Philmont Trek Journal by Mike H., Crew Advisor
2001 Crew 730-H3, Troop 101, Champaign, Illinois
Itinerary 13
Introduction
Crew 730-H3 is the third crew of a 27-person contingent from Troop 101, Champaign, Illinois. The crews nickname was Crazy Lobo and consisted of Crew Leader Matt J. (age 14), his dad Dave J. (age 37), Crew Advisor Mike H. (age 45), his son Mark H. (age 14), Michael A. (age 14), his mother Linda A. (age ??, I won't tell, but between Dave and Mike), Matt P. (age 14) and Joe T. (age 14). All are originally from Troop 101 and were in the troop when the trek was reserved, but Linda, Michael, Matt P., and Joe shifted to a new troop (121) that spun-off from 101. All the boys were between their 8th and 9th grade years in school, but attend 3 different high schools. The advisors were all experienced leaders in Cub Scouts (all 3 are former Cubmasters) with very different professions. Mike and Dave work for the University of Illinois, Mike as a Professor, Dave as Marketing Director for Athletics. Linda is an MD (Pediatrician) by training, but doesn't currently practice medicine.
Organized preparation for the trek had begun the previous winter, with stadium hiking in University of Illinois Memorial Stadium, and several camping trips with the rest of the troop. Most everyone was in pretty good shape by the time we
Sunday July 29, 2001
All 3 crews met at our chartering church at 2:45 pm. We got everything set, took pictures and loaded up. We rolled out of the parking lot at about 3:20, and were on Interstate 74 by 3:30, heading for the Amtrak station at Galesburg, Illinois. We arrived at the station with only minor confusion by 5:45pm, 34 minutes ahead of the scheduled arrival of our train, the Southwest Chief, from Chicago. Each of us had brought a sack dinner, so we ate at the station, took a few pictures, and waited. The California Zephyr was late, but ahead of the SW Chief, so our train was delayed from its scheduled 6:19 arrival. It pulled in at 6:25 (not bad) and we were on our way at 6:35pm after loading all our gear into the lower level area of one of the coach cars.
Several other Chicago-area troops were already on board. We weren't the largest contingent. The Naperville troop had 44 scouts and leaders in 4 crews. Our scouts talked, played cards, chased girls (my son claims not us), ate, etc. There was a constant parade up and down the car. I was seated with Dave J. The leaders talked and/or read. There was a nice sunset over Missouri. I tried to sleep beginning about 10pm, but woke about every hour all night.
Monday July 30, 2001 (Trek day 1)
I woke up for good about 6:15am. Several of the other leaders were already awake. The sunrise was bright over my right shoulder. I made my way to the observation car, bought a muffin and coffee and ate my breakfast watching Kansas go by. The train stopped at Dodge City, KS at 7:30am, which was 1:17 late according to the timetable. A full contingent Leader Meeting was called for 9:25am. We discussed what would happen when we arrived at Raton and generally felt like the crews were ready.
The train's schedule must have had a delay built in, because we made up an hour between Lamar and La Junta, Colorado. We crossed into New Mexico at 11:40am, and got to Raton, NM at 12-noon (only 20 minutes late). We unloaded our gear from the train and were directed to Philmont busses. We loaded our gear and were off to local fast-food establishments before our bus ride out to the ranch. The drivers asked us to be back to the bus by 1pm, which almost all of us were. We had to wait about 15 minutes for a couple St. Louis scouts to get back from McDonald's, but left for Philmont Scout Ranch at 1:15pm.
We arrived at the Welcome Center at about 2:15pm. After unloading our gear, we wait. Our crew's ranger, Brian Lindsey, finds us, and Matt J. and I go to check-in. Our entire contingent is there at once; get checked-in and then head off to wait for Logistics. Matt J. and I go through Logistics, review our trek, reserve horses (6, not enough, but better than none) for 1pm at Clarks Fork on Day 11. I review and record water sources along the route. Most of the crew ends up at Tooth of Time Traders while Matt J. and I are checking in. Dinner for us was scheduled for 5pm. Brian leads us in the Philmont Grace and we go in for dinner. Nothing special, but we're all aware of this being the last dinner cooked for us and eaten inside for almost 2 weeks, so we chow down.
