Day 1 - Albuquerque to Philmont

Day 1 – 7-5-99 – Monday

I, for one, thought that this day would never arrive. But here it is. “P” day. We’re leaving for Philmont. After a year of planning, training, hiking, communicating, butting heads, pulling teeth, pleading, threatening, and surviving, Troop 381 had two crews headed for Philmont. All right! Let’s go!

We met at Cumberland Presbyterian Church, our normal meeting place, at 5:30 AM. The day dawned clear and cool for early July. There was still a tinge of fireworks smoke in the air from the celebrations the night before. Everyone seemed ready to go, but I didn’t sense the level of excitement that I thought I would. Perhaps it was the early hour, or maybe a touch of nerves. None of these guys had been on a trek at Philmont before, and I imagine that more than one was thinking, “Can I make it?”. Nevertheless, we soon had the white gas bottles filled, the packs loaded in the vehicles, good-byes were made, and we were off at 6:03. Possibly a record for on-time departure by Troop 381!

We cruised up I-25, passing through Santa Fe and Las Vegas. We stopped for a quick rest stop near Watrous, and continued our journey by passing through Wagon Mound, and leaving the inter-state at Springer. We headed west towards Philmont, passing through the tiny town of Miami, passing Miami Lake, and entering the Philmont Ranch near Rayado. Shortly thereafter, we pulled into the parking lot near the welcome center at 10:35 – not bad for a 225-mile trip.

I showed Darryn and Mike, the two crew leaders, where to check in. All incoming crews are assigned tents in the “incoming crew” area of Tent City. I spent a few minutes with my wife, Beth and with Matt, my oldest son, and his new wife Kim. They had driven up just to see us off. Matt had been on three previous treks at Philmont, and had planned to go on this trek, but he had to go and get married instead. There has got to be something wrong with the guy’s priorities! (Just kidding, Kim!)

At 11 AM, we met our ranger, Rob Marshall. Rob had just finished his second year at the Air Force Academy, and was spending three weeks at Philmont as a ranger. This was a new program the Academy was trying, to provide leadership training. We checked in, settled up on the trek finances, and then went to lunch.

All of the crews gather outside the dinning hall, and watch as the rangers put on a little “show” for us. Four rangers climbed up on the “Ranger Bell”, and holding each other up, told a tall tale. The story finished with the Ranger Song, which is recited, not sung:

I want to go back to Philmont,
Where the old Rayado flows,
Where the rain comes a seepin’,
In the tent where you’re a sleepin’,
And the waters say hello.

I want to wake up in the morning
With my socks all wringing wet,
For it brings back fondest memories,
That a ranger can’t forget.

I want to hike once more the canyon floor,
From Scribblins to Old Camp,
With my pack sack a-creakin’,
With my back with sweat a-reekin’,
And my legs beginning to cramp.

I want to hike again with such great men
As made those famous treks,
From Beaubien to Porky
And from Cito to Car-Max.

After the “song”, the four rangers fell back into the arms of other rangers, and the bell was rung, allowing us to get in line with our ranger.

When we got to the door of the dinning hall, we paused and said the Philmont Grace. Then we snagged a table, got our food, and enjoyed our first meal at Philmont. For lunch we had sloppy Joes, green beans, potatoes, and a cookie. Of course, there was all the milk or juice you could consume. And there was always peanut butter and bread for those that didn’t like what was served, or didn’t get enough!

After lunch, Darryn and I went to logistics, where we went over the route of our trek with a staff member. Trails, camps, program, terrain, and food pick-ups are just some of the things covered. They throw a lot of information at the crew leader, and I think that Darryn was overwhelmed. They also show you the “Big Board”, where every crew in the backcountry is tracked. There was a large chart listing the current status of every water source on the ranch. We had hoped to be able to change our itinerary slightly, but were informed that there were NO changes being made this year, except for health reasons. So we grabbed the map with all of the notes on it, and went to find the rest of the crew.

We joined up with the other guys outside of logistics, and we headed to the health lodge for the medical check.

