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Post by pathwinder14 on Jan 18, 2013 14:26:18 GMT -7
Missasip's thread made me wonder, who here has been to Philmont? I went summer of '93. I was a Star rank. What do you remember from your trek(s)? I remember hiking for food halfway through. The trek is 10 days long but they only give you 5 days of dehydrated food. On your 5th day you have to make an extra hike/trip (in addition to the planned hike for that day) to another camp to resupply. So on day 5, 4 of us hiked to Fish camp to resupply. It was an extra 8 mile round trip. However you could buy candy and fruit there. You could also send postcards. You had to eat what you bought there. You could not take it with you, but hey, a 16 year old kid wanting a sugar high will hike the extra 8 miles. I know I did. They also gave us Bear Valley Pemmican Bars (power bars) with our food. These were the early power bars. They tasted like crap. They were dense bricks of awful...but they gave you plenty of energy. We would joke that we could build nuclear shelters out of them. Their pack stoves were dangerous back then too. They used to have a stand up comic that would do a routine after your trek was over making fun of them. You had to pump the fuel into the stove to get it to ignite. They would fizzle and spit a lot. That comedian was funny. On our last day we weer camped near the tooth of time. I opted to sleep in while everyone else watched the sunrise from the tooth. It was some good sleep. Seeing snow on Mt. Baldy in the middle of June was interesting. Anyone else?
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Post by missasip on Jan 18, 2013 17:51:03 GMT -7
I was going to ask thywar where this Philmont was... Had never heard of it. Course I was not a scout either. Had to look it up. What a great looking place. When growing up in El Paso, we used to go up to Redosa (sp) and Alamogrodo all the time. Course this was the late 50s and early 60s. Never knew Philmont was up there in north NM. Sounds like ya had some good times there. Jimmy
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Post by wtrfwlr on Jan 18, 2013 19:53:21 GMT -7
I started in Cub Scouts when I was around 8 then I went on to Webelos and on to Boy Scouts which would have made my window to make my hoped for trip to Philmont about 20 years your junior.
When I first came into scouting and I heard about Philmont that became my ultimate goal. I thought Eagle Scout would be cool, which I never got even close too, and The Order of The Arrow was a big deal, that one I did proudly did. But what I really wanted out of Boy Scouts was that trip to Philmont.
I worked pretty hard to get there too. Well, as hard as a preteen could I guess. I sold greeting cards door to door, yeah that scam outta the back of Boy's Life magazine, turned in found pop bottles, saved gift money and allowance money. But every year when the time would roll around for plans to be made to go, my father would always shoot down the idea. It was always, "He's too young. He won't remember the experience" Or "We can't afford it right now" He made well over $100,000 back in the 70's. He just preferred to spend his money on the country club putting greens, fishing trips for himself to Mazatand Mexico or staying drunk in bars.
So as it turned out, he held on to putting off my trip to Philmont long enough so that I lost interest, got a drivers license, discovered girls, decided to become a rodeo cowboy and promptly quit scouts. He soon relocated out family, again, this time to Arkansas and my dream of Philmont was lost forever. I still think about it though and wonder what it's really like.
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Post by thywar on Jan 18, 2013 20:21:27 GMT -7
1993 huh?... 1968.. (Mason Williams, Classical Gas was a very hot song on our trip www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhMuCiAe6vA) no power bars, no backpack stoves.. Tooth of Time, oh yeah.. Old Baldy, uh huh.. horse back ride (had a kid from PA, first time on a horse.. that was fun) Long hikes everyday, rained every day.. I remember an extra long hike up a hill, mountain,.. That was worth it. Looked down into a valley and it was full of mule deer. I remember seeing that and thinking it had to be right out of a Disney movie.. (Remember now.. 1968). there were 9 of us plus our leader and we drove out from NE OK. Spent the night in the sand dunes of far western OK in the panhandle. www.beavercowchipnews.com/beaver_dunes.htmI didn't even know at the time OK had sand dunes, much less a park. That was 10 days of growing up out in the middle of incredible country. I think Mud said the other day there is a waiting list to go there now. BJ.. working for it.. we put flags out on mainstreet for every holiday. We sold concessions at the rodeo for five days and then stayed afterwards and swept the whole place to raise money to go. We still had to earn money on our own though to add to it. Just a regular Boy Scout backpack (no frame) and an Army surplus sleeping bag. Construction boots and my brother's Army fatigue cap. IT WAS GLORIOUS!!!!! Well except for the Tetrox part.. lol
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Post by Sctr22 on Jan 18, 2013 23:39:07 GMT -7
Always wanted to do Philmont but opted to go to Seabase instead. Figured I could always hike...but would I ever take the time to get scuba certified on my own? One of the most memorable trips I had in the scouts. On the first dive, I came face to face with two eagle rays as soon as I entered the water. Absolutely gorgeous. My least favorite part of the whole thing was a night dive...but of course that had more to do with my dive buddy shining his light in my face . Underwater, in the middle of the keys, pitch black and without my night vision...haha. Almost ran head first into a reef...well...more like head first into a lobster on the reef... It's ok though...he got his when he decided to grab onto an old anchor...covered in fire coral
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Post by pathwinder14 on Jan 19, 2013 4:59:09 GMT -7
Long hikes everyday, rained every day.. I remember an extra long hike up a hill, mountain,.. That was worth it. Looked down into a valley and it was full of mule deer. I remember seeing that and thinking it had to be right out of a Disney movie.. (Remember now.. 1968). I remember one day we hiked to a ridge near the top of a mountain. We looked across teh valley and saw a thunderstorm 20 miles away. It looked like it was 1 inch tall with tiny lightning bolts. I remember the 1st time we saw deer were amazed. Some excalimed, "OOOhhhh deer!" The next time it was, "hey, more deer!" About the 5th day it was (sarcastically), "great......more deer....."
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ikean
Learning the ropes
Posts: 10
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Post by ikean on Jan 19, 2013 6:30:44 GMT -7
made life scout.always wanted to go to philmont, never did.I married a woman whos family worked on a 36000 acre ranch a couple hours from there.I love the area and visit neeast nm every summer.we always stop in cimmaron on the way to taos.
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