The end of dinner brings meetings for the Crew Leader, Advisors, and Chaplin's Aide. All of us went to Chapel at 7pm, followed by the Opening Campfire at 8. I thought the campfire was great, though a bit corny. We retired to our tents at 9:30, lights out just after
Tuesday July 31, 2001 (Trek Day 2)
I'm up at 5:15am. I shower, head for the Advisors' Lounge for coffee. There, I met an Advisor for a homebound group that just came off Itinerary 13, so I asked about a part of the schedule that had been bothering me the side hike to Phillips Junction on our longest day (Day 5) to get 1 day's worth of food. His advice was to somehow get some extra food while at base camp, or conserve enough for a dinner and breakfast and skip that food pickup. The route goes through PJ the next day, so food for the next few days can be picked up then. He also told me about a hiking technique that he thought saved them the Caterpillar (explained later when we use it). I thanked him for his
Breakfast was at 6:30, and then we emptied our tents. Brian took us through a pack shakedown, helping us decide what we did and didn't need to take. We eliminated a few items, but I was very surprised at how little we put in the locker. I'd heard horror stories about needing 2 lockers, but we didn't fill ours more than about half-full.
Brian worked on training topics while we each went through the Health Lodge. No one had any problems with the re-check (yea!). We drew our allotment of food and our equipment. I briefed Brian on my concerns about the side hike to PJ, and he said he'd draw Ranger food for our first dinner and his own breakfast, so we'd have an extra. We got everything distributed across the crew and into packs after lunch. The packs were heavy, but manageable. Brian kept up the training and had covered most topics by the time we got on the bus for Lovers Leap turnaround at 2:30p.
We'd already experienced Philmont's fickle July-August weather at base camp. Bright sunshine, then heavy rain for 20 minutes, then sunny and dry 30 minutes later. We drove through several shower/sun cycles on the way to the drop-off point. We unloaded, put our packs on our backs and hiked off to Lovers Leap Camp in the rain. Then the sun came out and it was beautiful. The trail was a bit (or a lot) muddy at times, but we made it to our campsite without much trouble. Brian taught us the one-pot method, showed us the Bear-muda triangle and how to tie and secure bear-bags.
After dinner, we had "Thorns and Roses" (T&R), with the added "bud". Each member of the crew shared their least favorite part of the day (thorn), most favorite (rose) and anticipated favorite for sometime later in the trip (bud). Brian complimented us on a great crew. He shared that he had his doubts when he found out all the scouts were only 14, but he was impressed about how well we worked together.
We were all in our tents and headed to sleep by 9:30.
Wednesday August 1, 2001 (Trek Day 3)
As would become a normal pattern, I was up first (5:30) and took some sunrise pictures. We had breakfast, topped off our water bottles, worked on the Wilderness Pledge, broke camp and got on the trail at 9am. We hiked toward Urraca Camp, which is on the other side of Urraca Mesa from Lovers Leap Camp.
The climb up Urraca Mesa was tough, so we jumped right in with the Caterpillar. Essentially, when someone in the crew shouts "Caterpillar", the lead hiker steps to the side of the trail so the others can pass. The new "lead hiker" hikes on about 50 paces or so, and steps to the side as the first leader had done. This pattern continues until the last hiker passes the initial lead hiker, after which the initial lead hiker waits about 50 paces and begins to hike anew. The whole process is kept up as long as the crew wishes to use it. Each member gets frequent chances to rest, while the crew keeps making progress. It worked great for us and we found ourselves using it everyday we had an uphill hike.
We stopped for lunch at the edge of the mesa. The view was spectacular. After lunch, we hiked down to Urraca Camp and scheduled the Challenge Events for 3:30pm. We set up camp and learned more about doing the bear bags properly.
