expertly set-up dining fly (ahem) came in handy. After the rain, the adults made use of the wood-fired showers. (The boys had gone earlier.) They are rustic, but it felt awfully good to get rid of some of the dust.

We went to the firing range to shoot .30-06 rifles at steel plate targets. I did manage to hit several targets! Denny Miller did quite well, holing a playing card at about 100 ft. The rifles have quite a kick. My shoulder is sore!

On the way back from the rifle range we saw a red squirrel calling from a tree. [There are a lot of red squirrels at Philmont. We heard and saw them often.] Earlier, I saw a doe dear and two fawns drinking near the water spigot.

The trail food, by the way, is quite tasty. Tonight we had spaghetti with tomato sauce mixed with beef noodle soup. Sounds strange, but it wasn't. Brian showed us how to clean our dishes: pour in some bug juice and use it to wash off the left-over muck, then drink the result. Yum! Then, you can rinse in hot water.

After dinner, Brian made us a peach cobbler. (Not the most successful I've had. The crust never cooked, so it was very runny.) Afterwards, we gathered around the fire and talked about what the wilderness means to each of us. It was a thoughtful moment, even for this rather cynical group.

July 14 (Day 4) Mt. Phillips Camp

Today was our most strenuous day [well, perhaps excepting the last], about 4 1/4 miles from Sawmill Camp (9200 ft) to Comanche Peak (11,300 ft), then another 1 1/2 miles down between peaks and on to the top of Mt. Phillips (11,721 ft). Since Mt. Phillips is dry, we had to pack in water for the night.

Brian left us this morning to return to base camp. He figured that he could make it down in 2-3 hr. Even considering that it was all downhill, was a more direct route than we had taken, and he had less of a pack than us, it still sounds impressive.

As I said, this was our most strenuous hike of the trip, with lots of steep trails, and high altitude. However, the crew did very well. We left camp at 9:35 and arrived at 3:30, even with a lunch stop and an hour-long rest stop. I took a picture of some building thunder clouds from the first small peak after climbing from Sawmill Camp.

There was a spectacular view from just behind Comanche Peak Camp. A large mountain meadow gave an unobstructed view of the valley back toward the area where we spent our first day. We could see our starting point, Cathedral Rock and Window Rock. I took lots of pictures. There was also a good view in the other direction toward Old Baldy.

At that stop, it was obvious that the boys have too much energy. They spent at least a half hour throwing large rocks at an old dead tree, trying to break off limbs. They didn't have much success, so they kept moving closer. (Maybe it was a bad idea for me to offer to carry some food from Eric and Justin since they were carrying the water.)

On the way up Mt. Phillips, we had several short bursts of rain. Not enough to really get wet, but enough to get us to put on our rain gear. Most of us only put on rain jackets, but Roger and Denny put on their pants, too. They soon regretted it when the rain stopped and they were overheated. (It also rained off and on in the evening.)

We met a number of very personable crews today. That is one of the fun things here: meeting other groups on the trail, talking about where we all have been, where we're going, where we hail from, and relating tales of experiences we've had. [Our bear story was always a good ice breaker.] All part of the Brotherhood of Scouting.

One little thing we've observed. The rangers make a big point that groups should stay together. If a group does break up, it should be planned, and each subgroup must have at least four people including an advisor. However, we notice that many crews don't take this to heart. We've seen groups that are strung out over a half hour of trail. That isn't good for team building, or safety.

We ate a trail lunch today for dinner to avoid having to cook dinner and clean up with little water. We'll have two dinners tomorrow.

In the evening, I realized that I didn't have my copy of Gai Jin. Disaster! What am I going to read before bed? Apparently I left it at Sawmill Camp.

July 15 (Day 5) Clear Creek and Comanche Camp

Fortunately, I found out today that Don Greeley has a Star Trek book (Spock's World) that he has finished. Denny Miller tried to read it, but it was too dark at night. It isn't what I'd pick, but it is words on the page. [Later in the trek, Denny and I shared the book. He got daytime custody. I got nights.]

I discovered this morning that I've picked up a case of poison ivy on my arm. I probably got it at Cathedral Rock, the only place [in all of Philmont] that I've seen poison ivy. It doesn't bother me much, but is rather extensive. Fortunately, Don has some industrial-strength cream. It seems to be helping.

We left camp at 9:45 to a gorgeous day. Not a cloud in the sky. It was chilly as we left camp, but soon warmed up.

As we paused at the peak of Mt. Phillips to take a last round of pictures, a pair of F-111 fighter jets flew by below us. Unfortunately, I didn't get my camera out in time to catch them.

