Thursday, June 23,2005 - Day 1 of 12

We arrive at Philmont Scout Ranch shortly before 9. Our crew leader and Adult Advisor go check in at the Welcome Center. The remainder of the crew gathers our gear and form a pack line. Shortly we meet our ranger, Mark Newsline, and get started on our day of indoctrination. Our leaders, Robert Rogers and Don Perkins, check in with news and photo services, then itinerary. After this the crew gets our group picture taken and drop off our gear in out tent in Tent City.

After lunch we proceed to medical re-check, where they go over your medical forms, making sure everybody had the medicines necessary for the trek, blood pressure and any other issues. After a couple of re-checks on blood pressure, everybody was approved. We then went to get our crew gear. Here we received tents for any that did not bring tents, rain fly and food for our first three (3) days on the trek.

Now our Ranger, Mark, goes through the gear check list to make sure that everybody has all they need for the trek and not any extra items.

After this, the crew was free until supper. Many went to the trading post for some shopping and cokes and ice cream.

At 7 pm, it was time for Chapel services, there were four (4) options to choose from. Then it was off to the opening campfire and then lights out at 10:30 pm.

Friday, June 24, 2005 - Day 2 of 12

Our final morning in base camp. Breakfast is at 6:30 am and afterwards, we return to our tents for a final cleaning. Our bus is scheduled to leave at 10 am so the crew is to have a pack line formed by 9:45 at the Welcome Center for the departure. G2 and G4 are both on the same bus, which drops us off as Zastro turnaround.

Ranger Mark gives us some final instructions before we get on the trail and start hiking to our first camp.

The hike is short but thunder and lighting start happening all around us. We quickly try to get camp setup. As we are finishing, the rain starts coming down hard on us and the lighting is right on top of us. It passes in about 30 minutes.

Mark then prepares our first supper on the trail. We get to learn about freeze-dried food and compacting trash.

After supper comes cleanup. Everybody has to sump their own dishes and somebody then has to sump the cooking utensils. This means getting rid of all the food to cut down on smellables for bear protection. Scott and Colton step up and handle this job. Scott becomes our sump-man for the remainder of the trip.

We also get instructions in using the Red Roof Inn (latrine). You have to watch out for spiders.

After dinner and cleanup, we head back down to Zastrow for advisor's coffee and the scouts to play Zastrowball. A made-up game based on baseball. They play for a couple of hours and thoroughly enjoy themselves.

Saturday, June 25, 2005 - Day 3 of 12

We leave our first camp at 7:15 am on our way to Carson Meadows. On the way we stop at Abreyou for programs. Here the scouts get to milk goats, make adobe bricks and drink root beer.

Next we proceeded to our night camp at Carson Meadows. We had to fight rain again on our second day. We made it to Carson Meadows and set-up camp and then went to the staff cabin for programs. We waited for a break in the rain and the scouts participated in Search and Rescue program at this camp. The advisors stayed on the porch and enjoyed the hospitality of the staff with some coffee and cake.

Sunday, June 26, 2005 - Day 4 of 12

We have a long hike today to Fish Camp. We decided to break camp early and eat breakfast at The Notch. This was also the day our Ranger Mark Newsline would leave and go back to base camp. The Notch was made by Waite Phillip when he owned the land and used the valley below as a fishing camp.

Again, we had to battle the rain and a little bit of hail as we hiked down to Fish Camp. We make it to camp by 2:30 and sign-in with the staff. Set-up camp and then the boys go learn how to make "Flies" for trout fishing at 4. Afterwards, some tried their hand at fly-fishing with their very own flies.

Monday, June 27, 2005 - Day 5 of 12

It rained throughout the night and we only had a 4 mile hike today so we didn't start hiking today until 9:30 so the tents and gear could dry out. The demon mini-bears (chipmunks) attacked last night. We had two (2) casualties. Colton Knowles' and Steve Mangan's water bladders tubes were destroyed.

