The Journey is the Experience: Philmont Crew 705-J4
Philmont was really a great experience. Our Crew leader was Kynan F. and other scouts included Peter O., Justin M., Timmy F., Derek R., Chris N., Kevin D., Andrew P., Nick D., and myself. Our two adult leaders were Mr. Franke and Mr. Smith. Starting bright and early at 3 a.m., we took the “Cool Bus,” owned by Mr. Nesbitt, to the Dulles Airport from the IHOP in Sterling. We caught a plane to Denver, where we were met by our Blue Sky Adventures coordinator, a subcontractor of Philmont. We were immediately taken on a tour of the famous Red Rock Amphitheater, where they were preparing for a Foster the People concert. After spending some time there, we ate at the Country Buffet and took a cog railway to the top of Pikes Peak. There was a gift shop waiting for us stocked with donuts and fudge. At the bottom, we took a bus to the University of Colorado, where we ate dinner and stayed for the night. At the dorm we stayed at there was a rec-center nearby where scouts enjoyed a final swim, table tennis, basketball, and relaxing in a hot tub. Along with these activities was mohawk-cutting, lead by Nick, Chris , and Kevin. In the morning we ate breakfast and took the same bus to the Echo Canyon Outfitters where we were taken on a whitewater rafting trip down the Arkansas River. There were these massive walls of rock on both sides and it was really cool. It was definitely my favorite part of the trip with Blue Sky Adventures. After the rafting trip, we ate and went to the Air Force Academy, where we toured their famous chapel. The following morning we woke up early and took a three hour bus ride to Cimarron, New Mexico. Our time with Blue Sky Adventures had ended, and we were finally at Philmont!
We unpacked our stuff from the bus and were led through a series of mandatory procedural activities and temporary tent assignments. We stayed for the night in these summer-camp type tents. We woke up bright and early the following day and loaded our backpacks into the back of a slightly less nice bus than the one which we took to Philmont. After driving for about half an hour we stepped out of the last automobile we would ride in for the next ten days. Crew 705-J4 had finally reached the moment which we had all been preparing for for the past three months!
There is so much to tell about the actual 10 days in the New Mexico backcountry, I can only touch on some of the most exciting activities and experiences. Let’s see…I should probably explain a few things about Philmont first. At Philmont, there are two different types of camping facilities and three different types of bathroom facilities. Staff camps have activities to do if you have time and have drinking water from a spigot. This is also where you refill your food supply every 2 to 3 days. They are usually nicer and have “Red Roof Inns”, or latrines, the only enclosed bathroom facilities at Philmont. And let’s get another thing straight. At Philmont, there’s no plumbing, and with no plumbing, there is no washer and no dryer. All clothes were cleaned by putting them in a bag with water and shaking them. All bathrooms are holes, some deeper than others. The other two ways of disposing of human waste are Bombadiers and straight out holes which you dig with a shovel. The latter is somewhat self-evident, and you probably wouldn’t want to know how the former worked. The second type of camping facility is a trail camp. Here, you have to purify your own water, and the sleeping areas tend to be not as nice. At staff camp, there are activities such as .50 cal black powder rifle shooting, spar-climbing up 30 foot poles, throwing tomahawks, and playing Mountainball, the entertainment of the mountain men of Camp Miranda. Mattock handles replaced baseballbats and we ran all five bases.
Our two side hikes were to the famous Tooth of Time and Mount Baldy, both hikes that were done without taking all of our packs. We simply used our day packs, and took our rain gear and two 32.oz Nalgenes. The Tooth of Time was beautiful and Mount Baldy made you think you were on top of the world,literally. At 14,000+ feet above sea level, Mount Baldy is all rock and is too high up for any plants to grow. On the day before we left Philmont, we stopped at the Ponil staff camp. It was easily the funnest time of the trip. It was a massive camp with a Cantina where you could get root beer, Toblerone chocolate, and beef jerky.
At Ponil, we rode horses and got our hats and water bottles branded. We practiced lassoing and returned the burro(donkey) we had rented for two days to carry some of our weight. Ponil was almost everyone’s favorite staff camp, and I thought it was lots of fun. They fed us a Chuck Wagon dinner and breakfast, the first meals we hadn’t made for ourselves in nine days. Ponil also had hot showers. Now that felt GREAT. The morning we left Ponil, we only had to hike a quarter mile to the rendezvous point where we were picked up by a bus. It was an amazing feeling to be back in a moving vehicle. We stayed at base camp for the rest of the day, going to the Tooth of Time Traders trading post and just enjoying the some of the things we had previously taken for granted, like running water, good food, and beds. A Blue Sky Adventures bus took us from Philmont the following morning. We had hiked 85 miles.
The bus took us to the Denver airport, but not before stopping at the Country Buffet, one more time, for some hot, non-freeze-dried food. In fact, it was the best food we had the whole trip. The plane ride was somewhat uneventful, although I personally wouldn’t have minded it being a little shorter. We walked out of Dulles Airport to be greeted by Mr. Nesbitt and the Cool Bus, fully stocked with sodas and couches, which at that point felt amazing after sleeping on a tent floor for ten days. We returned to St. Francis where our parents picked us up, and we parted ways with the crew which we had worked together with for the past two weeks. The feeling was bittersweet. From our failures, we learned. Through our successes, we prevailed. But although the adventure was over for Crew 705-J4, it instilled in each of us the memory of an experience which we will never forget.
-Patrick R.
-Lead Historian
-Philmont Crew Member