The hike down from the mountain was fast. It was pretty, but there weren't a lot of scenic vistas. It was mostly fir (I think) forest, with lots of spanish moss. I wouldn't expect spanish moss in this dry climate. It gives the effect of a cave, with "drippies" on everything.

We hiked 4 miles down to Clear Creak Camp (10,200 ft), arriving at about 11:30. We saw a demonstration (or presentation) on beaver trapping, and saw a simulated fur trader's cabin, all quite well done.

We cooked lunch (red slop #2, quite good), then went to the black powder shooting area. Unfortunately, we had to wait over an hour before we could go in. Had we known there would be such a wait, we would have brought books and my journal.

This brings up something that has struck me during this stay. Philmont is far more crowded than I had expected. Apparently, demand is far exceeding the available space, and they are sending many more people through "the backcountry." If I remember correctly, there are 25% more trekkers this year than last. As a result, you see more other groups than I expected.

Anyway, the shooting was fun. The guys doing the presentation did a good job, and looked in character. We put some holes in Don's T-shirt. (Not while he was wearing it.)

By the time we were done, it was after 4:30. The group decided to cook dinner at Clear Creek instead of our overnight site because Comanche Camp doesn't have purified water.

After cleanup, we hiked 2 1/4 miles down Rayado Canyon to Comanche Camp (9600 ft). I thoroughly enjoyed that walk. There was still lots of pine and fir, but we started to see more aspen again. There were lots of lush valley meadows full of wildflowers. I'm not a very religious person, but I decided that whoever or whatever made this world did a darned fine job.

Comanche Camp is the prettiest we've been in so far. We are right next to a clear, bubbling mountain stream (Rayado Creek) in the middle of a stand of ponderosa pine. I wouldn't mind staying here for a while...

Except for one thing: the mosquitoes. We haven't seen many before now, but here there are clouds of them. I've been wearing my full rain suit on the theory that they can't bite through Gore-Tex. It seems to be working.

The accumulated fatigue is starting to make tempers a bit short. Eric and Denny have been snapping at each other. Jason has been his normal, easy-going self, but Mark and Justin have also been a bit short. Don Greeley obviously noticed, and counseled the group this evening to recognize what was going on.

The "I called it" method of deciding things still seems to be in effect. Justin, in particular, doesn't seem to have the idea that things should be divided equitably. For example, Mark , Eric and Justin usually seem to be the ones who get the extra food. The adults (Roger, especially) spoke out about this today, saying that another method was needed.

We made hot chocolate at camp and then turned in. It's getting too dark to write, so to bed... (8:40).

July 16 (Day 6) Philips Junction and Apache Springs Camp

After breakfast as we were packing up, Denny couldn't find his socks. He had had them on the line to dry, but they were not there when I took the line down. They were gone! We looked all over until he realized that he was wearing them. Much embarrassment on his part. (I had told him that they were with my book.)

We started out down Rayado Creek at 8:45, arriving at Phillips Junction (8900 ft) 3 3/4 miles away around 10:00. We planned to pick up food and take showers. Or so we thought. No problems with food, but they have been having problems with their water supply. The pumps can't keep up with demand. [The pumps at many of the staffed camps run on solar cells. On full sunny days, they do OK. If it starts to get cloudy, they can fall behind. Combine this with the increased traffic this year and you have problems.] The campers had used all of the water the day before, so no showers until this afternoon. Too bad for us.

We ate lunch, stocked up on water [there was plenty for drinking], and headed out at 12:00. We hiked down Rayado Creek to Buck Creek (8800 ft), up Buck Creek to Buck Creek Camp (9120 ft.), over a ridge (9560 ft.) to Bear Canyon (9200 ft.), then over another ridge to Apache Springs (9400 ft.), A total of about 6 3/4 miles. [It turns out it would have saved about 1 1/5 miles to go via Fish Camp.]

When we were about 1/4 mile from Apache Springs, Jason slipped on some loose dirt, and fell and scraped his leg. Nothing terminal, but it was a bit bloody. Don bandaged him up, and we continued. Shortly after, he stopped again, saying that his leg felt numb, and had been before he fell. Don said that it is probably a pinched nerve from the waist belt. [I hadn't noticed it before, but after Jason mentioned it I noticed that my left outer thigh often would go numb. It would itch, but when I went to scratch there would be no sensation of scratching. A weird feeling, but as Don suggested, hitching my waist belt up cured it.]

Apache Springs is also very pretty, with a different character than where we have been before. There is a large open meadow in the valley. In the meadow are two tepees and the sweat lodges that we'll visit tomorrow. (We spend two days at Apache Springs.) One can easily imagine Indians camped here.