As we hiked out of the valley that Fish Camp was situated, we crossed several streams making the hike a very pleasant experience. When we hike, we use the point system which allows everybody a chance to lead and also a rest period as the lead person goes on point. Steve Mangan had a very interesting experience as he went on point, he stepped back off the trail to let everybody pass, a rattlesnake let its presence be known. Steve quickly jumps to the other side and gets everybody to give it a wide berth.

As we reach Aqua Fria we are through the valley and we start the switch-backs up to Apache Springs. We make it to camp by noon and have lunch. After lunch, we sign in with the staff and get our camp and sign-up for the different activities, 3-D archery, sweat lodge and sunset tour.

Since there has been no rain today, many take the opportunity to dry out wet gear. Some even take a small nap on their sleeping pads out in the sunshine.

The Sunset Tour turns out to be about a 2 mile hike to the other side of the peak to watch the sunset over Webster peak. On the way up the mountain, we run into a grouse; a bird a little bigger than a chicken. We must be close to its nest as it starts attacking some of the scouts.

Tuesday, June 28, 2005 - Day 6 of 12

Today is our lay-over so we will spend a second night at Apache Springs. We are to do our conservation project today. We need to be at the staff cabin by 7:45 am so we have an easy start today.

AT 8 am, the conservationists lead us to the trail we will be working on today. They are building a new switch-back with a grade of 8. The old trail has a grade of 35 - 45. We are given a safety talk, a talk about the conservation effort at Philmont and a discussion of the tools we will be using. After this, we are given gloves and hard hats and proceed to the portion of the trail that we will be working on.

At 11:30 we start back to camp and have lunch. Afterwards, the planned activities for the scouts begin and this keeps everybody busy until supper. We have a late supper and everybody heads off to the tents a little early as we have a long hike tomorrow.

Wednesday, June 29, 2005 - Day 7 of 12

Today turns out to be our toughest day of hiking; it is going to be one of our longest hikes. We wake up at 5:30 am, have breakfast, break camp and start our day hiking at 7:15. We have to hike up to 10,600' before we head down to Phillip Junction When we get to Phillip Junction we have lunch, get our next 3 days of food, refill our fuel bottles and have some oranges and apples. After our break, we start hiking to Crooked Creek before heading to our camp at Wild Horses.

Once at Crooked Creek, we run into Mike Marshall and his crew. We chat for awhile and the scouts skip the activities at this camp because we have 3 more hours of hiking before we get to our night camp. The last portion of the hike turned out to be up a grade of 50. Everybody is tired, the scouts make dinner. There is no purified water at this camp but there is no water at our next camp, so Don Perkins, Tom Rogers and Steve Mangan make the hike to fill everybody's Nalgenes, all 24 of them and then purify them. By the time, they got back supper was ready and everybody ate, cleaned up and went to bed.

Thursday, June 30, 2005 - Day 8 of 12

This is probably going to be our second hardest day of hiking. This is the day we climb to the top of Mt. Phillips. We leave Wild Horse and head to Clear Creek. We have to climb up to 10,600' before heading down. We arrive around 11:45 and check in at the cabin. It is supposed to be a Trading Post for trappers. The scouts get to throw tomahawks, learn how beavers were trapped in the early days of the American frontier.

Afterwards, we head to an open campsite for lunch. We have decided to cook our supper for lunch and save the dry, non-cooking meal for supper on top of Mt. Phillips. There is no water at the top, this way we can re-fill our water before heading to the dry camp. We run into G1 again. We get everything cleaned up and re-packed and leave around 1:30 for our assualt on Mt. Phillips. This trek will be uphill all the way. As we get closer we are walking on rocks all of the way up. We finally make it, take some pictures and go to set-up camp. Afterwards we head back to the summit to eat our supper and watch the sunset. The mosquitoes are horrendous at the top so we quickly head to the tents after the sunset.

Friday, July 1, 2005 - Day 9 of 12

We have a relatively short hike today, roughly 5 miles, so we slept in until 7 am. and start hiking around 9 am. We are going downhill today but we had to climb Comanche Peak before going to Cypers Mine.

