Welcome to Philmont!!
I grew up in Scouts and then have gotten the privilege of seeing my oldest son go through Scouts as I moved into parenthood. In all those years I have been part of troops in Virginia, North Carolina and Indiana. I had seen all manner of Scout camps and activities. At the same time I had always missed a huge part of the Scouting program called the the High Adventures. There are 4 national high adventure camps that are part of Scouts in the United States and while I had heard of them I had never gotten a chance to participate.
That changed in 2020 when our troop decided that we were going to go to Philmont. Philmont is one of the four national high adventure locations. It is a huge Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico. The history of the ranch is itself a remarkable story. A oil businessman named Waite Philips bought the 140,171 (or 220 square miles) Ranch in 1922. In 1938 he donated all that land to the Boyscouts of America. There were three stipulations to the deal when Philips donated the land.
1. Philmont must remain a working cattle ranch
2. Philips favorite horse "Gus" must be allowed to roam freely and live out his life on the ranch
3. The Philips family would be allowed to visit the ranch and land whenever they want.
I am thankful for the generosity of Waite Philips because my son and I were both became very excited to get the chance to visit this beautiful area of land. Our desire to go to Philmont in 2020 however became a bit complicated. Long story short, but in the years to come there was a big fire that devastated part of the Ranch and then COVID decided to rear its ugly head. Philmont had to postpone many group's trips and ours got moved to 2022. It seemed like that moment would never get here and yet now I have been to Philmont and back. All I can say is that it was a remarkable experience.
I know that when I was preparing to go to Philmont I had so many questions. What was it going to be like, what should I really pack, is the altitude going to bother me and many more questions. So I wanted to share my experiences at Philmont. If you ever get a chance to go then maybe some of this info will help you prepare. If Philmont is not something that you are planning to ever do then I hope I can share a bit of the experience and do my best to share the beauty of this land.
Planning and Packing
When I think back to my trip to Philmont there are a few things you want to prepare for before you go. In my opinion they are
1. Be ready physically - Between the altitude and some very steep climbs, you also have a >45 lb backpack on your back. Combine the altitude, the steep terrain and the heavy pack and you definitely want to get in some pre-hikes.
2. Have the right equipment for living in changing weather conditions - Almost everything you pack is to help you stay comfortable in the changing weather patterns you will encounter at Philmont. I experienced rain, strong sun and heat, hypothermia inducing cold, and tough terrain all in the span of just 10 days so you want to be sure you have the right equipment.
For the Physical fitness part our group did a couple prep hikes where we would put on our packs, find some steep hills and hike up and down them. I would also just put on my pack and walk a couple miles in the neighborhood to get my body used to the weight.
For the equipment part - this is were some a couple backpacking weekends with your crew will come in handy. This is were you can try out your equipment and get a look at what other's equipment. There were many times where I had some equipment that did not work as well as I had hoped or another crew remember showed me something they were taking I never know about. This allows for a a few amazon orders to get placed before you actually get to Philmont to start your hike.
Here is what I ended up taking. There are all kinds of alternatives and brands and so find what works best for you. This is just some guidance and comments on what worked and what did not work.
If I had to give some insight on some of the most important gear it would be
1. Invest in some good raingear. Not all raingear is created equal and you want a rain jacket that is truly waterproof, not just resistant. During the monsoon season we used raingear every single day and for those that had raingear that was just rain resistant, the dampness would seep through.
2. Bring your own Tent!! I brought a tent, but many of the boys got tents from Philmont. Any waterproofing on the tents ew had was long gone. I don't want to speak for every tent at Philmont, but the several we had let water pour in and led to a some wet nights for some of our boys (as in puddles would get into the tent).
This is it! The only other items that went in my pack was food and some common supplies for the crew (ropes, pots, etc.)
The Stats -
So how much do you hike at Philmont? Well before actually going through our experience day by day, here are the stats I took using my GPS watch during the days of hiking.