At Apache Springs, we met the crew that had been "attacked" by the bear at Ute Springs. They are on the same itinerary as us, just one day ahead. They had been preparing to leave Ute Springs when the incident happened. They had never heard the end of the story, so we filled them in.

We did laundry with cold water in a tub with a washboard. We didn't get things exactly clean, but at least cleaner. I was rather surprised by the fact that the first thing a number of the scouts did after setting up camp was go over to do laundry. We saw groups in base camp coming off the trail that looked like they hadn't done any laundry for two weeks.

The adults are showing some signs of wear. I think that I'm holding up pretty well, though I'll admit to being tired. Roger seems OK, but Denny said he almost didn't make it to camp today. Don has been having trouble with blisters on his feet. Every day he cuts out some more of his sleeping pad to make new insoles for his boots. Apparently, they don't hold up, and his soles are getting bruised. The boys are mostly OK. Justin has some large blisters on his feet.

After dinner, Mark, Justin, Don and I hiked up a hill to the edge of the Philmont property to see the sunset. It was nice, but there were clouds of mosquitoes! Thank Heaven for my rain suit. After sunset, Don and I went to the staff cabin where we sat with advisors from other crews, had hot chocolate, and talked. It's interesting to hear about the training other groups did before coming to Philmont. We did very little, by comparison.

July 17 (Day 7) Apache Springs Camp

Last night, Justin and Mark had discovered that the staff had a watermelon, and struck a deal with them. So, this morning we spent a couple of hours cutting firewood for the staff. In return, we'll get watermelon and a peach cobbler this evening. All of my hours spent cutting wood at Crystal Lake [where we usually vacation in Michigan] were good preparation. The camp staff said that we could use this as our one hour of unsupervised conservation work. [I suspect that they shouldn't have said that. It really isn't what the conservation project is supposed to be about, but I didn't feel like questioning the issue.]

After woodcutting, some of us tried our hands at flint knapping, making arrowheads from flint chips. It was tedious work. Several of my attempts failed when the darn things broke down the middle. I'm glad that my sustenance doesn't depend on food killed with arrowheads I've made.

After lunch, we hit the highlight of Apache Springs: the sweat lodges. We collected wood to make a large bonfire, in which we placed a bunch of chunks of lava rock. The rocks were heated to red hot. We then sat in a low hut made of canvas stretched over a wood frame. A bucket of glowing rocks was placed in the center. The door was closed on us, and then we ladled water on the rocks. The resulting steam, of course, caused everyone to sweat profusely. When the rocks stopped producing steam, we ran out and dumped buckets of cold water on ourselves. It was very refreshing, and made up for the lack of showers yesterday.

Then, we had a tour of the teepees, and were shown how they were built. We saw a number of articles used in Indian life.

It has rained off and on this afternoon, and as I write this (4:50) it is raining quite hard. This is the most rain we've had so far at Philmont. (I'm sitting under the awning that is used for flint knapping.) I've been wearing my tennies with the "Ovr Sox" liners my wife gave me for Christmas. They seem to be doing a good job of keeping my socks dry. Thank you, Ellen.

When the rain first started to fall earlier today, it brought up from the ground another new aroma, much like new-mown hay. I love the freshness of it.

Just before I left to work on this journal, before the rain started, I had decided that it would be a good idea to set up the dining fly. I started, and Roger joined in. Some of the group thought that we were wasting effort, but on my return I found most of them under the fly.

Eric says that he isn't feeling well. He might have caught Jason's cold. From Denny's reaction, I think he thinks Eric is faking. "Gee, Eric is feeling much better now that I washed his dishes for him." I'm afraid that I see some of Michael [my 15-yr-old son, who unfortunately elected to go to Sea Base this summer] and me in their relationship. I'll have to keep that in mind if Mike and I find ourselves in a similar situation.

Time to go for cobbler and watermelon.

The trip down Agua Fria Creek was fun. The trail was a bit hard to find in a number of places, being along the stream bed. And there were lots of stream crossings.

After setting up camp, putting stuff out to dry (the sun now being out), and shedding all unnecessary equipment, Eric, Justin, Lowell, Mark, Jason and I headed 2 1/4 miles up Rayado Canyon to Phillips Junction to pick up provisions. The canyon was quite spectacular, with sheer walls on either side in many places. The trail was nice to hike on, even though it was a 4WD road, nice and firm sand instead of the rocks on many roads. It took about an hour to get to P.J. The hike up Rayado had a number of stream crossings, too. In many cases, the foot crossing (usually a log across the creek, or stepping stones) was away from the 4WD crossing. The guys tended to plow right across the 4WD crossing, trusting their Gore-Tex boots. I found the bridges.