Every member of every incoming must have had a class 3 physical within a year, and when they arrive at Philmont, every member of every incoming crew must have a medical re-check. Usually, this means verifying that the physical is current, checking prescription drugs, verifying weight if necessary, and for the adults, checking blood pressure. Usually……

When we got to the health lodge, there were eight to ten crews ahead of us, and only one medic doing the checks! It looked like we were in for a LONG wait! Rob started going over some of the training he needed to do. We all sat under a large awning at picnic tables, while Rob went over emergency procedures, first aid, trail etiquette, etc. After about an hour of this, Rob gave us a short break, and most of us went to the snack bar and got some ice cream. Some of the guys played Frisbee, and we waited for out turn to see the medic. About two hours after we got there, we got our re-check. The medic called the crewmembers in alphabetic order, and each person saw the medic in private. It only took about ten minutes for our entire crew to go through. Most of the guys complained that he didn’t check any of their prescription drugs, and really whizzed through the check. He also failed to check blood pressure on two of our adults. I guess the pressure of all the crews waiting was getting to him.

When we finally finished the re-check, we moved on to the services area. Services is where the crew checks out the crew equipment – tents, dining fly, bear bags and ropes, sump frisbee, Polar Pure, and the first allotment of food. The staff there was friendly, but they didn't spend a lot of time with us. We got the items we needed – and left a lot of the “optional” items behind. We were cooking in small 4 person cook groups, so we didn’t take the big cook pots, the big utensils, and the rest of the BIG items they have for each crew. We also had our own tents. We did take five bottles of Polar Pure, two bear bag ropes, and checked out two days worth of food. It filled two bear bags to the brim!

At this point, Rob had us head back to our tents, as it was 4:15. There was a crew leader meeting that Darryn needed to go to, and the advisors had a meeting at 4:45. The other guys sorted food and equipment, and then took a break until dinner.

The advisors’ meeting was held in one of the older buildings in base camp, and was well attended that evening. The speakers for the meeting talked about the role of the advisors, and what they should do or not do during the trek. One of the chaplains also spoke during the meeting, and discussed the role they play with each member of each crew while at Philmont. At one point the staff member was talking about where it was OK for advisors to smoke during the trek, and asked for a show of hands of smokers. Not ONE person raised their hand! Everyone in the room was thrilled.

The meeting ended promptly at 5:30, at which time we headed to dinner. We had spaghetti and meat sauce, bread, corn, salad, and cake. Not too bad!

Every evening at 7 PM there are worship services – Catholic, Jewish, LDS, and Protestant. It was starting to rain, so the Protestant service was held in the covered area at the services building. The other three denominations have chapels that are indoors or covered, but the Protestant chapel sits in a field, and is open-air. It was hard to hear in the shelter, but was a nice service nonetheless. I was able to get a Philmont New Testament this year, which is something I’ll always treasure.

At 8:15 there was an opening campfire. It is usually held at a large site to the east of base camp, across the road. But it was raining heavily by now, so we had it under the welcome shelter roof. The program tells the history of Northern New Mexico and Philmont. The actors wear period costumes, and recite their lines. This was the fifth or sixth time I’d seen the program, and it never changes. But for the majority of the Scouts and Scouters, it does a great job of explaining where a lot of the names of camps and areas came from.

9 PM found most of us in our tents, listening to the rain. I sat on my bunk, writing in my journal by headlamp. It had been a long day. I know that most of the guys were bored with the various things we had to go through during the day. But they also knew that it was the start of our adventure. Tuesday morning would find us on the trail, and I didn't think there will much time for boredom to set in from then on.

Rain. It’s a big part of life at Philmont during the summer. Those of use that live in this area learn to savor each rainstorm. We look in anticipation for each thunderhead, and each flash of lightning. It’s a way of life here in the West, and we would soon be totally immersed in the weather, and other facets of the mountains of Northern New Mexico. I fell asleep listening to the rain drum against the tent. Back again at Philmont. Yea!