Here is the trail we hiked by elevation (Blue is lower elevation and basecamp was 6700; red is higher and we hit a bit over 10,000 ft at the highest. )
This image is also by elevation and shows the quick increase elevation after a couple days of hiking.
This map is by pace. Blue is slower and red is faster.
This is the pace map again.
Using my watch, I tracked miles officially on the trail. I also tracked miles throughout the day when not on the trail (water runs, setting up and maintaining camp, etc.)
The Journey
Travel to Philmont
Well today was the day. Landon and I were heading with our crew to Philmont.
The journey to Philmont the subsequent hike started in by going to the West Lafayette, IN train station where we would catch a train to Chicago.
Basecamp
Once you get to Philmont you will spend some time at Basecamp. It is at basecamp that you start to acclimate to the altitude, get all the food you will need for the hike, get your maps for the trail and meet your ranger. Each crew gets introduced to a ranger who will spend the first couple days with the crew.
We met our ranger and mapped out our trek on our crew map. This included where we our camps would be each day, where our activities would be and where we could find water each day. This map is one of the most important items we had during our hike. It is easy to get turned around in the backcountry without this map!
Basecamp has a dining hall where would all meet for breakfast, lunch and dinner before setting off. You can seed the puddles from the infamous monsoon season that was going on when we were there.
Basecamp also has a chapel service and Landon as a our crew's Chaplin's aid even helped lead part of the service.
Part of the first day on at Basecamp is gathering all our food for the first several days of the trip. Some of us brought our own tents, but most of the boys just got some tents from Philmont. (Tip: Bring your own tent!!) They received the tents and made sure they were all in working order before we packed them in our packs.
At basecamp you also go get your crew photo.
Finally before we hiked out in the morning, we had an opening ceremony for all the crews starting their journey. Sitting here you really start to soak in the beauty of this place!
Day 1 on the trail
It was time to start our hike! The first day we had an early breakfast and then met our bus at 8:00 AM. We had about a 20 minute ride to the trailhead that would start our journey.
Once we reached the trailhead we talked for a bit about our map and then we put on our packs and headed out.
I got to be honest, that first 30 minutes in the heat with the heavy pack felt kinda tough. In your mind you are wondering if your going to be able to do this. But then things started to settle in. If you are going on this hike - you will be able to do this. I realized this journey was just as much mental endurance as physical.
Our first hike took us to a back-country staffed site called Abreo. All through Philmont there are sites that are staffed all summer long. These staff live at this site all summer. They dress up and tell the history of the site. Abreo had a small house and farm buildings where the original Abreo family used to live.
We spent a bit of time at the site eating our first trail lunch we were on our way to our first camp. We arrived and Alex (our ranger) began to train us on the basic framework of a camp. This included where we put our tents, where to put our kitchen and how to set up our bear bags. Lerning this triad would be the basis for setting up camp the next 10 days.
Tip: Eat everything out of your bowls!! Then it makes clean-up a lot easier!
We made it through our first day on the trail. We even payed some cards before we all retired to our tents for the night.
Day 2 on the trail
We woke up at 6 AM and broke down camp. It took us about 2 hours to break down camp, eat breakfast and be ready to hike out. Our trail backtracked us back to Abreo and we stopped back the house for a break. This time we toured the house and then it was packs on to head to our next campsite.
When I look back on our trip, this was one of the more challenging days. As we left Abreo, the next 5 miles was about a 2100 ft assent. It was absolutely beautiful going through the forest up the mountains, but it was a very difficult hike. As we all huffed and puffed abit, Alex our Ranger let us know this trail was called the "stepmaster." Those "steps" which were natural steps of rocks all through the trail felt like they would never stop. By the end I was feeling every pound of my backpack. At the end of the trail for the day we popped out of the forest into the most beautiful meadow. Lookout Meadow was the our stop for the day and where we would set up camp. However as we got to this meadow and set up camp we realized that we would need to go about 2 miles back down the mountain for a water run. Cory and I went for the water run and then hiked the water back up the mountain to our camp. I can say that as I sat down for the evening and dinner I was tired!
