Baldy!

From Journal -

Today is the day, we are climbing Baldy. The boys were mostly out of their tents by 4:45 am. It had rained over the night and so everything was wet. we managed to get out of camp at 5:30 am as planned.

The hike to Baldy town was only about 1 mile uphill. We met a couple of other crews there. We filled up water and had breakfast before we made our ascent.

The climb was very tough. We had to climb 2,447 ft over about 5 miles to get to the top. The first part of he trail was through a forest. The trail was quite steep. There were several crews on the trial going quite slowly but making progress. We decided that we would allow the faster boys to make the last part of their trail at their pace.

Another scout and I needed to take it slowly. Two other scouts agreed to walk with us for safety. We took ti very slow and steady, but only arrived 20 minutes behind the other part of the crew! We all made it up by 10 am, and were quite proud.

The views on top of Baldy were fantastic! We stayed on top for about 3o minutes. We took photos

Our crew at the top of Baldy

and the boys blew bubbles.

It was good we got off when we did since a storm came through a bit later. The most difficult part about the hike was from all of the rocks created by the mine blasting. It was really tough on the feet.

We were supposed to go to French Henry to do the programs there, but because of the weather we decided to skip it. It was a good decision on our part. We got back to Baldy Town to buy snacks, write postcards, and pick up food. We just got to the trading post porch when it began to hail.

We were quite surprised how much food we will have to cary. We have all the food for the rest of the trip.

We had a big surprise coming back to camp. Everything was soaked. Mr. Culver's tent we discovered had the wrong rain fly so he had 1" water in it. The crew gear was all wet, including the toilet paper. We got all of the things cleaned up and dinner cooked. It will be another early night.

One of the scouts is not feeling too well. I think he is a bit dehydrated. My knees are holding up ok, but are swollen. Mr. Culver is also having problems. I hope we will all hold up for the rest of the trip.

One of the scouts did not take his medicine today and we will have to make sure that does not happen again. Two other scouts decided that they could take their own trail. I hope the crew will continue to grow together and act a coherent group.

The campsite only had a latrine (overflowing) with no roof, and was treacherous to get down to the stream for water. The bear bag line was shared by 3 crews with full food. I will be glad when we get to another.

Mail was passed out and enjoyed by all. I was very impressed on how our crew leader handled today. He really motivated the crew to get the wet stuff cleaned up with no blame, but using it as something to learn from.

We were told by another scouter that there was a bear wandering down the path next to our campsite. We are glad we are folloiwng bear procedures.

I just hope that the boys can stay motivated for the rest of the trek since climbing Baldy was the target for most.

Ute Meadow

From Journal -

My camera began to work again - yeah

I think our bad luck may be behind up I woke up this morning to a beautiful day. The sun is warm and will dry out our things.

We didn't end up leaving camp until 11 am. We decided to take the burro with us to Ute Meadow, unload the food and then take the burro to Miranda. I don't think this was the common route and I felt sorry for Juanito because he ad to go over s0 many rocky trials.

Downed sign

We only had 1 minor detour since the boys did not see the downed sign. We only went about 1.2 mile before we found our mistake. Oh yeah, there also was a mishap at finding the burro pen at Miranda. In any means we followed our plan and got Juanito dropped off. Some are very happy to be rid of Juanito. I thought he was alot better than he could have been. At least he didn't try to run off nor refuse to move.

Part of our crew with Juanito

The campsite we have at Ute Meadow where we will stay for 2 nights is not very nice at all. We have very little room to set tents and it is a muddy "washed out" area. The good news is that the boys are getting better about setting up camp.

The night was cold and the hot chocolate from breakfast was very good. We got to bet at 9:30 pm since we plan to get up at 4:30 am to get an early start for Baldy.

A long day to Pueblano

From Journal -

This had to be the worst day of our trek! Josh and I had to get down to help cook the chuck wagon breakfast by 6am. It seemed to have rained overnight since our tents were soaked and sand was stuck to everything. Our clothes that we had washed and hung out were soaked.

At least we had a hot cooked breakfast of pancakes and sausage. I was so proud to see that the boys made it to breakfast on time. However, they didn't look too happy. I heard there was alot of talking back and our crew leader was very frustrated. It was a good opportunity for a crew discussion

After breakfast we needed to pick up our food and burro. We messed up and picked up the food first, so we missed the burro instruction completely. We had to wait for all of the other crews to leave before we could get set up.

It took while for us to get our burro and all the equipment seemed to be messed up. We however got everything in line to go. A couple of the boys shoveled up the corral for some cookies.

