A Trip of a life time.
Fourteen years ago my dad and I along with eight others did a “trip of a life time” at Philmont Scout Ranch near Cimarron, New Mexico. 214 square miles of land about 140 miles of hiking in 12 days with just the gear strapped to our backs.
I remember 100% hating the hike as it was going on. A few months after the trip I wanted to go back. One of the big reasons why I scanned all the photos and now post this was a reminder to myself whom I was, and to push my butt into getting into hiking again. The day to day breakdown of what happened was wrote by my dad in his journal, I didn’t write anything down because I hate writing, still do.
(Trip Day 1)
July 27
“Ben and the guys from Beulah showed up at Dickinson at about 7:00 am, Left Dickinson stop at Dix mini mart for pop. Made one potty break between Dix and Spearfish S. Dak. Stopped at the Safeway bought some fixin’s for lunch. Stop in Buehal S.D. for lunch east of Spearfish S.Dak. Continued to drive to Cheyenne Wym. for supper. Had lunch at Berger King. Stayed in YMCA for the night. $1.50 per person and for another $15.00 we got use of the gym and showers. Went to bed about 12:00 Slept on a preschool room floor.” 524 Miles.
(Trip Day 2)
July 28
“Woke up at 5:00 am. Had to be out of the YMCA by 7:00. Went to a Safeway picked up cold cereal and milk. Had breakfast at the rest area on the edge of Cheyenne. Drove to Colo. Springs and then Carson City. Stayed at Fort Carson army base. They had a two story building filled with bunks just for boyscout troops to stay in. There were three other troops in there. The night we were there two from colo. and one from Iowa. In the afternoon we went to the carefree highway go cart track. It was pretty Reasonable $15 for 6 races and they let all 10 of use race together. Got back to the fort at around 8:00. Another Troop showed up from From Georgia.” 242 Miles
My notes: I grabbed a top bunk near a huge ass fan, I think I might have died in that thing, I crashed so damn hard that afternoon. Woke up and felt like a brand new person.
Day 1 (Trip Day 3)
July 29
“Got up at 6:00 am Left Fort Carson at 6:30. Drove to Pueblo Colo. about 40 miles from Fort Carson. Fueled up and had breakfast at a tourist information. Drove to Philmont. Arrived at 10:30. Did checking and had dinner at dining hall. After lunch we met our Ranger, Kenn. Finished checking in, did medical checks. Picked up other gear and food. Had an advisers meeting with some staff. Then it was supper time. After supper. Chapel was at 7:00-7:30. Camp fire was at 8:30-9:10. Took shower, went to bed.” 194 Miles
My notes: Whatever day we drove through Denver. With the two cars connected with CB radio and almost rush hour time. Someone went over the radio “The babewatch line is now open, off to your left you will see a hottie in a red car” or something like that. 8 teenagers in two cars what else would you expect to happen. This went on for a bit.
I was part of the 2nd car. We went over the radio. “OH MAN HOTTIE coming up on your right in the gray car NOW NOW NOW.” was really like an 75 year old lady passing them. But we almost got into a car crash from laughing so hard seeing watching 5 kids and one adult ALL turn their heads to the right at the same time only to see an old lady passing them.
Also sometime during this we hit rush hour traffic. Dad went over the radio and said to Ben Sr. “thought you said we would miss rush hour traffic?” and we got a reply back from who knows who ” Welcome to Denver”
Day 2 (Trip Day 4)
July 30 (Ben Jr) <—- Pack leader for the day
“Got up at around 6:00 AM did a soak yourself down rinse type shower (shortage of water) Had breakfast at about 6:45. Had Group picture at 7:30. First crew in line. After the picture we had pack shake downs. Packed over backpacks, divided up the troop gear. Then we had free time till 10:45. During free time, Ben Sr. went to town to get a haircut. Met Ranger Kenn at 10:45 went over safety procedures. Called home after meeting with Kenn. Had dinner after dinner got ready to go for the big bus ride at 12:30. After arriving at Poni turnaround we went over some more procedures and headed for camp with Ben Jr leading the way. Went past Poni Camp on over way to Sioux Camp over the right ways to Bear Prof. Camp and we had rain showers from 6:00 – 9:00 pm Went to bed around 10:00 (Kevin Water)
Pack Shake downs: We had to empty EVERYTHING out of our packs and lay everything out. This way we could find gear that we didn’t really need. With 10 people as one group, we didn’t need 10 pots to cook with, we only needed one or two. This is also meant to lighten the load a bit. The avg backpack was sitting around 45-55 pounds each. So being able to shave up 2-7 pounds makes a world of difference later on.
Kevin Water: Meaning my job was to go to the near by stream and collect water for the day.
Side Note: Under the “Related Post” to continue to page 2