At P.J. we picked up provisions, but discovered that we weren't supposed to pick up lunch for today. We supposedly were given it at our last stop at P.J. Since Justin signed for it, we were out of luck. We managed to "liberate" enough stuff from the "swap box" to keep us together.

After picking up provisions and eating lunch, we took showers!! We had to promise to take Navy showers because the water tank was still low. Since there was already an adult in the showers, the "youth protection guidelines" meant that I got to go first. That was a first.

While the guys had their turn, there was an awful lot of coarse language coming out of the door. Another advisor who was waiting with his group of younger scouts took offense and spoke to them about it. The guys asked me later if they had been so very vulgar. I replied that they had been rather more coarse than would be expected of Boy Scouts. I don't think that they realize the bad impression that they make when they talk like that.

As we were passing the Fish Camp staff cabin on our way back to camp, Heather, a program counselor, yelled something to me. It was hard to hear her over the bubbling stream, but it sounded like she was offering to give donuts to runts. I thought that this was a rather nasty comments about our Scouts, who after all are not insubstantial. I went closer, and understood that she would trade donuts for runts. This seemed like a rather perverse proposal to me. Finally, she explained that Runts is a kind of candy that she'd hoped we'd brought back from the commissary. The guys were unhappy that she hadn't told us that before we left.

We returned to Fish Camp, shared an excellent lemon pie that Luke had made, and a (second) lunch of odds and ends. Then went to visit Waite Phillips' summer fishing lodge.

The lodge was a posh "rustic" cabin that he used to bring family and friends to for fishing vacations. It has lots of nice wood, in the building and in the original furniture. The dining room table has been appraised at $10,000.

We then went on to the program. We couldn't do fly tying because the building that's used for that activity is getting a new roof, but some of the guys did try out fly fishing. That not being much of a spectator sport, I returned to camp to write, read, and take a snooze.

The day cleared up nicely after the cloudy, damp start. We've dried everything that got wet. [That's one nice thing about this climate. As soon as the rain stops, it is usually dry enough that equipment dries out quickly.]

Eric is obviously feeling better today.

Denny took me downstream a quarter mile or so to where he and Roger found a skeleton. It looks like someone found some scattered pieces and laid them out in more-or-less lifelike form. We think it is a deer.

Justin and Lowell are cooking dinner tonight, and they are getting lots of help from the group. It is quite an amusing thing to watch. Cooking by committee can yield disastrous results. There seem to be at least five people in charge. There are more suggestions (mostly ridiculous) and recriminations than one would think possible. Don's and my tongues are bloody from being bitten.

Fish Camp has the most aggressive hummingbirds I've ever seen. There is a feeder on the porch of the cabin, and it has birds almost constantly. Since there are usually people there, too, they have become very tame. You can be standing 1 foot away, and they will still feed. If you hold your finger under the feeder at the correct level, they will perch on your finger to feed. The birds also flew around camp a lot. I don't know if there was a nest nearby, or if they thought we were edible, but one flew up and hovered 18 inches in front of my face several times, looking at me. Lowell was worried about them. He had been told that they had poisonous beaks.

July 19 (Day 9) New Abreu Camp

The trail today continued on down Rayado Canyon, but instead of following the river, it rose high (8860 ft) on the south wall of the canyon. There were some heavy switchbacks up, then mostly level trail until the switchbacks back down to New Abreu. It was a long hike today, about 7 3/4 miles.

We didn't get to watch the rushing river this time (except occasionally from afar), but the views were spectacular. There were several tall cliffs on the north side, including Lookout Peak and Crater Peak, that were quite something to view. We stopped for lunch in a cleft where the trail crossed a resistant layer. It afforded great views both up and down the canyon. Another crew stopped while we were there, and lots of group pictures were taken.

Today's hike was much more difficult than it should have been. Partly because it was downhill, but largely because the pace was much too fast. Another factor was the fact that the final descending switchbacks were through scrub oak that gave no shade from the midday sun . It was hot. Don tripped on a root and fell during the descent. It could have been much worse, there being lots of sharp rocks around, but he did get a nasty scrape on his shoulder. He also says that he might have cracked a rib. He says that he probably needs two days of observation at the health lodge. I think he's kidding.

Denny has been having lots of trouble with his feet. He has a large blister on one heel that is behind and under his foot. It is painful to walk, and he is seriously considering dropping out tomorrow. I hope that he doesn't have to. (Don has been cutting out pieces of his foam sleeping pad to use as insoles and blister pads for himself and Denny. The stuff apparently compresses after a day, so he has to make new ones. Each day he has a session, sitting with his foam pad and scissors. We have all been wondering if his pad will last through the week.) I feel more tired today than after climbing Mt. Phillips.

