Philmont Scout Ranch
Northeast New Mexico
Summer Camp 2001 |
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| Troop 129, crew 704C, departing Oak Ridge | Spar Pole climbing at Pueblano |
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| In July 2001, ten scouts and adult leaders from troop 129 went to the Philmont Scout Ranch in northeast New Mexico for 11 days of backpacking in the Rocky Mountains. Philmont is 137,000 acres owned by the Boy Scouts of America and used for high adventure backpacking. We were Philmont crew #704C and hiked trek #21.
Crew 704C members:
Crew Leader - Nevin Sharma
Other Scouts - Phil Davis, Josh Fields, Sam Kershaw, Caleb Waddle, Than Walker
Adult Leaders - Larry Blair, Jim McCauley, John Sullivan, Hal Waddle
We left Oak Ridge on June 30th for our trip to Philmont. On the way out, we toured the Archway National Park in St. Louis, Missouri; historic Dodge City, Kansas; Old Bent's Fort in southeast Colorado (historic national park on Santa Fe Trail); mountains in southeast Colorado and northeast New Mexico; and Villa Philmonte (Waite Phillips' mansion at Philmont). We stayed overnight at: Scott Air Force Base near O'Fallon, Illinois; McConnel Air Force Base in Wichita, Kansas; Trinidad, Colorado National Guard Armory; and a motel in Raton New Mexico.
We arrived early on July 4th at Philmont and made final preparations for our backpacking trek: equipment and food; training on safety, camping, first aid, etc.; medical rechecks; information about trails, water, and campsites; a little time at the snack bar and trading post; meals in the dining hall; opening campfire; and packing our backpacks for the trail. That night we slept in tents with cots at Philmont headquarters (tent city).
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| Head of Dean - Challenge Course | Head of Dean campsite |
Early in the morning July 5th through early afternoon of July 15th we were backpacking through the valleys and over the mountains in Philmont. We started at Sioux Camp in the north country. Our trek included campsites at Pueblano, Head of Dean, Ute Meadows, Upper Dean Cow, Upper Bench, Cimarroncito, and Ponderosa Park.
Our hike included Wilson Mesa, Miranda, Baldy Mountain, Hidden Valley, Cathedral Rock, Schaeffer's Pass and Peak, and the Tooth-of-Time.
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| Baldy Skyline trail | Crew approaching Miranda Camp |
We climbed spar poles at Pueblano; did challenge events at Head of Dean; loaded/shot 50 caliber, muzzle loading rifles and threw tomahawks at Miranda; hiked Baldy (Baldy town up and via Copper Park down), toured Aztec gold mine, rock climbed at "Cito" (Cimarroncito), toured Waite Phillips hunting lodge near Cathedral Rock, and rode horses and branded our boots at Clark's Fork.
We did our conservation project near Head of Dean camp. The conservation work consisted of thinning out the forest and making it more like it would be naturally if forest fires were allowed. [This forest thinning work helped decrease the damage caused by the large forest fires at Philmont in early June 2002.]
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| Crew on top of Baldy | Skyline trail overlook |
After hiking up Schaeffer's pass and Schaeffer's peak we climbed to the top of the Tooth-of-Time and then hiked on into Philmont headquarters in the afternoon of July 15th.
WE MADE IT!
After checking in the Philmont equipment we enjoyed warm showers, indoor plumbing, the snack bar, and an evening meal at a restaurant in the village of Cimarron (4 miles from Philmont headquarters). That evening we attended the closing campfire at Philmont headquarters and slept that night in tent city.
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| Crew on trail at Vista Grande | Climbing at "Cito" |
The morning of July 16th, after breakfast in the headquarters dining hall, we loaded up the van and jeep and headed back to Oak Ridge. The first night we stayed at the Clinton, Oklahoma National Guard Armory and the second night we stayed in a dormitory at Central Arkansas University in Conway, Arkansas. Early in the evening on July 18th we arrived back in Oak Ridge full of great memories and tales to share.
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