The best decision ever to bring my own tent where we stayed dry in this all week!!
Words do not do this beauty justice!
Day 3 on the trail
We realized that we really needed to start hiking a bit earlier than we did on day 2. So we woke up at 5 am and broke down camp. Alex had been with us for 2 days on the trail and so this was the morning he said goodbye so he could go back to basecamp and pick up a new crew. It had been great having Alex their to teach us as well as just enjoy his company so it was bittersweet to say goodbye to our ranger.
We set from lookout meadow to head towards our next staffed site called Fish Camp. Our trip to Fish camp included more uphill as we ascended towards a mountain peak called "Lookout Peak." As we took some time on Lookout peak we just took in the view. Lookout peak is a 9927 feet and 360 degree view was stunning. We could even see out destination of Fish camp in the distance down the mountain. That was the good news that we would now be going down hill for a liitle while.
We started to hike and after while we made it to fish camp. There was a small cabin at fish camp that belonged to Waite Phillips. Philips was a businessman who made his name with oil. He owned the land we were now hiking on and this cabin at Fish camp was his personal retreat. I can see why. It was a cabin that was not easy to reach but once you where there the view was stunning with mountains surrounding you and a river going right beside the cabin. Ultimately Wade Philips would give all this land to the boyscouts. Thank you Wade Phillips! It was great to see the history of this land and in fact when Wade Phillips signed the deed over to the scouts it was at this very cabin that the deed was signed.
After taking in the beauty of fish camp and eating our trail lunch it was packs on as we headed to our campsite for the night. Our campsite was going to be another staffed camp called Apache Springs. Our trip from Fish camp to Apache springs had us following a trail that we were also sharing with cows. Philmont is still an active ranch and so we were walking were a large herd was also hanging out.
We made it to Apache Springs and set up camp. Apache Springs was a rather large staffed camp and had a commissary. This meant we would get our next several days of food. We stopped by the commissary to pick up our food and they had a fresh peach or apple for everyone. I have never tasted a peach that was so good! One of the nice things about staffed caps was that when you were able to stay at one, they always had an "advisor time" on the porch. Essentially the adults could come hang out on the porch and grab some coffee or hot cider along with a few cookies. A few of the boys also took a sunset hike before we all went to bed.
Day 4 on the trail
We woke up and cleaned up camp, but we since we were at Apache Springs they had a couple activities for us before we left our days destination. Apache Springs had a large TeePee set up where we spent some time learning about the Jicarilla Native Americans. We also got to take some time trying to make our own arrowheads.
The prairie dogs were everywhere on the vast meadows.
After a nice morning at Apache Springs we put our packs on headed out to our next destination called Crooked Creek, another staffed camp. On the trail we took one wrong turn and missed a trail we needed to take. We figured this out farily quickly and so it did not delay us too badly. After about 5 miles we made it to Crooked Creek and set up camp. Crooked Creek was the location of an old homesteaders cabin. We took a tour of this cabin and played with some of the homesteader animals like chickens and goats that they took care of at the cabin. Once again since we were at a staffed camp, the adults went up for porch time around 7 pm and drank some coffee and cider.
While sitting under the porch some very heavy rain came through so it was nice to have the shelter of a cabin porch roof over us. We were in the middle of monsoon season and so it had the habit of raining on us every day in late afternoon. As the rain came and then eventually let up the most unbelievable double rainbow showed up in the sky. I will never forget the beauty of that day. We took a lot of pictures and just sat and looked at the rainbows for as long as they lasted before heading back to our tents for the night.
Day 5 on the trail
We woke up 7 am and hiked about 3 miles to our next camp for the day and night. This was called Comanche camp and once there we set up very quickly.
