The Philmont Chronicles
June 20-July 2, 1998

Motley Crew

Itinerary 7



Written By: Peter S.

---

See the entire photo album -- Click here!

---

Got up at around 5:00 a.m. to get to Hartsfield International Airport by 7:00, the plane left at 8:15. Arrived at the Dallas Airport around 9:30. We soon left for Albuquerque. Coming into Albuquerque, we saw huge mountains thousands of feet high and canyons. Arriving in Albuquerque was such a huge difference from Atlanta, which was lush and humid. By contrast, this was the middle of the desert and there was no humidity. From the airport we (both 764 crews) took a four hour bus ride to Philmont. When we finally arrived we were greeted by our ranger, Aaron Bose, a really nice guy. Soon after we arrived at the Philmont Welcome Center a problem occurred. Scott’s pack brace was dented badly by Delta. It was a setback, but we got it cleared up and got him a new pack. Next we were taken to our tents located in Tent City and then to Logistics where we checked in. I reported to the Chaplain’s Aid meeting with Phil as other crew members attended their meetings. It was soon time for dinner - Aaron ate with us. Then we attended a fantastic religious service. The backdrop of the chapel was a beautiful golden cross hung on a steel tripod with the background being a magnificent sunset coming over the hills of Philmont. It was breathtaking! After that we got ready for the opening campfire. It was an interesting campfire depicting the history of Philmont. But because of the fire ban there was no actual campfire. After that we ran into Ms. Cook and Justin who we had been worried about the whole day, since they did not meet up with us at the airport. We talked to them a little, then headed back to our tents. We had a conversation with Aaron to talk about ranger training which would begin along with our ten day trek tomorrow. We said goodnight and by now the stars had come out. They were so clear, it was unbelievable! So with that our first day at Philmont was over!

Wow, what a day! We got up at around 6:00 a.m., I slept like a rock. As soon as I got up we had to pack up all of our gear and head for breakfast. When we got to the doorway in front of the cafeteria I led us in the Philmont Grace (For Food, For Raiment, For Life, For Opportunity, For Friendship and Fellowship, We Thank Thee, O Lord - Amen). Aaron ate with us. After breakfast we had a group picture with the "Tooth of Time" and Tent City as our backdrop. We then went back to our tents and finished packing and headed for the our crew equipment and food pick-up. When we got all of our crew equipment and food, we picked a shady spot under some trees and had our crew shakedown. We went through everything we needed and didn’t need for the trek and then were assigned the crew equipment. After that we headed for lunch. After lunch we got all of our stuff together and met at the welcome center where we weighed our packs and got our water. We then got on a bus with our sister crew (also from the Atlanta Area Council). We took a twenty minute ride to our trail head. Along the way we went by a buffalo pasture were we saw a real buffalo (his name was "Drug Lord"). We also went by Villa Philamonte (Waite Phillips’s summer home) and saw the gigantic arrowhead rock formation, just like the patch. As soon as we got to the trail head our ranger training began. Aaron took us to a shady spot where we sat for twenty minutes or so. We talked about the use of map and compass, map symbols, and where we would be going. Mr. Owens then gave us even more weight to carry by giving us song pamphlets to sing on the trail. After that we started hiking. It was only a mile to Cathedral Rock, but I found myself sweating by the end of the hike. Cathedral rock was beautiful! We found a great campsite right by the stream next to our sister crew. I took a couple of shots of Cathedral Rock with Jordan (both of us were the chroniclers for the crew). Aaron prepared a fantastic feast for us - spaghetti mixed with beef. Dessert was a pound cake with apples. It was DELICIOUS! After dinner some of us took a nice hike up to the lake by Cathedral Rock, it was breathtaking! We saw beavers and trout in the lake. The most amazing thing happened when we were coming back. I spotted two wild turkeys running along side each other, then suddenly three more joined them, it was unbelievable to see how free they were in their habitat. When we got back to the campsite Aaron showed us how to put up a bear bag. He then led us in an activity he called Thorns and Roses, which is where you tell what good things happened today (roses) and what bad things happened today (thorns). He also led us in a bone chilling account on the wild animals at Philmont. After we were all scared to death, we retired for the night and went to sleep.