New Abreu was a nice change. There were showers! They also have a Mexican cantina that serves root beer, a very refreshing change. It tasted awfully good. Our guys skipped the adobe brick making (it sounded like too much work), but did participate in the burro race. They had to saddle and load the burro, race it down the road and back, unload it, and put away the equipment. They won in a photo finish, winning a pitcher of root beer at the cantina.

For dinner, we had tacos with buffalo meat. Fresh food! They were quite good. The cleanup crew grumbled more than a little about the mess, though.

Since we're getting closer to base camp, we're starting to meet "newbie" crews still with their rangers. We feel like seasoned veterans. And, I must say that our crew looks much less scruffy than some of the other veteran units.

We're running a bit short on fuel. They guys tend to let the stoves run and run, keeping water hot. Our dinner at Fish Camp, for example, used most of a bottle of fuel. We have four altogether. We're going to have to be more conservative. [As it happened, we ended up with plenty of leftover fuel.]

At the advisor's coffee in the evening, there was an advisor from Houston who has been to Philmont for many years. [In fact, we heard at the end of the trek that he had earned the "hiker of the day" award as the one who's been to Philmont the most times in the 711 group.] He clearly knows a lot about the area. He said that there is a bad bear problem because there have been several good years, yielding lots of cubs. There are lots of young bears that are more curious than older bears and tend to get into things more, and not enough older males to kill them off. Sending 20,000 campers through the area doesn't help. Rumor has it that they cut off registration at 12,000 next year and want to reduce it more after that. In the BLM lands near here, excess bears are weeded out. Here, they are protected unless an individual becomes a problem. The scouts are doing much better at containing smellables (One of the oft-heard mottoes here is "Feed a bear, kill a bear."), but there are still occasional crews that do bad things. Just the other day, a crew left a lemon pie out at night and it was eaten by a bear. They thought it was funny, but the bear will probably have to be shot.

Another interesting thing I heard: The profit from the commissary at base camp is twice what's needed to pay the staff salaries, but the program areas have trouble getting all of the materials that they need. I wonder how much of the income from Philmont is being siphoned off by the BSA for other things.

July 20 (Day 10) Aguila Camp

Eric was not feeling well last night (he told me later that he'd drunk too much root beer), so we decided to have him and Denny lead today to keep the pace down. However, before we'd gone 1/4 mile, Eric declared that he couldn't go on. It's a real shame for someone not to be able to complete the trek, but it sounded like he was about to throw up. Today's 3 3/4 mile hike up to Aguila at 8300 ft will not be too easy, so it seems best that he drop out. As I write this, Don, Justin and he are at the staff cabin making arrangements. I hope that we get out in time to get our conservation project done today. Otherwise, we'll have to do it tomorrow on the way to Miner's Park, and that will cut into the time for the program there.

One good thing - At base camp we were told that there might not be water at Aguila; the spring has been slowing down. However, the New Abreu camp director said that there is sufficient water at Aguila, so we don't need to pack everything in.

Today is starting out cool and mostly cloudy. That's good hiking weather, but I hope it doesn't turn into rain.

After recuperating for a while, Eric felt much better. He says he thinks that it was the watermelon that the camp staff gave him. I suppose stranger things have happened. [If, as he said, it was the root beer that upset his stomach, I guess that the watermelon cure is not at all far fetched.]

We set out again at 11:25, with Eric and Denny in the lead with lightened packs. They set a pretty good pace, so they seem to be feeling better.

The trail up to Aguila was nice, with some good views to the SE of the valley out to the plains below the Philmont mountains. We soon got into a lot of sparse pine forest, however, that blocked much of the view. The forests and meadows we passed through were enjoyable, however.

Shortly after noon, we started getting some lightning close by, so we stopped and ate lunch in the rain. The rain wasn't too hard, and soon ceased. We continued on and arrived at camp at 1:25.

Our original plan had been to do our conservation project at Stonewall Pass today. With Eric's illness it had looked like we'd have to wait until tomorrow. But, we made good enough time getting to camp that we decided we could do it today, after all.

Our assigned project was to work on a new trail up from Stonewall Pass. The old trail, which we had to walk down to get to the construction site, goes straight up a steep slope. The new trail has switchbacks through a large scrub oak area. It will be a beautiful trail, with a spectacular view of Tooth Ridge and out to the plain to the east. Unfortunately, the day was cloudy and hazy, so I took no pictures. If it had been clear, the work would have been awfully hot, but with the clouds it was pleasant for working.

