July 13, 1996Day 5 - Mount Phillips to Porcupine Camp8:15 PM, sitting by a babbling brook. It's sunny, calm, and warm. A BIG change from just 24 hours ago! We were awakened at 6:30 AM today - 11 hours of sleep - but we all needed it. It was 42 F., windy, and foggy. We heated some water for cocoa, packed up, and hit the trail at 8:15 AM. We stopped at the peak for a picture, and then started down. The trail off of Phillips was very steep and rocky. Most of the first 2 -3 miles is outside of Philmont Scout Ranch, in the Carson (as in Kit Carson) National Forest. We stopped once, and I took a photo of each person in the crew hiking down the trail. But I was having some sort of problem with my camera, and I had to keep trying to retake the photos. By the time I'd finished, my vision was real blurry, and I had a whopper of a headache. After about 3 miles of tough trail, you reenter Philmont Scout Ranch and immediately in Clear Creek Camp. Clear Creek is a staff camp, and offers black powder shooting, tomahawk throwing, and a tour of "The Rocky Mountain Fur Company". We spent about 3 hours there, including a lunch break. Most of the time I sat under a tree, trying to get my eyes to work in unison. We got back on the trail at about 1:15 PM, and 5 minutes later, it started to rain, and it rained lightly for about 2 hours. The trail out of Clear Creek is a gentle down-hill grade, and very picturesque. Around 3 PM, my vision finally cleared up, and my headache went away. About time! It stopped raining about 3:30 PM, and at 4:20 PM we got to Porcupine Camp, our stop for the night. Immediately, 4 of our guys headed down to Phillips Junction, or P.J., to pick up our next supply of food. They were back at 5:20 PM, loaded down with 3 days worth of food, and a lot of candy. P.J. has a small trading post in it. One other thing they found at P.J., was propane heated showers! I can't wait! After dinner, we had time to rest or play around. 12 miles today. Piece of cake. Tomorrow, Beubiean.
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