Brian and Linda stayed behind in camp to get dinner started. Dave and I went with the scouts to watch them do the Challenge Events. The five of them, working together to solve a problem, were amazing to watch. The staff member (I've lost her name, from Texas) didn't think five 14 year olds would do very well. Boy, was she in for a surprise.
A bit of information about the boys might be in order. None of them was very large at the time of the trek. The heaviest was Matt J. at 133, the lightest Joe T. at 94. The tallest was Matt J. at 5' 7", while Michael A. was the shortest at 5' 0". What didn't show outwardly was that most were (and are) athletes. Matt J. plays baseball and hockey, Joe T. is a long distance runner, Mark H. plays soccer. All handled 40+ packs with ease. Mark H. would later take weight from others and carried in excess of 50 pounds with no complaints.
The Challenges:
- Given a 30"x30" square, get all five scouts on the square with only 3 points of contact with the square and hold that position long enough to sing a song. They solved it in less than 2 minutes, to the shock of the staff member.
- Given 6 posts in the ground in a hexagon shape plus a 7th post in the center, get the whole crew across from one side to the other using only the available 4x4's. They solved that one quickly as well.
- Given a rope swing to cross a river and 4 disks to stand on, get everyone across. But, a crewmember could not have both feet on the same disk, nor could there be more than 2 feet on any individual disk. They solved this one by each swinging across in turn, with the crewmembers already across guiding the feet of the arriving member to the right spots. The last one across was Joe, who the other 4 just caught at held in their arms.
- Scouts entered an area bounded by 4 trees and surrounded by a rope. They were now chickens and could only communicate by clucking. The butcher was a one end and the rope was the top of an electric fence. They had to work together to get everyone out. They made their way out of this one quickly, too.
We all returned to camp. Dinner was almost ready. We ate and cleaned up. Advisor's coffee was at 7. Brian taught bear-bags to the boys again while the adults went to coffee. All of us met at the campfire at 8pm, with ghost stories about Philmont and the Urraca Mesa above us. Our Crew Leader, Matt J. had to go up front and demonstrate "I'm a Little Teacup" with the staff. When it was over, we headed back to our campsite and went to bed (by 10).
Thursday August 2, 2001 (Trek Day 4)
I was up at 5:30, put coffee on. Brian packed up and left, leaving us to our own resources. He said we had a great crew, made great progress and would have a good time. We fixed breakfast, packed up, and were on the trail by 8:30 or so. We hiked up and over Urraca Mesa (tough, caterpillared up & slid down) as the trail was very steep, especially the back trail we had to go down. We made it to Backache Springs camp by lunch. No water evident except a scummy pond, which was OK when filtered and Polar Pured, but clogged filters quickly. A storm blew up (12:30 to 1:30, on time), so lunch was under the dining fly. The weather cleared off and was beautiful by 4pm.
The bear cable at Backache was interesting, so say the least. No trees were available, so the cable was stretched between 2 telephone poles, fairly low with no bags. Unfortunately, after several crews worth of bear bags were up, I could almost reach the bags. Definitely bear pinatas. Luckily, we made it through the night without bear damage.
The sanitary facility was a "pilot to bombardier", which didn't excite the crew, but you make do with what you have. On the water front, the boys went exploring and found a spring house uphill of the camp, with cold, clear water. We still Polar Pured and filtered, but it was much better that the pond water.
The sunset was beautiful, dinner in clear weather. The boys played hearts after the adults went to bed.
Friday August 3, 2001 (Trek Day 5)
I got everybody up at 5:45a to watch the sunrise, as we were on the far eastern side of the mountains with a clear view of the horizon. We did our daily devotions just after the sun rose. Breakfast, packed up, out by 8am. Hiked along the base of the Mesa, past Toothache Springs camp, then down to Abreu. We had lunch on the trail. We met Andrea Consalus, from Champaign (Crew 1), set up camp next to Rayado Creek, and hung the bear bags. We all had root beer in the Cantina. The boys played hearts (what else?). Mark "shot the moon" (took all 26 hearts, giving all other players 26 points) twice in a row. After that, the other 3 players always held (rather than passed) the Ace of Hearts to make sure Mark couldn’t do it again.