We had a tough day ahead of us. We got up at around 5:30 a.m. and had a delightful breakfast made up of dry cereal and beef jerky. We then packed up and hiked to Cathedral Rock. Some of the guys decided to look for a cave while the rest of us stayed and took pictures. After the break, we hiked to the lodge where we were going to have lunch. We decided to take the side hike up Cathedral Rock. John G. and Michael L. decided to stay with our packs. The first place we came to on our side hike was this awesome lodge where we filled up our water and met another crew from Tampa, Florida. As we were leaving we noticed the Holiday Inn sign on the flag post, it was hilarious. The hike turned out to be a whole lot longer and harder then expected. When we finally reached the top it was around 11:00, the view was gorgeous. You could see forever it seemed. Hiking down seemed endless. When we finally reached the lodge it was around 12:30. We had lunch - squeezeable cheddar cheese, crackers and beef jerky.....a meal we would soon loath! It was a long tiring hike to Cypher’s Mine for all of us, especially my dad (Robert Schenck) who was lagging behind because of his sore Achilles Heel and the weight of his pack. We finally made it into Cypher’s late in the afternoon. We were greeted by Bob who treated us to some pond water (grape juice). He showed us to our adirondack where we would be spending the night. We then got some showers and had dinner. At 7:30 we went to a story telling/song time get together to which everyone in the camp was invited. The stories were fairly entertaining, but the songs were a little off key (Sixteen Tons) to say the least. Much of the show became our crew joke for the rest of the hike. After that we headed for our adirondack where Aaron spent his last night with us before heading back to base camp. We were so tired we were all out like a light!

Today would probably be one of our toughest hiking days. Got up at around 5:30 a.m. again. Said goodbye to Aaron. Had dinner for breakfast, since we would be hiking to Mt. Phillips and might not have enough time to boil water if we got in late. We got all packed up and were ready to go early since we were staying an extra two hours for the program at Cypher’s Mine. One of the staff members took us to the mine, which was a real working mine from the mid 1800s through the early 1900s. We put on hard hats and attached head lamps to them. As soon as we were twenty ft. in, it became pitch black and about 40 degrees cooler! We walked on cold, steel rails and to each side of us there was dripping wet rock walls from the condensation of the mountain. Once we were at the end of the line, which was about 500 ft. into the mountain, the staff member told us to turn off our headlamps and put our left hand on the person in front of us and use our right hand as our feeling around tool. It was a scary feeling not knowing if you were going to hit a low beam or trip on some loose rock, but we finally made it out. I had never been so happy to see the light of day in my life! After that we went over to the blacksmith shop and our whole crew pitched in to make a J-Hoke. After a series of hits and twists, we produced a great J-Hoke to hang at the scout hut. With that fun behind us, we were ready to head for Mt. Phillips. My dad made the decision to leave the group and go back down to base camp. It was not an easy decision, but I think he made the right choice. After we said our good-byes we were off. John G. decided to lead us, he turned out to be a great pace-setter and led us for the rest of the trek. Walking on the trail was so pretty. We knew we would not make it to Commanche Peak for lunch, so we just had it right on the trail. Hiking up to Commanche Peak, we had a great view of Mt. Baldy. Once we reached the top, we rested for about a half an hour. All of us were exhausted. We had climbed about 4,000 ft. in three hours, and I had a mild headache as did the rest of my crew. After our big rest, we headed straight for Phillips. First, we had to drop some elevation before we could hike up. But once we did, we could see it was not going to be easy. It only took us about forty-five minutes to hike up, but that was one of the toughest inclines we would face. We got to the campsite late in the afternoon, which was still not at the peak, but about 150 ft. below it. We had a dry dinner since we had already had our regular dinner for breakfast. I had a snow ball fight with John and Michael L. Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that there was snow on the top, not a lot, but enough to play in. We then went to bed fairly early since we were so tired.