We were assigned to do the rough cutting of a stretch of trail about 30 feet long. The location was marked, and we cut out the side of the hill to rough cut the trail. Other crews would follow later to smooth it out. We had to dig out the trail and cart the loose dirt back down the trail to fill in holes. There were a couple of large rocks in our way, and the guys enjoyed manhandling them out of the way and off of the trail.

We were supposed to work for three hours, but I think that we benefited from a surplus of crews today. Five crews showed up compared to two yesterday. I think that they didn't have enough equipment to keep us all busy at once. So, after an hour's work the conservation crew told us that we had done a great job and sent us on our way. We lucked out.

We had left Denny and Eric back at camp while we did the conservation work to recover from their ills and guard the camp from bears. Justin was extremely uncharitable about this, making lots of comments while we worked to the effect that Eric was just faking to get out of work, and Denny's feet wouldn't have been hurt by the work. He obviously hasn't seen Denny's feet.

We returned to camp to set up our tents. Denny and Eric had set up the dining fly. Soon after camp was set up we had another thunderstorm, this one quite hard, with 3/8-inch hail. A number of tents got pretty wet. We ate dinner under the dining fly. The hard rain let up after a while, but it's been drizzling off and on since.

The soil here is extremely rocky. Pitching the tents was a challenge; finding a spot where you could stick a stake into the ground was a hit-or-miss affair. You'd stick one a little way, hit a rock, change the angle and try again, and keep probing until you got it in far enough to do some good. Don remarked that it was kind of like doing a spinal tap.

There's another crew in camp next to us that has about the best esprit de corps than any I've seen. They seem to spend just about all of their time singing. They were singing when they did their conservation project earlier, when they hiked, and have been singing almost constantly in camp. It's kind of fun to hear, they are obviously having a good time. (They are on their first or second day out since they still have their ranger with them. I wonder how they'll be after a week of trail.)

We had rain off and on overnight. Several tents got pretty wet. One problem here is that the ground is extremely dense. The rain doesn't soak in, but just runs off.

July 21 (Day 11) Miner's Park Camp and Shaefer's Peak

With the rain and all of the other excitement yesterday, I never got a chance to look around the campsite. Other than the view of the Rayado valley and of the south end of Urraca Mesa, I didn't see how pretty the site itself is. The campsite itself is in a pine forest with pretty rocky soil, but just next to it is a meadow, and beyond the meadow rise the cliffs that define the edge of Fowler Mesa.

As I returned to camp from watching the sunrise I encountered Denny and Roger on the way to the bear cable. As we toted the "smellables" back to camp, we saw three young deer, a yearling buck and two does, frolicking in the meadow. Later, I got a nice (I hope) picture of several deer grazing in the meadow with the cliffs in the background. [The picture didn't come out very well. With the cliffs in the sun and the meadow in shade, there was too much contrast. Too bad.]

I returned to camp at 6:00, about the time that the rest of the crew was rising. The singing group (they're from Michigan) had been singing "Who Will Buy This Wonderful Morning," starting around 5:30. I'll admit that even I found that hard to take.

We ate, packed up, and left camp at 8:15.

We started out with Jason in the lead, and he, Justin, Mark and Lowell set a much too fast pace for Eric and Denny. We kept "double whistling" for them to stop and let us catch up (two blasts on a whistle was our signal that the group was too strung out and needed to get back together). Don finally called a crew meeting. He said that people were getting tired, but that we still needed to work together as a crew. Some of us can't go as fast due to blisters and tired legs, and the kind of comments we were getting were just not acceptable.

From there on, Denny and Eric lead, still setting a reasonable pace. We passed two groups that had left Aguila before us on their 3rd day out.

We passed through Crater Lake Camp (8400 ft, 2 1/2 miles), stayed for a brief rest, and continued on 1 1/2 miles to Miner's Park (7990 ft), arriving at 10:30.

The day has been pretty cloudy, and that obscured some of the nice views of the Tooth Ridge that we would have had on the hike. It was a fairly easy hike through a lot of pine forests.

Today, as in several past days, the guys have taken to singing "Oh-ee-oh (rest) Oh-Ohhhh-Oh," like the wicked witch's soldiers in The Wizard of Oz, as they hiked.

At Miner's Park, they assigned us a very pleasant campsite next to a large meadow. There were peepers singing constantly in the meadow. It cleared up a bit for a while, giving us a chance to dry some things out. Unfortunately, we don't plan to spend much time here. We plan to continue on this evening and spend the night on Shaefer's Peak, the highest point in the tooth ridge to be there for sunrise. It's not exactly allowed by Philmont rules, but apparently lots of people do it.