We hit the trail after having lunch at 12:30. The burro took quite a bit of coaxing and we were going quite slowly. We had a nice break in a beautiful meadow where Greg shared a devotional.

We had quite a few stream crossings and one scout chose not to wear his waterproof boots so his feet were wet.

We hiked 3.7 miles before our crew leader discovered we were on the completely wrong trail! We had to go all the way back to Ponil to get on the correct trail.

The boys were a bit more motivated as was Juanito (our burro) and we covered the first mile back in 18 minutes. However there were a couple of boys that were very discouraged or in pain so were moving slowly while several boys charged on. We got separated.

We all got back to Ponil where we took care of our feet, catered up and had about a 45 minutes break. We started out on the correct road again at about 4:30 pm.

The hiking was steady and we were able to make it into Pueblano at 7 pm. The boys were elated to see Chase (our guide). He asked "what took you so long?" Our crew leader did a very good job along the way to motivate the boys We were all very pleased that we were given a very close campsite (finally).

We still had to set up camp and put the burro up for the night. There was a bit of a mess up with the bear rope according to the boys. The tarp set up went smoothly and we did an assembly line for dinner prep. This was actually the best way to cook dinner and we would use it from now on.

We did our Roses-Thorns-Buds during the re-hydration, and even said grace before our meal. The food was much better when it was fully hydrated.

The clean up went smoothly and we all got to bed by about 9:30 pm. It will be a good night's sleet since we won't get up until 7 am in the morning!

The boys are starting to come together as a crew.

On our own to Ponil

From Journal -

This was our first real day of hiking. We went to Ponil over Harts peak. The first part was very difficult, though we all made it with no issues. We met our sister crew at the top. we hiked at a good pace and made it Ponil in 3 1/2 hours.

Our campsite was a beast. To get to it we had to hike through a dry wash and up the side of the mountain. we were the one on the top. We don't know why we are so unlucky.

At Ponil they have branding. We all had a good time doing that. Another bit hit were the showers and place to wash our clothes!

Ponil also has the Cantina where we saw a good show about Clementine and enjoyed root beer for $1 with .50 cent refills.

We were treated to a chuck wagon dinner. The food was good. Right after dinner it began to rain.

Before dinner we played horseshoes and Josh and I won!

Unfortunately my camera stopped working :-(

Indian Writings

From Journal -

The Crew ready to go




We woke up early this morning to try to get on the trail and get to Indian Writings to do the 8 am conservation project. It took the crew 2 hrs to pack up camp - about the usual for first days according to our Ranger.



The hike was not bad at all. however, we missed cons by 10 minutes. But there were alot of other things to do including the petroglyphs tour

The Petroglyphs tour




and the archaeological dig.

Digging (boys like to play in dirt)
Sifting




These were both enjoyed by the crew.



The conservation was not that exciting. We re-claimed a trail. It was 2 hours of picking the ground then breaking of the dirt and mixing in animal dung.

Working hard


Good looking crew


Our campsite was the furthest away. We had to share the tent location with our sister crew. We had a very nice Roses-Buds-Thorns with our Ranger. We would all sleep very well.

Our First Day on the Trail - 6 Mile Gate to Anasazi

From Journal -

Our first day on the trail! We had breakfast and cleaned our our tents and lined up our packs at the Welcome center. We had to go to the Tooth of Time store and buy some rain gear for a two of the scouts.

Our bus came and picked us up to take us to Six Mile Gate.

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On the way there we were entertained by our Ranger with alot of stories of the area.

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When we got to our drop off point we were introduced to the Philmont Red Roof Inn.

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We hiked past a T-Rex footprint which was not as exciting as the boys had imagined. We had no problems on the hike but it was quite hot. We found a very nice campsite next to a stream.

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The boys learned hot to setup camp and put up a bear bag.

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The highlight of the day though was playing Frisbee. The boys are all doing well, and looking forward to the rest of the trip.

Base Camp

From Journal -
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At base camp, just off the bus
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The first thing on the agenda was breakfast. It was ok, but not great. After that our Crew Leader and I checked in. We were a bit early so they didn't have our tents ready.

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Next we met our guide - Chase. He did a great job showing us through the different steps - Trek Plan, Health Check, Photo, Logistics. He has his hands full with the boys' 10,000 questions, but he handled them well. He did get a bit onto them for moving slowly and nog being together. We got all of othe crew gear distributed. We are all fully packed.