Had a small breakfast and got out early, so that we could spend some time on the peak of Phillips. It was a short five to ten minute hike to the peak. We took off our packs and spent about fifteen minutes at the summit. The view was just indescribable! This would be our highest peak at 11,711 ft. We could see the snowcapped mountains of Colorado, Mt. Baldy... everything! We took a crew photo with the flag and the mountains in the background. Heading down, we soon shed all of our coolmax sweaters and zip-off pants. We flew down Phillips arriving in Clear Creek in about an hour and a half after we started hiking. Our sister crew was there to greet us. Our crew soon found ourselves ax throwing (one of the programs there). We then met one of the staff members there (all of them in period costumes depicting the mid 1800's fur trappers). After we checked in, we all signed up for black-powdered rifle shooting. When we got there we learned the history of the black-powdered rifle. Then it was our turn to do it. I hit a dead center shot, and Michael L. shot up his bandana completely! The jolt of the rifle was pretty hard, not to mention I had a pounding headache from dropping about 2,000 ft. in an hour and a half. After the rifle shooting, we met up with the Scarlet Napes (the other Troop 764 crew) and spent some time talking about the problems we had encountered on the trail. We had some lunch, which got rid of my headache. Later we met one of the staff members whose name was Coffee. He signed us up for a ten minute story on the mountain man and other trapper legends. It was very good, and I came away with a better understanding what was true and untrue about the mountain man. After that we had a half hour activity on beaver trapping. Scott was volunteered, and he had to act like a beaver in the mock beaver habitat while there was a real beaver trap in the water. It was an excellent photo-op! After our three hour stay at Clear Creek, we were ready to leave for Porcupine. We said goodbye to the Scarlet Napes and off we went. It was beautiful hiking once again, we hiked beside the prettiest stream you ever saw in your life. The water was so clear you could just scoop some water up and drink it, not to mention the hundreds of trout swimming in it. We soon reached Porcupine and set up our tents. Jordan and I were the cooks, we prepared a delicious meal. Once the stars came out, I hiked up the rock face next to our campsite with John and Michael L. The stars were so clear and so pretty. After that I was dead tired, so I went to sleep.

The morning was freezing cold, so we packed up camp as quickly as possible. It was a beautiful morning, the sun was shining. Great hiking as usual. As we were hiking we came upon a dead deer carcass. It was freshly killed so some of the skin was still stuck to its bones! After we got some shots of it, we were off to Phillips Junction to throw away trash and pick-up some food, and more importantly get some much needed showers. Once we got there we wasted no time in getting to the showers. We developed a new way to dry our clothes. We dried them by hanging them over the propane tank. Refreshed and much cleaner, we went to the trading post and got some snacks. We then were off to Beaubien were we would be spending two days. It was a little bit of a hike from PJ, uphill all the way. After about forty-five minutes we hit this gigantic open field. Once we saw cattle we knew it was Beaubien. When we got there we were welcomed up on the porch where we were escorted to our campsite. In the middle of setting up camp, we were greeted by a totally unexpected face, my dad! He had decided to come back to the crew and rode up from base camp with the help of the Chaplain’s Aid’s four wheel drive. We were all in shock that he was back with us, it was great! We had a quick lunch, got on some long pants on and then got down to the ranch for horse riding. We started with a ten minute talk on how to treat and ride a horse. We then got our helmets and horses (my horse’s name was Spivey), mounted, and were ready to go on a dude pull. The horses where so well trained to walk nose-to-butt. It wasn’t much fun. My horse was very slow, I was constantly spurring it to make it go faster. Jordan also had some problems, his horse got totally out of line and he was getting yelled at by one of the head staff wranglers, Stacey. The ride seemed to drag on forever, I almost fell asleep while I was on the horse. I think it all took about three hours, but it seemed like three years. When it was finally over we headed to the branding pavilion. Everyone pretty much branded their boots. It worked out great for me, because PS, the cattle brand was also my initials. After that we headed back to our campsite to relax for a while. Jordan dazzled us with his magic tricks for an hour or so. We had some dinner, Jordan wowed us again with his trick that fooled Winston Churchill. After all that fun, we headed down to the main lodge to wait for the story-telling/song show put on by the staff members. It had a cowboy twist to it since we were at a real working ranch. It was extremely funny, one of the best so far. After that we all headed back to our campsite to get some sleep.

