July 10, 1996Day 2 - Base Camp to Cathedral Rock CampJohn pounded on the tent to wake us at 5:30 AM. I'd expected our crew leader to get us up, but not today. Maybe he forgot to set his alarm. Anyway, it was just getting light outside, and a gray, foggy mist welcomed me when I looked outside. The ground around the tents looked like a lake - it had rained a lot over night. We packed up our packs, and wandered off in the fog to eat breakfast. As we stood in the fog, trying to wake up, the fog turned to light rain. By the time we had finished our waffles, bacon, oatmeal, and dry cereal, the rain started to let up, and the clouds slowly retreated up Tooth Ridge. We lined up at photo services, to have our official crew photo made. It has a nice foggy background, instead of the Tooth. Another unique part of our trek! Back to the tents, and we finished packing, took our packs to the welcome center, and swept out our tents, making them ready for the next incoming crew. Back to the welcome center, where we weighed our packs. 55 lbs. for me, with the others ranging from 43 to over 60 lbs. Heavy, but it will decrease rapidly over the next few days. Kyle met us then, and killed time telling us about other crews he had worked with this season. He said he was impressed with our crew, with the way we worked together, and the level of knowledge we all had. Apparently, some crews come to Philmont Scout Ranch with no prior training. I pity the poor ranger that gets put with those crews. We boarded our bus at 9:50 AM, along with our sister crew, a Troop from Virginia. As we drove out of base camp, towards our drop-off point, Kyle and the other crew's ranger regaled us with a running banter of facts and stories about the surrounding area. After the short 15 minute drive, the bus dropped us off at the Cimarroncito Turnaround. Before we were ready to hit the trail, we had more ranger training. Staying together, how to use latrines, the meaning of "Clear And Copious", and other critical things like that. Then we put our packs on, tightened our hip belts, and at 10:33 AM, we started up the trail on our adventure! Now this wasn't what I'd call a tough hike. Instead, we walked up a road for about a mile and a half to the Cathedral Rock camp. Cathedral Rock is a large rock formation high on a hill overlooking the camping area. We got there around 11:15 AM, and selected a camp site. Kyle had us set up the dining fly first, and then we chose our tent sites. Matt and I chose a nice grassy meadow, and John and Kyle set up their tents next to ours. The boys chose spots closer to the trees, so they could also set up their hammocks close to their tents. After the tents were set up, we gathered to eat lunch, our first meal on the trail. A lot of the guys were really surprised at the fare - soda crackers, cheese spread, "spreadables", etc. I guess they had expected McDonalds or the like. Kyle spent time during lunch doing more training, and telling us more about other crews that he had been with. This took about an hour, and then we had the afternoon to ourselves. Ah, free time! The first real break since getting to Philmont Scout Ranch. Matt started a game of cribbage with me, and several of the guys looked on, asking questions about how to play. (I beat him soundly!) Then they started a game of Frisbee, so I picked up my book, journal, and "sitting pad" (a gardening knee pad) and found a nice quiet place under a tree to write, read, and contemplate. The weather had been threatening all day, and at around 2 PM, it started to rain. Everyone ran for their tents, and huddled inside, to read, to sleep, or to talk. The rain continued to fall, and the thunder rolled. At about 4:30 PM, the rain dropped back to a light sprinkle, so we crawled out of our tents and started dinner. We cooked in 3 separate cooking groups, and did pretty well. After we ate, the rain stopped, so we cleaned up, hung the bear bags, then everyone got into a circle under the bags, and repeated a chant that Kyle taught us: Oh great big bear, Please don't eat our bear bags. Instead... Eat THEIR bear bags! At which point, everyone would point in a different direction away from our spot. I hope the "incantation" works! At this time it was starting to get dark, and Kyle lead us up the trail to a spot directly under Cathedral Rock. Here he talked to us about the "Philmont Wilderness Pledge". It was a very moving time, and it's plain to see that Kyle believes deeply in what he talked about. Then we walked slowly back to camp, and climbed into our sleeping bags. The end of a great day!
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