The program for the day was going to be some hatchet throwing at a camp called Clearwater. We all got our day packs with some essentials and started on the hike. After about 2.5 miles of hiking we realized that we had turned the wrong way. It was a hot day and we were all a bit discouraged, but everyone kept a great attitude. We decided to go ahead and grab our lunch before hiking back to camp. One thing we realized was that if we still needed to check in to clearwater. That meant 2.5 miles back to camp and then 5 miles the right way to check in plus 5 miles back to camp afterwards. It was going to be a long afternoon. However on the way back to our camp, in the middle of no where we saw 2 staff surveying a bunch of downed trees from a recent wind storm. I still don't know how our paths crossed on that day, but we thought maybe they could radio in to clearwater and save us all that extra hiking. So we flagged them down and started telling them our story. One of the staff was he would be happy to let clearwater know we missed them due to getting a bit lost and then he started talking more to the boys. After some discussion, the man that had been talking to the boys introduced himself as Roger B Hoyt who is the general manager of all of Philmont! On this huge property in the middle of no where on one hike where we got lost, we bumped into the boss of Philmont. He pulled out two commentative coins from his pack and gave one to our lead advisor and one to our crew leader. We said our goodbyes and gave another thank you for saving us the extra hiking.
We all got back to Comanche camp, sat down and relaxed for a while. A few boys even took a nap in the their tents. We got dinner going, ate some noodles and then hunkered down as some rain moved in. The boys played some cards and the adults played some Farkle with dice. Then off to bed we went.
Day 6 on the trail
We woke up at 5:15 and broke down camp. Once on the trail we headed to our next destination, Philips Junction and after about 3 miles we arrived. Philips Junction is a commissary and that meant we were going to restock our food. Commissaries also meant we got a chocolate milk and fresh apple! The commissary also had a small little store and we all bought a popsicle for 50 cents! It was so good! Philips Junction also had a Nalgene bottle that you could only get at this specific store and so Landon and I both picked one up. We had all our food for the next few days and after getting the food distributed and put into all our packs we were back on the trail for our next campsite destination.
The boys mapped out where to go next after we had packed up all our food from Philips Junction.
From Philips Junction. we arrived at our next camp called Beaubien, a very large staffed camp and had our porch talk. Then we walked a short way to our campsite and set up camp.
Beaubien had a branding station set up on site and so after we had our lunch we all grabbed our hats to go get them branded.
After branding we played a few games of horseshoes that was set up at the camp. Some deer came outr to say hello as we relaxed a bit. Beaubien also had chapel service on the day we had arrived and we attended the service where the Chaplin gave a nice service that used the analogy of Mary and Joseph's long hike and journey to liken to hiking journey we were on at Philmont. After service we went back to cam, cooked some dinner and then headed to the "campfire" show put on by the staff at Beaubien. The show was a sing a long show about the Colfax County posse. The show went on into the night and sleep found me quickly once I was back in the tent.
Day 7 on the trail
Each trek at Philmont has one day where you just stay where you and don't do any hiking. This was our "off" day and we got to spend the day in Beaubien. Since we were staying in Beaubien we actually slept in un 6:30! Our main activity at Beaubien was horseback riding and so at 8 AM we headed down to the horses. We were all paired up with a horse where I met Wishbone. We all mounted up and rode horses around the camp area for a couple hours.
The day looked beautiful and we were going to spend the rest of the day in Beaubien which also had a showerhouse. We took the first showers of the trek and boy was it nice to wash off the grime. We also washed out our clothes the best we could with some water and soap, wrung out the water and then put up a clothesline in camp. We ate some lunch and played some farkle and cards.
Then the rain moved in which was a bit of a bummer because we all still had a lot of clothes trying to dry. We grabbed the half dry clothes before the rain soaked them. I sat under the tarp and read until the rain stopped. Finally the rain stopped and we went to a chuckwagon dinner. This was a dinner that the staff helped make with a couple boys from all the crews staying at Beaubien helped prepare. The dinner was chilli and some corn bread and a hot dinner was nice after the rain had cooled things off. As we finished dinner and headed back to camp the rain moved in again.