Got to sleep in today. This was the only time in my life that I would say that sleeping in would be sleeping till 7:00 a.m. It was such a nice feeling not to have to take down our tents, but just relax and have some breakfast. After breakfast we decided to take the side hike up to trail peak and see the B-24 Bomber wreckage. My dad decided not to go since he wanted to rest up before the hike tomorrow. We got some water and were on our way. We followed the horse or four wheel drive trail which went for about a couple of miles. As we got closer we could see a small shimmering area where the sun was hitting it, and we knew it was the bomber. Once we reached the trail head we noticed how steep it was. Immediately we could tell this would not be an easy hike. It was only a mile, but it was pure exhaustion. A third of the way up, Mr. Owens challenged whoever wanted to run the rest of the way up with him. Michael S., Scott, and Michael L. agreed to try. By the first fifty ft. they quit while Mr. Owens kept going all the way to the top. The first piece of debris we came upon was the propeller. It was really interesting to see all the debris as we got closer and closer to the actual main part of the plane that was still intact. When we (Jordan, Mr. Wright, Mr. Salo, and I) finally got there everyone else in the group was all ready there. The whole right wing and the mid- section of the bomber were intact. After I took a few pictures I noticed a plaque on a tree close by. Next to it was a piece of the plane’s skin (a very brittle steel) with the name of the bomber, the Mic-O-Say, and the names of the men who died here. On the plaque it said that there was an Eagle Scout on the plane traveling home, and that it crashed here on April 22, 1942. After we stayed up there for about a half an hour we started back down the trail. We got a crew shot around one of the propellers, it was pretty cool. It was a long hike back to camp, when we got back we had lunch. My dad, while we were gone, wrote out the entire lyrics to Ya Load Sixteen Tons And What Do Ya Get, as requested by Jordan. Jordan soon memorized it word for word and we didn’t hear the end of it until the hike was over!!!!!! We also did our three hour conservation project involving knocking down trees, clearing roots, and clearing logs off the trail. We relaxed around our campsite til it was time for the Chuck Wagon Dinner. The Chuck Wagon Dinner was a big deal especially since we had been eating dehydrated food and spreadables for the past four days. The main meal consisted of beef stew cooked in these three huge pots that you could fit bodies into! There was also crackers and peaches for dessert. Once everybody got firsts you were free to have as much stew or peaches that you could shove down your already filled belly. I was so full that night I could barely move. Michael S. and I were the clean-up helpers for our crew. After dinner, everyone retired to the latrines... if you know what I mean. It was soon time for the story telling/song time. The campfire was even better than the last particularly because a big guy by the name of Pooky who was so funny they had him doing almost every skit and song. He was Chris Farley with a cowboy twist to him. After another great day at Philmont, we were again sound asleep.

Packed up and had a quick breakfast. We hiked back to Phillip’s Junction to take some showers and stop by the trading post on our way to Fish Camp. As we were hiking back to PJ a buck came right through the trail, it was awesome. It was nice, steady - sloping down hill trail all the way to PJ. We didn’t have as much time to shower and wash clothes like the last time, but we did get the showers in. We soon were off to Fish Camp. It was flat all the way there; we were basically hiking on a four wheel drive road. After about two hours of hiking from PJ, we were greeted by the Scarlet Napes who had already arrived and were sitting on the porch sipping Blue Gatorade. Fish Camp was not a camp depicting a certain time period, it was actually one of Waite Phillips’s homes where he would fish for trout in the summers. Once we got on the porch we took off our shoes so that we could take a tour of Waite Phillips’s home. It was amazing to see the technology that Waite demanded even in the most rugged surroundings. He had one of the first battery operated radios, porcelain toilets, and a working shower. He was also a trapper and had several rams, black bear, and buck skins all over the house. It was also known that he was very protective of his children. Like Charles Lindbergh, with whom he was good friends, he had kidnapping threats all the time. As a result, he had trap doors located under his children’s beds and the doors connecting to his children’s room had no outside doorknobs. After the tour we all got fishermen’s licenses. We then got to our campsite, set up our tents, and had lunch. After that we took a fly tying program to make our flies. Then we all got our poles and were told how to fly fish. We all picked our spots and started to fish, but it was soon clear that these fish were not biting. I gave up after a couple of hours as did others, but surprisingly Mr. Wright caught four trout! We fished on and off till dinner. Whoever wanted to could do some more fly tying or just fish for the rest of the night. Jordan and I chose to fish with some hope of catching some trout, but those hopes soon faded as it got close to nighttime. But fish or no fish I still enjoyed the whole experience. Once our crew returned the poles, we all got some shuteye after another tiring day at Philmont.