The "patter" of the guy doing the demonstration was amusing. They made a big point of everyone wearing a helmet when they were anywhere near the rocks. The spiel went something like this:

If you hear someone yell Rock!' or Rope!,' don't look up. It means that something is falling, and if you look up you might get hit in the face. That would leave a big mark, that we'd hate to have to explain to your mother. Keep your head level so whatever it is hits your helmet.

Now, if you hear Boulder!' or Ledge!' [the latter referring to the large ledge that hung over the climbing area], it's OK to look up; the helmet won't do much good. In fact, if you have a camera, we want you to quickly take a picture straight up and then throw the camera as far as you can. Afterwards, we'll develop the pictures and send them home. It is helpful in this situation if you stand with your head level and your arms to your sides. That way, when the ledge lands you'll be smushed up into your helmet. After we pick up the rocks, we can wrap some plastic wrap around it and send you home.

Back in camp, I ran across a fairly young group on its second day out. They were just arriving in camp. One of the boys was asking plaintively if they had to sleep in their own tents again. (They were passing the big tents, much like those in base camp, that the staff stays in.) "Yes," the ranger said, "for the rest of the trip." He was also explaining why they had arrived too late for the program. "First, we spent an hour too long at breakfast. Then, we had to stop and rest too many times. We're going to have to work faster if we're going to be able to do things." They're going to have a long trek. I think that they were a good example for why it would be a good idea to raise the lower age requirement.

We left Miner's Park right on schedule, 25 min. late at 7:25 PM. We took a roundabout route out of camp to avoid the staff area; we really were supposed to spend the night at Miner's Park.

Our route took us up over a pass at 8400 ft, down across the North Fork of the Urraca River (7960 ft), up through Shaefer's Pass Camp (8785 ft, 2 1/2 miles from Miner's Park), and then 1 1/4 miles up to the top of Shaefer's Peak (9414 ft). By the time we were half-way up from the river to Shaefer's Camp, it was pretty dark.

For first time, Your Humble Scribe got a chance to lead the group. We set a good, steady pace, brisk, but slow enough that we didn't get strung out. With only 2 or 3 short rests, we reached the peak in 2 hr 10 min, arriving at 10:35. We didn't need flashlights. There was a rousing cheer when we attained the peak. The entire crew congratulated each other on the good group effort.

The climb would have been another scenic one, giving a nice view of the North Fork of the Urraca River valley, Shaefer's Peak, and from Shaefer's Peak Black and Bear Mountains. We could see all of this fairly well under the full moon, even with the high clouds), but it was too dark for pictures.

At the peak [and, later, other peaks of the Tooth Ridge], we found that everything was crawling with ladybugs. Every tree and bush had them. Anything we put down would end up crawling with them. It seemed really strange. Why are they there, in such a barren area? Is there that much around for them to eat?

The earlier rains had stopped by the time we left Miner's Park, but it was still cloudy with lightening in the distance. There was a damp wind blowing across the summit. Denny and Roger pitched a tent in a meadow below the peak. The rest of us bedded down under the stars (well, the clouds) right at the summit. Don and helpers put up the dining fly as a shelter against the threatening rain. Most of us just plunked down our pads on the rocks. I put our tent's ground cloth on the damp ground and kept the tent fly nearby to throw over me in case of emergency, but otherwise could watch the sky.

The weather threatened for a while, growing steadily more dark and rainy looking, but sometime after midnight it cleared up revealing a lovely sky. The moon was full and there was still a haze in the sky, so there weren't many stars. But we could see the biggies, and the full moon let us see a lot of the surrounding country. The lights of Cimarron were also clear.

I was surprised at how comfortable I was lying on my mat on the loose rocks on the peak of a mountain, with nothing between me and the wind and the sky but my sleeping bag (and my long undies). I lay on my back with my mummy top pulled tight, watching the stars and the occasional meteor. Very peaceful. Unfortunately, the dining fly kept flapping noisily in the wind, keeping me awake. I didn't get much sleep, but enjoyed myself anyway.

July 22 (Day 12) Tooth Ridge to Base Camp

After a breakfast of granola and hot chocolate, we got ready to leave. During this time, another crew that had stopped for the sunrise provided an interesting contrast to our crew. It hadn't occurred to me before then, but in our crew, each individual did a very good job of carrying weight to his own ability. We never had any trouble dividing up the crew equipment or food. Stuff would be put out as we packed to go, people would pack, and everything would be gone. If you didn't grab something soon enough, you could be left with nothing to carry. People would offer to carry things for others if it appeared that someone had more than their share.