We arrive at 1 pm and check-in and get our times for the programs. Because it is so rocky here, we do not have to set up tents but sleep in wooden lean-tos.

We take a tour of the Contention Mine and then head over to the blacksmith. Each of the scouts get to take a turn being a blacksmith. They make a curved S hook. It is decided to make a plaque with it and give it to Mr. Bereit since he had to drop from the crew.

After supper tonight, we head to The Stomp at 8 pm. This is where the staff from the camp put on a show. They tell jokes and sing songs. After it was finished, they started taking requests. They played until 9:45 pm and everybody had a great time.

Saturday, July 2, 2005 - Day 10 of 12

We have a beautiful hike down the mountain from Cyphers Mine along the stream. It was one of the nicest hikes of the trek.

On our way to our next camp, we pass the Hunting Lodge. We stop and tour the lodge, which is basically unchanged since Waite Phillips built it. Talking with the staff, we learn that G4 spent the night here last night.

After the tour we resume our hike to our next camp, Cimarroncito. We set up camp and eat lunch. There are hot showers at this camp, so after lunch, the adult advisors head to the showers. The scouts are scheduled for later in the afternoon. G-1 is also staying at this camp and they get the camp-site next to ours. We have to hike to Ute Gulge to pick up our food for the remainder of the trek. Steve Cabrero, Elan Cabrero and Colton Knowles from our crew go with several from G-1 for the 2-3 mile hike.

Robert and Tyler, along with Tom Rogers, participate in the rock climbing that is offered at this camp. After this activity it is time for our supper. Since this is the Jewish Sabbath, Steve, Elan and David Cabrero lead us in a short Jewish devotional. Later this evening, there is rock wall climbing down at the cabin. Anybody who makes it all the way around the artificial wall gets a box of donuts. Unfortunately, nobody in any crew makes this night.

Sunday, July 3, 2005 - Day 11 of 12

Our next to last day on the trail. We start hiking to our next stop and along the way we come upon Cathedral Rock. This is a beautiful spot and there is no better place to have our Sunday devotional which is led by Colton Knowles, our crew chaplain.

We make it to Clark's Fork where we will have our afternoon activities. This includes horseback riding at 1 pm, learning how to brand and our chuck wagon meal. We get there a little before lunch so we go do our branding first. Everybody gets to brand. Some brand hats, belts and pieces of wood. This is pretty neat. The meal is not until 5:30 pm so we have a lot of time to pass. There is horse-shoes and checkers for people to play. Our meal tonight is beef stew and peach cobbler. After dinner, we start hiking to our camp-site, Ponderosa Park. The camp-sites are not clearly marked and so we have a difficult time getting a camp-site and getting ready for the night. Since we have to get an early start in the morning, the scouts decide to collectively sleep under the dining fly and not pitch individual tents. The adults pitch their tents.

Monday, July 4, 2005 - Day 12 of 12

We get up at 4 to get an early start on the day's hike. We have a goal to meet the other crews at Tooth of Time at 11 am; this is a troop tradition and we do not want to break it. We make it to Schaeffer's Pass by 7 am and we are doing good. There is one last chance to fill water bottles. We have now have to hike to the top of Schaeffer's before heading over the ridge toward the Tooth. This is hard hiking as it is over rocks and boulders. WE MAKE IT. It is 10:30 when we get there and we made our challenge to ourselves. Now all of the crews hike to the very top of the Tooth for picture taking and then back down for the last 2 hour hike to base camp. We hike in to the gate as a troop and we are greeted by Mike Hyde, Bob Bereit, Dave and Judy Dickerson, Beverly and John Roers, Bunny Evans and . They have soft drinks and candy bars for us, it is wonderful. We take a little time to rest and greet everybody but we are not finished. We have to finish hiking in to base camp, turn in all of our gear. After this, we are then free to get cleaned up, taking a shower and getting into our Class A uniforms for the closing campfire. There is time now for a little shopping at the trading post and having some ice cream. We go to the closing camp-fire, it is a fun time and also a very emotional time. It is now time to go back to our tents for our final night at Philmont.