July 9, 1996Day 1 - Albuquerque to PhilmontWe got up with the sun, at 5:30 AM. Except that we could not see the sun, as it was raining! We had prayed for rain for the last 9 months or so, and it had finally started raining the past week. This morning it was very gray, and looked very threatening. The backpacks were all packed. The car was gassed up, and we were ready to go! We dropped Tommy off at his Grandmother's house. He couldn't go up with us as he had a swimming lesson. We got to the church, and most everyone was there. Even Monty, one of the Assistant Scoutmasters, was there to see us off and to wish us a good trip. Monty had helped me a lot with the prep hikes, and was a big help in my planning, as he had been a Philmont ranger in his younger days. We took a group photo, and loaded up the gear. Then we said our good-byes, and hit the road.... all the way to McDonalds, to get breakfast! 30 minutes later, we were back on the road again, this time for real. It's a 4 hour drive to Philmont for us, and we only stopped once, to take care of a vacuum line problem on John's van. Matt F. rode with me, along with Matt B. and Beth, Mike J. rode with his parents and the gear, and the rest of the crew rode with John F. Once we got near Springer, NM, we kept trying to catch a early view of the Tooth Of Time, but to no avail, due to the weather. We pulled into the Philmont Scout Ranch welcome center at 11 AM. Something was wrong, though. The famous Philmont arch was no longer there! This is the arch that always has boots and shoes hanging from it during the hiking season. I'll have to get to the bottom of this mystery. The welcome center is new, too. The old welcome center had burned down two years ago, and the new one is really nice. The favorite part for most of us were the "laser-guided toilets". The type that flush automatically. We checked in at the welcome center, and our adventure officially started. Our itinerary number is 709-H. We got a bunch of paper work, got our tent assignments and waited for our ranger. A few minutes later, Kyle Taylor, a sophomore at West Georgia College, came up and introduced himself. This is Kyle's first year at Philmont as a ranger, but he did a trek a few years ago with his Troop, 138, from Carrloton, Georgia. Kyle had us get our gear together, and took us to our tents in the incoming tent city. We dumped our stuff in the tents, and then started going through the lengthy check in procedure. First, I had to go to registration, to check our account balance, and to find out what to do and where. This took about 10 minutes, and then it was time to go to lunch. Incoming crews eat at noon, and the crews just off of the trail eat 30 minutes later. All of the crews meet in a central area next to the dinning hall, and then your ranger leads you in. Every crew stops at the door, removes all hats, and recites the Philmont Grace. Then you join the que, and about 20 minutes later, you get your food. This meal was pizza, vegetables, and orange sherbet. After lunch we went to logistics. It is here that you find out the details about your route. You see the "big board", where Philmont tracks each and every crew on the trails. You check the trail status board, showing any closed trails or trails under repair. Then the water status board, showing water availability at each back country camp. We were told that Philmont Scout Ranch was still under a total fire ban, even though it had rained quite a bit in the last 10 days or so. Then we met with a staff member, who told us about the camps we would be at, some of the activities that we could do, and other points of interest along our route. After logistics, Mike, Kyle, John and I went to meet up with the rest of the crew at the snack bar. After we got everyone together, we went to the medical center. While we waited for the doctor to call us, Kyle went over emergency procedures. Things like first aid, what to do if you're lost, how to read the maps, and other important items. We each met with a doctor, who checked our forms, took the advisors blood pressure, and made some final notes. Everyone checked out fine, so it was on the the security building, where we got the key to our locker. Kyle then took us to services, where we found our locker, and started checking out the equipment and food we would need for the the first 3 to 4 days. We got our dining fly, our bear bags, and other items. We declined the cooking pots and other heavy items, as Matt had told us they really weren't necessary, considering the equipment we had. Then we got our food, and listened to the spiel from one staff member about Camp Suds. Did you know that you can wash an entire 747 airplane with one bottle of Camp Suds? Wow. Next was the dreaded pack shake-down. Now, we had done a shake-down before we had left town, but Kyle had us do another. He had us empty everything from our packs onto our cots, which we had dragged from the tents. Then he read through the Philmont list of equipment, and everything else was extra equipment, that we probably didn't need. A few of the guys had some superfluous equipment, but for the most part, everyone was in good shape, due to the fact that I had plagiarized the list when I made up the one we used! By this time, it was 3 PM, and Kyle gave us some free time. John and I headed for the trading post, to get an extra map of the area, and a couple extra water containers we thought we'd need on Mt. Phillips. At 4:45 PM, the advisors had a meeting, and the crew leaders had another. At 5:30 PM, we went to dinner. What a busy afternoon! Dinner tonight was tostados, vegetables, and brownies. The food is pretty good, but we felt that the portions could be larger. At 7 PM, a few of us went to a worship service. Philmont Scout Ranch has these every evening at 7 PM, and offer Catholic, LDS, Jewish, and Protestant. All of the chapels except the LDS are outdoors, and the views are fantastic. I think it really adds to the service. The guys that choose not to attend the service spent the time sleeping, or reading. Philmont Scout Ranch closes the trading post and snack bar during the worship times. At 8:15 PM, we all met at the welcome center, and hiked out to the opening campfire area. Due to the drought, though, there wasn't a campfire, only some flood lights. The staff told us the "New Mexico Story". Matt says that it is the same program he has seen at the previous two treks he attended. But the campfire was well done, telling about the different peoples that inhabited the area, and about Waite Phillips. They told us why and how Phillips gave the ranch to the Boy Scouts, and how it has grown over the years. Then they closed out the campfire with "The Philmont Hymn". A song we would come to know and love over the next 12 days. We got back to tent city at 9:30 PM, and soon afterwards it started to rain. It really came down for a while, with lots of thunder and lightening. Then it settled down, and rained lightly for the rest of the night. Rain drumming against the tent. What a great sound to fall asleep to.
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