Philmont Scout Ranch
High Adventure Trip
August 5 to 20, 2007
PHILMONT
What Was LearnedIn interviewing the Philmont Scouts and Scouters upon their return to our Silver Spring civilization, Mr. Alleman asked each: “What did you learn from your Philmont experience?” [Don’t try to guess who said what; rather, learn from the message.]
BSA Philmont
Their remarks are as follows:
1) Keep on going [hiking] no matter what.
2) Slow hikers will eventually get there.
3) Everyone should stay together and hike as slow as the slowest hiker.
4) Trail repair and hiking as an activity seems like it would be great fun.
5) I better appreciate what I have at home.
6) Flush toilets are a luxury.
7) I learned how to work together better.
8) Life on the trail would have gone smoother if we had broken camp earlier and quicker each morning.
9) Perhaps we should have eaten as we hiked.
10) While practicing for Philmont, I should have carrier a heavier pack. Perhaps, a 50 pound pack for practice would have been more realistic.
11) My one-hour-a-day-hikes prior to Philmont, really had me in good shape for the first hour of hiking at Philmont.
12) Practice for Philmont should include hiking steep, high mountains or very tall buildings.
13) I should have had warmer clothes for the night time.
14) When encountering a bear on the trail, it is definitely better to be with a group of Scouts than by yourself.
15) We needed more practice hiking as a group over difficult terrain before we left home.
16) Prepare more, everyone needs to be physically and psychologically [mentally] fit.
17) It would be helpful if everyone knew their Scoutcraft backwards and forward, especially knot tying and first aid.
18) Pack better – take less things.
19) Working together as a crew gets things done quickly. Not working together things do not get done, then adult advisors get involved and everything is less enjoyable.
20) It is better to “be prepared” than not.
21) I learned more about backpacking. I am a better hiker now.
AND the best one from Florida Seabase of last summer: I thought it was neat how I could transfer what I had learned before to the activity at hand.
SOME memorable sightings:
Bears; snakes; deer; elk; turkeys; Burros; birds (Ravens, Crows, song birds); antelope; buzzards; chickens; Mini Bears (chipmunks); Mountain Lion (carcass; scat); vistas and valleys; mesa-top meadows; aspen tree canyons; Mount Phillips, Baldy, and the Tooth of Time; and Base Camp.