Got on the trail early and passed by the Scarlet Napes on the way out. We hiked another great trail. To the left of us was this huge rock face that slowly built up higher and higher, it was beautiful. After about a half an hour of hiking, we stopped at this great point looking out onto the beautiful rock face that now was illuminated by the light from the sun making it a heavenly backdrop. I prepared a short service since it was Sunday and I was the Chaplain’s Aid. I started out with This is the Day sung by myself, Jordan, and Michael S. (the crew’s unofficial trio). My sermon was on the subject of friendship and coming together as a crew and how Philmont wasn’t going to last forever even though sometimes it seemed like it would. After our service was over we were on the trail again. We hiked for about two and a half hours with a couple of breaks here and there. The Scarlet Napes slowly edged ahead and we met up with them at a peak about a half an hour away from New Abreu. After that we ran into a trail crew who gave us a full talk on what a trail crew does and how you can join. That is the only time they can take breaks, and in 120 degree heat you can get pretty tired. We soon reached New Abreu after what seemed to be one of the longest, tiring trails to any of the camps. Once we arrived there we were treated to some much appreciated Gatorade on the porch of New Abreu’s main lodge. After we signed in, we went right into one of the programs there , adobe casa brick building. The brick building was a lot of fun. We got to take off our boots which by this time were killing our feet. It was a lot of fun to stomp in the cool, soft mud and massage our tired feet in the process. We took turns mixing the mud. When it was finally ready, we poured it into the mold. After it was all done, we got to wash our feet in the cool Rayado River. Mr. Owens was the first to dip his entire body into the cool refreshing river. Since this was the only time we were allowed to get in the river (to keep it clean for the fish) we stayed in there until we were dragged away. After walking on the burning sand it was like heaven. We then were shown to our campsite, where we set up our tents and had lunch. After lunch some of us went up to the cantina and had some of their famous ice-cold root beer, it tasted delicious. The cantina looked like a scene from a Clint Eastwood movie, people playing cards, a dusty bar... We had some root beer, and bought some snacks while we relaxed. Did a little fly fishing, and just relaxed for a few hours until dinner. Since we requested the Mexican Dinner we were expecting a feast like the Chuck Wagon Dinner. What we found out was that we were making the dinner. They gave us the taco shells, buffalo meat (with blood still dripping from it), cheese, tomatoes, salsa, that we would prepare ourselves. Mr. Owens and John G. were the cooks that night, and they produced a great meal. After dinner we did burro racing. Of course our crew got the slow, stupid one, and even though we finished dead last, it was a lot of fun. Afterwards everyone crammed into the cantina for some ice cold root beer at end the day. Then we all got to sleep after another adventurous day at Philmont!

Had a quick breakfast, packed up and were off. We said good-bye to New Abreu and headed down a trail that didn’t look right and in fact it wasn’t, but we got it straightened out. We met up with the Scarlet Napes at the two trail heads where we said our good-byes till we met again the next day at Miner’s Park. We then set off for Urraca Mesa. Coming up on the mesa was fairly easy hiking (flat trail). We then came upon a small watering hole where a deer was drinking, it was a great sight when the light hit it. At first the mesa didn’t look like a hard climb at all, but we were in for a big surprise. Once the sun came out it was a killer, because it was impossible to escape the heat since there were not many trees. After an hour of hiking up the mesa it appeared that we were at the top, but when we got past the ridge there was an even bigger hill ahead! The hiking continued to be brutal, but at the top the view was incredible! We saw as far as the eye could see as well as New Abreu and a bus dropping off the next victims to enter Philmont! After we had a nice break, we hiked over the top of the mesa looking for the trail to camp. We soon found it and were heading down to Urraca Mesa. We got there around 12:00 noon and decided to do the challenge course program and get it out of the way before we set up camp. The challenge course was a lot of fun, with lots of different challenges. One involved getting all of us on a small wooden square, and another one was the wall, where you had to get everyone over it. After the challenge course we all had measly scraps of food from the previous lunches. After lunch we got to our camp and relaxed. Mr. Owens took me, Mr. Wright, Jordan, Michael L., Michael S., John G., and Scott on a little hike up to a look out point to see the "Tooth". When we got up there the "Tooth" was so beautiful, but so far away to us I couldn’t believe that we would be standing on top of it in two days. Once we got back we had dinner. Soon after we all went up to the main lodge to wait for the famous ghost story telling by the Urraca Mesa staff. They were o.k., the ghost stories, however, could of been a lot better if the staff members hadn’t joked around so much. But as they got into them, they became more serious and were actually very good. We then retired to our campsite and went to sleep.