As the rain continued, a second double rainbow formed in the sky overhead! We all took more pictures and around 8 PM the adults went and listened to the "campfire" show to listen to a few more songs again. The boys stayed and played euchere. The rain really set in for the night and as we got in our tents for bed the sound of rain on the tent quickly put me to sleep.
Day 8 on the trail
Well after a day of rest it was time to get back on the trail. The rain had gone on through most of the night, but when we woke up it had stopped. We broke down camp and left the beautiful Beaubien site and set off for Crater Lake.
Crater Lake was our first stop of the day and where we were going to have our daily activity. We hiked about 6 miles of relatively flat trails and met the staff at Crater Lake. We set down for lunch before the daily activity and it was here that I pulled out and hung some of the still wet clothes that I had tried to dry from doing laundry the previous day. I was hoping that today I could get everything dry.
The activity at Crater Lake was going to be spar poling and it was a blast watching the boys put on the spar shows and climb up the poles. Landon even did the activity twice and made it all the way up the pole both times. When you got to the very top of the pole you were supposed to scream out something and since this happened to be the same day as my dad's birthday and so Landon screamed out "happy birthday Grandpa" across the mountains.
After the spar poling we grabbed the mostly dry clothes and put on our packs to arrive at our campsite for the night. The destination was Bear Cave which was only going to be about a mile up the mountain. We had noticed the clouds starting to build and after about a half a mile the rain came in strong.
We put on rain gear, but most of us only put on a coat and not leg gear as we did not expect such a storm. This particular storm was strong with heavy rain and a lot of wind. We hiked through the storm for another half a mile and finally arrived at Bear Cave. The rain would just not let up and many of the boys were very wet. We set up a rain fly and we all huddled under it while the storm kept blowing rain and cold wind coming at us. We sat under the fly trying our best to stay close and warm for about another hour until the storm passed. After the storm passed the adults helped the boys set up their tents so they could change into dry clothes and get in the sleeping bags to warm up. All the boys mostly fell asleep and so the adults cooked dinner and set up their own tents. We woke all the boys up to eat the mac and cheese we had cooked. Everyone was mostly warm again thankfully. This particular storm was one of the harder challenges of the trek and a good learning that when it starts raining get all your gear on! It does not take long for some wet crew and cool air to cool the body off where it needs to get warm again quickly. Looking back this was one of the more dangerous encounters we had with mother nature and without getting warm again, hypothermia would have easily have set in for some of our crew.
After dinned, matt, landon, Porter and myself all went the mile back down to Crater Lake for a water run and of course to take in the beauty. We came back up to camp with fully stocked water bottles and then the crew did their devotionals and we all drank some hot cider. It had been a hard and trying day and sleep in a warm sleeping bag felt really good.
Cheers to hot cider after a long day!
Day 9 on the trail
Every trek at Philmont spends several hours of one day doing a conservation project and today was the day our crew was going to work on a project. The projects are how new trails are built and maintained. We woke up around 5:45 AM and ate breakfast as well as laid more wet clothes out to dry.
Then we headed just down the trail to meet our conservation project leaders and learn more about the days work. About half a mile from our camp we arrived at the project site and got our directions for the morning. We split into groups of three people where Landon, Sam and I grouped up and picked up a pick, a scraper and shovel. For the next two hours we worked on continuing to build a new trail. Each group of 3 people dug out a piece of the mountain, scraped the dirt into a pile and then shoveled the dirt and rocks off the mountain. At about 10:30 AM we finished our service hours and headed back to Bear Camp.
We cleaned up camp and collected all our clothes that had mostly dried after a sunny morning allowed for some good drying. We grabbed our packs and headed back to Crater Lake to fill up our water bottles.
After filling our water bottles we were off to our next campsite called Miners Park. By this time the usual clouds had started to build and we could see a storm coming our way, but we managed to stay ahead of the storm for the next 2 miles and arrived dry at Miners Park. Miner's park was a larger staff camp and also home for a commissary. So that meant some milk and a fresh apple! We organized our food for the next several days and the staff told us we would be in campsite 5. We set up camp and then got dinner going. Landon had gotten a pretty decent cut on his finger during the conservation project and so we went back up to the staff cabin to clean the cut and get a fresh band-aid.