Two of the boys went off at 4 to help cook the dinner. A Mexican cantina dinner was prepared for all crews at Abreu that night. Later there was Advisor's coffee with real cowboy coffee (grounds and all) and freshly made goat cheese (Linda helped Andrea with it). Cookies and guitar music with impromptu singing made this particular coffee one of the more memorable ones. We wanted to stay for the rest of the trek. We reluctantly left the porch for camp, got ready for the night, re-hung the bear bags and went to bed.
Saturday August 4, 2001 (Trek Day 6, the day from h#?!)
We were up and out by 8am. We headed along the creek for Old Abreu camp, to pick up the trail to Fish Camp and on to Aqua Fria. Both versions of the map showed that we should take the left-most trail at the multi-trail junction in Old Abreu. Unfortunately, the trail that went uphill to the left at that point wasn't on our maps, so we headed up on the wrong trail. We hiked uphill about 1.5 mi and saw power lines that were on the map, but not where we should be (waaaay too far south and high). Linda and I hiked up further until we could see landmarks (Tooth of Time and the east end of Urraca Mesa). I triangulated on those points and found that we were indeed not where we should be. The only option was to return to Old Abreu and find the right trail. So we hiked back down.
We took the 2nd trail from the left and found a sign to Fish Camp. Started the hike anew at 11:45 and took a lunch break after a bit. We hiked and hiked and hiked. We thought we should be getting close, and then reached a sign for a camp that we thought was a couple miles behind us. Almost all of us were close to being out of water. We found a stream flowing across the trail, so we filtered and Polar Pured a couple gallons of water, but had to wait an hour for virus protection. We stopped for a water break after an hour. At that stop, Linda told Dave and I that she would have to contact Health Lodge when we reached Fish Camp. We hiked another 20-30 minutes to Fish Camp. Matt and Linda checked in about 6. We hoped they would let us stay there, which Health Lodge eventually approved. We set up camp and ate dinner in the dark. There was Advisors' Coffee, but we had to skip it to do our evening chores so we could get to bed. The camp had lots of recent bear activity (we saw 3 hiking in, including 1 across the stream from the staff cabin), so we hung almost everything. We were all in bed by 10pm.
Sunday August 5, 2001 (Trek Day 7)
I slept in a bit (6), then got up and going. We had leftover dessert and hot chocolate for breakfast. Our Conservation Project was scheduled for 8:30 to 11:30 up the road toward Phillips Junction (PJ), working on the new Fish Camp to PJ trail. We did "pioneering", which is removal of rocks, brush and trees from the trail zone (3' trail, clearance to 6 'wide by 10' high, for horses). We completed our time, hiked back to Fish Camp. We had lunch in camp, using part of the extra dinner we had. Some of the boys took advantage of the fishing program in the early pm. We packed up and left for PJ at 3pm. We arrived at PJ at 4pm, picked up our food allotment plus fuel and a bottle of Tabasco sauce. They had fresh apples and oranges available, which everyone thought was the best they'd ever had (so why don't they eat them at home???). We left PJ and climbed up to Crooked Creek camp. We arrived shortly after 6, were assigned to a campsite, and set up camp. The water source was a spring/stream downhill from the staff cabin. It clogged filters while taking an hour to get 3 gallons of water. We made dinner while water was being drawn. A doe and her fawn strolled through the campsite. We had dinner, did T&R, cleaned up and went to bed (9p).