Had a quick breakfast and left our campsite. We passed by the main lodge and filled up with water and were off. We hiked past the challenge course and reflected on our experiences (especially the wall). We hiked back up pretty much the same way we came down. Once we got on top of the mesa, we were very winded so we took a quick break to look at the map and get some water. We didn’t stay too long since it was getting cloudy and storm clouds were appearing. We found our trail leading to the Lover’s Leap camp which was really a four-wheel drive trail. It was very easy hiking (gradual down hill). After hiking the four-wheel drive trail for a while we got to the meadow which was littered with cow pies! We had a quick break at the Lover’s Leap intersection then found the trail to Miner’s Park (MP) and were off. We soon came upon Elephant Rock which was a natural rock formation that jutted out of the ridge on the way to the "Tooth". It looked like a dog at first, but once we got a good look at it, it was clear what it was. After hiking a very pretty trail, as always at Philmont, we soon made it to Miner’s Park. We also met up with the Scarlet Napes who were ahead of us, but surprisingly we made it before our sister crew. Upon arriving at MP, we had a brief talk about the rock climbing program. The camp staff gave us a challenge to whoever could eat a whole Pemican Bar in under a minute and 25 seconds. Michael L. agreed to do it and ate it in 45 seconds! We then decided that we would eat our lunch there and then go on to Shaefer’s. So we found a campsite and setup for lunch. We ate our remaining hot dinner so that we wouldn’t have to cook on top of Shaefer’s. After we ate our meal we decided to split up temporarily. Mr. Owens, Scott, Michael L., and John stayed at MP to rock climb. The rest of us that didn’t want to rock climb decided to go ahead and hike to Shaefer’s. We soon realized that the Scarlet Napes were going to split up also, so we joined forces in our hike to Shaefer’s Pass. There were a lot of switch backs on the trail, plus we had an occasional thunder boom to get us moving. We finally reached Shaefer’s after about two and a half hours of hiking. The rest of our crew made it to our camp at a record time of an hour and a half of hiking. The rest of the Scarlet Napes soon followed. We had scraps of lunches and breakfasts for dinner. After dinner some of us took some short hikes up the hill in front of our campsite which we would also be taking tomorrow on our way to Shaefer’s Peak. Everyone got in their tents at the early hour of 8:00, so that we would be able to get up at 4:00 a.m. the next morning! Since neither Jordan nor I could get to sleep we made another addition to our journals and then got some shut eye for the long day ahead!