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Chase with the boys
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Our crew leader at logistics

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Dinner was quite good - or maybe we were tired and hungry. After dinner was chapel service and the opening campfire. It was raining quite a bit so the campfire was shortened.

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We ended the evening with Roses-Buds-Thorns. Nothing surprising from the boys. Josh (our replacement Advisor) did very well and I am glad he came along. Bed time came at about 9:30 pm for me since breakfast will be at 6:30 tomorrow morning. I want to get up and shower so it will be an early morning.

The Long Bus Ride

From Journal -

Today is the day! I spent most of today making sure the boys and I had all of our gear packed. 5pm came quite quickly.

Everyone was at the church on time, but took a long time to get all of the gear into the cars and go to the restroom. We left the Church at about 5:30 pm. I rode with the Lawrences and mentioned that I forgot to make sure that everyone had their boots. Sure enough, one scout had forgotten. Luckily we were able to pick them up and get to the Council before the bus loading. I was amazed at how well the loading of the buses went with nearly 50 people per bus and 4 buses. I have never seen such neat pack lines.

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Loading the busses

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Ready for our adventure

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We rode with a crew and two other troops. The kids were well behaved. The "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: movies kept them quiet. The bus stopped first at a rest stop at 10:15 pm, then in Amarillo at a Truck Stop at 1:15 am. the folks at the store really geared up for the ~200 folks the descended upon them. We had one more stop at 3:30 am. Most folks stayed on the bus. We finally arrived at about 6:30 am.

It was difficult for most folks to sleep on the bus. It was cramped and just uncomfortable. One of our scouts was not feeling well and threw up 3 times. Luckily I had him prepare by emptying a ziplock. Good thing. I hope that he will be ok on the Trek (he just returned from Summer camp in Colorado and got a bug from the lake water).

The day has come!

This evening at 7pm we head off on a bus to Philmont. We are packed, trained and ready to go. I will be writing in a journal so that I should have some great information to share when I get back. Wish us luck.

Cleburne State Park - Fossil Ridge Trail

This past weekend 4 of the crew and I hiked 5+ miles along the Fossil Ridge Trail in Cleburne State park - http://www.trails.com/trailguide.aspx?trailid=XMR018-047. We left at 7:30 am for the 1.5 mile drive.
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It was a very nice day with a temperature in the 80s.

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The boys at the Cedar Lake Spilllway

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The trail was as described at the link above. It was rocky and had some elevation changes. When I asked, the boys indicated it was "challenging".

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Along the rocky trail

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Though the moys were mostly talking and not paying much attention to the environment around them, they did see a snake along the side of the trail. It was swishing its tail acting like a rattlesnake, but it was not a poisonous snake at all. We watched as it climbe into a tree. It was amazing how well it could climb.

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You can see the body of the snake at the bottom of the picture, look at the tree trunk about 1/4 of the way up. It has a yellowish color.

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The head of the snake is exactly in the middle of the picture. It was keeping an eye on us.

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The hike took us a bit less than 3 hours. On the way home we stopped at an Applebees and had lunch. I was glad the hike was over, since when we left the restaurant and headed back home the temperature had climbed into the 90s.

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I was a bit concerned on this hike to see how my knee would do, especially because I forgot my hiking poles at home. I actually had no pian at all. I guess it wasn't enough downhills or miles to make it act up. I was happy.
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My boys and I

3 More Weeks!

We have just 3 more weeks until we board the bus for Philmont. I can't believe it, and now I am really asking myself what it is I was getting myself into.

I have most of my equipment and the crew gear secured. Just a few more things that I will work on this weekend.

I have also been working on getting all of the paperwork done, and to become familiar with the trek. Mr. Latimer has provided information and tips that will really help.

Starting today I need to exercise every day. This evening I took a 6.6 mile walk around the area. This weekend the boys and I will take a hike around Cedar Lake in Cleaburne State Park. I am looking forward to it because it will be a test for my knee. I have a drs. appt on Wednesday so I should be able to tell him more of the symptoms. I hope to get some treatment or at least pointers that I can use on the trek.

10 miles in the desert

I visited my mom in Tempe during the weekend. While I was there I managed to get in a 10 mile walk around the neighborhood. I started at 7 am and it took me a litttle over 2.5 hours to complete. The sun was very intense.

It was fun looking at houses here, because they are so different than the houses here in Texas. Most of the yards had a desert landscape which was interesting. I walked through two parks and followed a couple of trails. The shade of the trees along the path was quite nice.

I was happy to get in the 10 miles as preparation for the trip.