Monday August 6, 2001 (Trek Day 8)
We were up at 6, had breakfast, broke camp and were on the trail by 8am. We hiked toward Clear Creek camp, meeting the other 2 crews in our contingent along the trail. We stopped and discussed the treks so far. We arrived at Clear Creek before noon and were assigned a campsite that was actually just off Philmont property. We set up camp and ate lunch. The boys played more hearts, then explored a bit. I caught up on this journal. The boys & Dave went to shoot black powder rifle. (Note to self: Next Philmont opportunity, don't pass on any activity. Enjoy them all!) Main targets were clothes. Mark got 4 holes in his OA t-shirt. Everyone came back to camp and made dinner. The adults went to Advisor's Coffee at 7 with extremely thick "cowboy" coffee. We went back to camp after dark, went to bed. It rained most of the night.
Tuesday August 7, 2001 (Trek Day 9)
I was back to getting up at 5:30. We had breakfast and packed up, getting out about 8 (seems normal). Our trail led us over the top of Mt. Phillips (11,711 feet), which we reached at about 11:30a. We had lunch on top, took lots of photos to record the moment and started down the other side at 12:15p. Our sister crew on Itinerary 13 (from Reno, NV) was stopped a mile or so from the summit with a sick scout from their crew. Linda stayed with him and 2 of their advisors. The rest of both crews headed for Cyphers Mine staffed camp, for help, hiking down a 4WD road. About 20 minutes down, a Suburban pulled up behind us, with Program Director Mark Anderson and others plus Linda and the sick scout and his leaders. The Reno crew and us were re-routed to stay at Cyphers, so Linda could keep an eye on the sick scout. Cyphers had no flat ground for tents; so all the "campsites" had elevated platforms with 3 sides, a roof and a level concrete floor. We closed in most of the open side with the dining fly to keep the wind out. The camp had mine tours; forge tours, and wood-fired showers. We took tours, made dinner, went to Advisors' coffee at 7:45. The Toughman story competition was at 8:20, followed by mountain music and stories by kerosene lantern at "Stomp". We found our way back to our campsite well after dark, in bed by 10. "Stomp" was also listed as an activity for us if we had stayed at Lamberts Mine, but I wonder about trying to hike a mile or so in the dark from Cyphers to Lamberts.
Wednesday August 8, 2001 (Trek Day 10)
Most everyone was up at 6, we made breakfast, broke camp. Out by 8:30, heading down toward Cimarroncito. We stopped at Hunting Lodge, which was Waite Phillip's lodge. We got a tour from the couple that spends their summers in the lodge. We hiked to Cito, had lunch after scheduling rock climbing at 2:30 (indoor, because of rain). Matt J. and Dave took off with the Crew Leader and an advisor from the Reno group to get our last allotment of food at Ute Gulch. As soon as they left, the heavens opened. Rain and hail (pea-sized) lasted through the climbing session. While waiting for climbing, Mark, Matt P., Michael & Joe played euchre and hearts on the porch of one of the cabins, and then went inside to rock climb on the climbing walls. The food crew returned about 3:15 or so. We hiked up to Webster Park camp, set up, had dinner. The boys played sock baseball and roughhoused after dinner then played more cards. The adults were in tents by shortly after 8, leaving the boys with full bear bag duty. Two days, 13 miles to go...
Thursday August 9, 2001 (Trek Day 11)
I was up at 5:45; bear bags down, water heating for coffee and breakfast. The boys were up by 6-6:15. We ate breakfast and broke camp. We were on the trail before 8, to Hunting Lodge by 9. We reached Clark's Fork camp by a little after 10. We did a quick check-in and porch talk, and then hiked to our campsite at Upper Clarks Fork (about a mile uphill). We set up camp, had lunch, raised the bear bags, and returned to Clarks Fork. Horseback riding was scheduled for 6 of us at 1pm. Dave and I volunteered to not go, unless there were cancellations. I threw some horseshoes, but as soon as I started a real competitive match, the daily rain began. It started to rain at 1:30, raining off and on until 3pm. The porch was full most of the time.