Got up extremely early at around 4:00 a.m. in the dark! Getting up that morning in the dark and packing with my head lamp on, I felt like I was on top of Everest. We had a meager breakfast (a single nutragrain bar and a miniature box of cereal). We were ready in a record time of forty-five minutes and then got out on the trail. Hiking up to Shaefer’s was a fairly tiring hike since it is was steady up hill. The darkness soon started to fade as we began hiking. We reached the side hike of Shaefer’s Peak which was directly connected to the trail on the ridge leading to the "Tooth". We all made a pack line at a nearby tree. It was just a short two minute hike to the top where the view was awesome. The sunrise was just coming up and we could see for hundreds of miles out to the snow capped mountains of Colorado and to the plains of New Mexico. Wow! We stayed up there for about a half an hour, took some pictures, got back down to our packs and were off to the "Tooth". As we started hiking we saw the Scarlet Napes who decided not to got up to Shaefer’s Peak, but to have breakfast on the ridge. Once we past them it was the prettiest hiking I had ever done in my life, hiking on the ridge was so incredible, it was hard to imagine that we were hiking it. The view on either side was beautiful. On our way to the "Tooth" we came upon a mini rock formation where we took a ten minute pack-off break. One of the rock formations seemed so slanted that if you sat on it you would fall right off the face of the ridge thousands of feet down. Michael L. got all the way down on it and it gave me a headache just to look at him. Once we finally got to the "Tooth of Time" it was a good twenty minute hike to the top. So we took off our packs and headed up along with the Scarlet Napes. At first it was a regular trail, but it soon became boulder climbing. It was quite a hike for me and when I finally reached the top I was winded. The view was unexplainable. Looking out on every side for hundreds and hundreds of miles was just awesome. It took my dad a little time to get up because of his foot injury, but he did make it and was glad as everybody else was to be up there taking pictures and marveling in the essence of Philmont. Could you imagine that we did all of this by around 9:00 a.m.! Once we all got down we packed up and were ready to hike to base camp. We flew down the trail for a couple of hours until we reached a crossroad. The kids and adults differed about what trail to take. My point of view was to side with John, who wanted to take a trail leading straight to base camp, which by the way you could see by now. But in the end, we took Mr. Wright’s trail which did turn out to be the right one. We soon found ourselves out of the trees and in the deadly sunlight for the rest of the hike. It was an interesting way to end our trek coming down the ridge like that. You could see base camp just miles away, but really hours still stood between us. After days and days of hiking I finally found myself as my crew members did, actually coming up to the "We Made It Arch" which was a very moving experience. It was also a fine time to be waiting for a group who was still taking their group picture. After they finally left, we were free to take our own pictures in front of this hallowed sign. After many minutes which seemed like years of Mr. Owens fiddling with his many cameras, we passed under the arch and were officially done with the trek!! Once we were back at base camp we checked in all of our crew equipment and got some lunch. We had corn dogs, and they were the best corn dogs I’ve ever had in my life!!! After lunch we got our clothes we had left to wear and were assigned to our tents for the night. That afternoon we hung out around the snack shop and got some mementos at the trading post which was really like a mini REI. At around 4:30 we (our crew) all met up to walk to Villa Philamonte where we took a tour. It was very interesting to see it, everything that Waite Phillips had collected over the years, and who had stayed there. After that we quickly headed back to base camp for dinner and relaxing. After a wonderful closing chapel service, we all put on our class a’s to get ready for the closing campfire. The closing campfire was very well done with its skits and songs about Philmont, but most of all because we were getting the coveted Arrowhead Patch. After the campfire, some of us went over to the snack shop or just went to sleep. It was a long tiring day, but it was also our last full day at Philmont which was a little sad for me and for the rest of my crew.

Got up at around 4:30 a.m. and started packing. After we had finished packing, we dressed in our class a’s and gathered all of our stuff and brought it over to the welcome center. We then wrapped up our packs in heavy duty plastic bags as we did coming to Philmont, packed it all on the bus, and headed to the mess hall for our continental breakfast. After breakfast we took a couple last looks at Philmont and got on the bus. Leaving Philmont, I was happy that I was going home since I would be able to sleep in a warm bed with a roof over my head, but I knew I would miss the Philmont atmosphere, the different people we had met, and jokes we had had as a crew. And looking at base camp and at the "Tooth" I couldn’t help but want to come back sometime in the near future. I’m also sure that goes for the rest of my crew. It was a relaxing bus ride to the Albuquerque airport. We watched movies and looked at the little towns along the way. Santa Fe was pretty cool with all the adobe houses. We were at the airport before I knew it. We got all of our stuff off the bus and got into the Delta check-in line. After we got all of our tickets, we found the nearest food court and had a quick bite. Once we made it to our seats on the plane, Jordan noticed that there were no holes for the ear phones for the movie. We asked the stewardess if there was going to be a movie and to our horror learned that there wasn’t going to be one!!! We soon got over the tragedy and were treated to a delightful mini hovan, some potato chips, and a sugar cookie. After the long flight we were ready to set foot again on our native soil. Once we got off the plane, we got to the baggage claim and found out that our packs would arrive at the very end of the terminal. After much waiting and anticipation, the packs finally arrived and we all scrambled to get them. Once we got our packs we ripped off the heavy duty plastic like animals and said our good-byes to some of our crew members, Michael L., Mr. Owens, John, and Scott. The rest of us rode MARTA all the way to the end of the line at Dunwoody where we said our good byes and went our separate ways. So with that, mine and the rest of the Motley Crew experience at Philmont was over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You are visitor    since December 1, 1998