The other crew packed up, and there was some small bit of equipment left over. The crew chief decided that one particular boy should carry it, but the boy declared loudly that he would not. There was a long, heated argument, during which the crew chief chased the other boy around trying to stuff the item into his pack, while the boy screamed "keep away from me." I don't know who ended up carrying the thing, but the whole scene was rather distasteful.

We left Shaefer's Peak at 7:20 to hike along the Tooth Ridge back to base camp. The walk was a difficult one, with a 3000 foot drop over 5 3/4 miles (not including the side trip up the Tooth of Time). Hiking downhill is harder on the feet and knees than uphill, and to make things worse the trail was very rough and rocky in many places. Denny's feet were giving him a lot of pain, and that slowed us down. Even I got my first blister of the trip. (That might have partly been due to wearing a different pair of socks.) As a result, the pace was rather less than the older scouts would have liked, and they let us know it.

The hike along the Tooth Ridge gave fantastic views. The day was clear, giving us crisp views of Urraca and Fowler's Mesas to the south, Mt. Baldy to the north, and the lower plains to the east. We could see Cathedral Rock to the north; it looked puny from this perspective.

Roger was leading today, and he was quite concerned when the trail started to switchback down the north side of the ridge. He was afraid that we'd lost the trail, but the guys assured us that we were going the right way. They were right.

When we reached the Tooth of Time, we left our packs and took a side hike to the top. The last part of the climb is over piles of sharp-edged slabs of rock that have been split off of the igneous intrusion that makes up the ridge.

The view from the top was one of the best we've had, being unobstructed by trees in any direction. It was hard to leave, but we needed to press on.

As we left the Tooth, Justin, Jason, Lowell and Mark went ahead to return to the "You Made It" gate at their own pace. The rest of us pushed on at a slower rate, slowed by the uneven descending trail. I was glad to be keeping a slow pace, too.

The latter part of the trail was not as enjoyable as the first. The ponderosa pine forest through which we traveled was thick enough to block most of the views, but not thick enough to provide much shade. I began to wish I had more water with me. We did see some very impressive rock formations, however.

We made it back to the "You Made It" gate at 12:15 (the four guys had gotten there about an hour earlier), took the obligatory pictures, then went on to camp. We visited the soda machines (!!), ate lunch, took showers, got our gear checked in, and took naps.

In the evening we went to the final campfire. It was part pep rally (as if we needed any pepping up), part comedy act, and part awards ceremony, set against a backdrop of the Tooth Ridge in the full moon. The comedy act was fun, and the awards a happy end to a challenging couple of weeks. We learned that, for the first time, there was a crew from Siberia at Philmont. They got a rousing cheer.

The cot in my tent was too saggy. I slept on the mattress on the floor.

July 23 (Day 13) Return to Urbana

We proceeded to the Goods', where we packed, and then headed to the airport for our 5:40 flight to St. Louis.

On the way through the security gate, Justin was pulled to the side - there was something in his bag that the security people didn't like. The made him start pulling things out of his bag. I've been stopped so many times before in airports for perfectly innocent things in my bag that I didn't think anything of it. Justin, however, was probably thinking about what we'd told him at the St. Louis airport about what happens to people who mess with the security people. He was pretty freaked. It wasn't until I saw him pull out the "We Made It" plaque that was presented at the final campfire that I remembered the notice posted at camp: If you try to take one of those plaques through security, they will search your bag. It's opaque to X-rays.

On the way home, at least three people stopped us, asked if we were returning from Philmont, and then said how much fun they, or a family member, had had there. The flight attendant on the plane got so absorbed telling me about her brother's Scouting experiences that she almost forgot to give some of our guys dinner.

The flight home was a bit bumpy, but mostly uneventful. We were met at the St. Louis airport by John Chandler, Jason's dad, who drove some of us back to Urbana. We arrived after midnight after a long day of travel.

Our trip is over. Now, it's time for recovery.

Postscript

The advisers in our crew tried very hard (with a fair amount of success, I believe) to let the youth run things as much as possible. We made our opinions known, and had a vote in decisions, but tried not to impose authority except when health, safety, or official policies were involved.

This contrasted with the style of a number of other crews we met. I remember, in particular, one advisor who said that his crew had to be on the trail by 7:00 every day. If they didn't make it, he made the guys get up 15 minutes earlier the next morning. They currently were getting up at 4:30. I would have liked to leave earlier than we did, but that was ridiculous.

Another thing I wanted to mention was the fact that much of Philmont appears to be a forest fire waiting to happen. It is apparent that there hasn't been a good fire in the area for quite a long time. Many areas we passed through were littered with dead, fallen branches and trees. If a fire ever does get started there, it will have a lot to work on. I hope that they aren't setting themselves up for a major disaster.