Dave and I were kicked off the porch to make room for incoming crews about 3:30. We were told to get out of the rain at the new Chuckwagon Dinner pavilion. When we got there, we found that the pavilion was about 50% flooded (very poor grading work, a large area drained to the new site). There were dry spots, and a roof, but it was open on all sides to the wind. In the meantime, the rest of the crew returned from horse riding, totally soaked. When the rain and thunder hit, they were ordered to dismount, the horses were run back to the corral, while the riders had to walk back through literally rivers of water. Permission came to build a fire, so wood was gathered and Linda and an advisor from Reno brought white gas. The fire started, then quit. More gas was used on additional wood, and a definite "poof" was heard when the match was tossed in. A crew of older scouts from Lexington, KY took possession of the fire as if it was their own, much to the dismay of our wet scouts, since the KY group wasn't wet. We had to stand our ground and get our wet scouts access to the fire.
Dinner was called a bit later, so we left. We came back later to a nice fire with only 1 scout tending to it. We warmed up some more and went to Advisor's Coffee. We did some branding, filled up all the water jugs, including the personal containers, as Upper Clarks Fork was a dry camp. We hiked uphill to camp, dreading what condition we would find our tents and gear in. Our dining fly was down and the tents were wet, but the sleeping bags were dry. We had to put up all 5 bear bags, as bear activity was very high. Getting them down to load them and add another was a trick, because another crew had pulled theirs up right under ours but we worked it out.
Friday August 10, 2001 (Trek Day 12)
Woke up at 5:30, got going quickly, had breakfast and were on the trail before 7:45. The plan was to meet the other 2 Troop 101 crews at Schafer's Pass camp at 9am. We got there at 8:50, waited until 9:20, and then headed for the Tooth of Time. We ate lunch below the Tooth, and then climbed to the top. We took pictures of all of us at the top, and then headed down while a thunderstorm blew up. We got our packs on our backs quickly, and headed toward Base Camp. It rained for the last 2 hours, soaking most everyone. I was dry because I had put on my rain pants right away, even though it was quite warm. The rest were pretty wet and miserable. We reached the back gate of Base Camp about 4. We turned in our equipment quickly (we were the last crew of the day to get everything turned in). We got our tent assignments, so Linda (who had chattering teeth and was stuttering uncontrollably, hypothermia setting in?) and the boys went to the showers to warm up. Dinner was in the dining hall at 6 (it was soooo good to eat food cooked by someone I didn't know, on plates, at a table). The final campfire was at 8pm.
Linda showered and went straight to her tent to bed. She was fine the next morning. Dave and Matt J. and I went to the final campfire. They both went up front to accept the "We All Made It" plaque for the crew. We definitely enjoyed our last evening at Philmont.
Saturday August 11, 2001
I was up at 5:30 and took pictures of my last New Mexico sunrise. I showered and had breakfast with the rest of the crew. We'd come a long way in 12 days, but we ready to go home. We washed clothes and packed our gear. Some of the group toured Villa Philmonte, while others bought final souvenirs, or played hearts. We all met at the shelter at the Welcome Center to wait for our bus to Raton.
We got to Raton late in the afternoon, but found out that the train was late. Instead of the 5:36pm arrival, it was delayed until after 8. We walked to restaurants or had pizza delivered and waited reasonably patiently until our train pulled in. I fell asleep about 10p.
Sunday August 12, 2001
I awoke about 5:30, and went for coffee and a muffin. We relaxed, discussed the trek, or planned scout activities for the coming year. We were to arrive in Galesburg at 12:30p, but I called back to let our phone chain leader know we would be closer to 3pm. I had lunch with 3 other leaders in the dining car. Real tablecloths and napkins were a nice luxury. We arrived pretty much as expected, took pictures, loaded vehicles and headed for Champaign. We met briefly at the church to drop gear, and then went home.
A great experience, ready to go again (in a few years...)
Addendum: January 2004
That crew of 14 year olds is now mostly 17, and will all be Eagle Scouts very soon. Troop 101 was selected as a 608 trek for 2005, so my "few years" will be just short of 4. Our 2005 contingent is currently 4 crews, with 38 participants. I will be going with my younger son, who will be 2 months shy of 15 when we go.