Dinner consisted of some rice and after dinner the advisors went up to the cabin porch for advisor time. I had some good hot apple cider and a few cookies! After chatting for a bit we went back to camp and the camp finished the day with a devotional before everyone was off to bed.
Day 10 on the trail
We woke up and followed our normal routine. We broke down camp and ate some breakfast before all meeting briefly at the cabin porch to hear instructions for our daily activity. Some final pictures where taken before we left including the best spot in the camp - a Red Roof Inn (or the outhouse)
At the Miner's Park porch the staff gave us directions on where to hike so we could take part in some rock climbing. We set off and after about 1.5 miles we arrived at the top of the mountain that had some great rocks for climbing. The boys all geared up with safety gear and then took their tries at rock climbing up the mountain. After climbing for awhile we headed back down the mountain, collected our packs and then headed for our next campsite destination.
Our next campsite destination was called Schaffer's Pass. It was a strong uphill climb to get to our destination, but we finally made it.
Landon cooked spaghetti for everyone while we sat up camp. After we lunch, Cory, Matt and I needed to go back down the mountain for a water run. It was 1.8 miles back down to the river for water and then 1.8 miles back up the mountain and it decided to rain the entire water run. So we got a great workout this day. After getting back to camp we dried off and Matt made us some cider. The rain that paused for just a bit then set in for the night. We huddled up under the rain fly and ate dinner, but the rain never stopped so we all went to bed pretty early.
This was going to be our last day on the trail. It was also going to be one of our longest hikes with pack's on to get to the finish line. We woke up at 5:00 AM and broke down camp for the last time.
The hike started at Schaffer's pass and we a short hike up to Schaffer's peak. The view was absolutley astonishing. There were lots of clouds still in the sky and most of them were actually below us. Watching the fog and clouds moves through the mountains and trees below us was mesmerizing.
After the pause at the top of the peak we headed down the trail for our next stop, the Tooth of Time. After some miles of hiking we arrived at the Tooth of Time peak. It was so many rocks!
We took packs off and then climbed big boulders for about 15-20 minutes to reach the top. Their was no real defined trail due to all the rocks, but we finally made it to the top The view at Schafers Peak was astonishing. The view at Tooth of Time was spectacular. It is hard to put into words the view from atop this peak with the 360 panorama we could see. We stayed for a bit to take in the view and then slowly made our way back down the rocks to our packs.
We then set off on our last hike with the base camp as our destination. We hiked for quite a while and then base camp came into view down in the valley at the base of the mountain we were on. We found a good spot to sit and eat lunch. As we ate we watched a huge storm role in over the valley and mountains out in the distance. It was slowly moving our way and so as we got back on the trail we all got our rain gear out. this time we geared up from head to toe. The rain finally caught up with us and it was quite a storm. Heavy rain, lightning and thunder followed us all the way to our final destination. After about a total of 10 miles for the day we Made it to the end. What an adventure!
After taking a shower, we spend our last night in base camp celebrating our journey at Philmont. we attended a final show to all reflect on the experience and accomplishments on this hike.
The it was back to the train station where after a long train ride, we made it back to Chicago. There our rides picked us up and our Philmont journey officially came to an end.
I hope you get to go to Philmont if that is ever an opportunity that comes your ways. The Ranger's of Philmont sing it the best.
PHILMONT RANGER SONG
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. HELLO (shout)
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. WANNA BET (shout)
I want to hike once more the canyon floor
From Scribblins to Old Camp,
With my pack sack a-creakin',
And my legs beginning to cramp, OHHHH (shout)
I want to hike with such great men
As made those famous treks,
From Beaubien to Porky
And from Cito to Car-Max. HIP, HIP, HOORAY (shout 3 times)
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