For information on Philmont “how to,” check out my prior posts: Philmont Overview, Registration and Itinerary, Fitness Prep, Skills Prep, Gear Prep, Youth Leadership, and Top Tips. This post is simply a trip report for Crew 714-9B-1.

Day 0 (travel day): We flew from Austin on an early morning flight to Colorado Springs, where we caught a charter bus to Philmont. The bus ride was a little more exciting than we had hoped, but we made it safely. After registering, we toured Villa Philmonte, ate dinner in the dining hall, and chilled. Cell phone reception at Basecamp was 1-2 bars with T-Mobile, nothing with Verizon.

Day 1: After breakfast, we met our Ranger Lance, who led us through a medical recheck, logistics, gear checkout, our official crew photo, and a brief equipment shakedown. This ended up taking most of the day. After dinner, we hiked with all the other crews departing the next morning to the Trailbound campfire.

Day 2 (first day on the trail): We packed up early and were bussed to the Poneil trailhead on the north side of Philmont.

On the trail, Lance provided quick lessons on backcountry hygiene and navigation. We then hiked a couple miles to Poneil, where the scouts enjoyed the cantina, which served two flavors of root beer: Crunchy or Creamy.

The scouts then branded their hats and crocs, and everyone took a turn learning to lasso.

In the afternoon, we hiked another mile to our campsite, Sioux, where Lance instructed us to hang bear bags and prepare and clean up dinner the Philmont way.

That night, we returned to Poniel for a pioneer-themed evening program with great music and storytelling. Poniel was the original Basecamp when the property was donated, and it was a fun visit.

Day 3: We spent the morning building a trail on the hill above Sioux. Overall, it was fun, but I wish it had been scheduled on a slower day.

After the conservation project wrapped up at 10:30, we still had a five-mile hike to our next activity at Poblano, which meant the afternoon storms arrived before we climb spar poles. This was the only activty we missed on the trek, but was one that some of the boys were really looking forward to doing. The campsite at Poblano was beautiful in the trees, and we were treated to another great musical program by the staff that evening.

Day 4: This was an 11-mile day. Our Crew Leader made the tough but correct decision to abandon spar pole climbing at Poblano in favor of an early departure. This put us at French Henry, a cute mining-themed staff camp, by 1000. The scouts participated in a mine education program, panned for gold (found a tiny amount), and then made a butter knife at blacksmithing.

On the hike from French Henry to Baldy Town, we were hit with our first hail storm.

At Baldy Town, one scout bought a new pack cover after the hail storm demonstrated that his original was too small, and we went to the commissary and reloaded on food. Our packs were full as we headed out from Baldy Town in another rainstorm for Miranda, a fur trading-themed camp, which we reached mid-afternoon. Our itinerary officially called for us to hike another 0.7 miles past Miranda, but the staff radioed logistics and got us permission to stay at Miranda. We quickly set up camp and participated in an hour-long hatched throwing activity.

Day 5: The scouts were up at 0300, and we were on the trail by 0400 for a 10-mile, 3,000 feet up and down Baldy summit hike. We made good progress and were on the summit by 0800. The top was windy, and temps were in the 40s, but we could fit our entire crew behind one of the rock walls that hikers have built over time. Out of the wind, we were comfortable, and we shared a pound cake and a can of apple pie filling that Lance had left us, spread by the butter knife the scouts had made. Of course, the adults had coffee.

After about an hour, we headed down, reaching Miranda around noon. It was a beautiful day in the 80s, so I took a trail shower (pots of cold water dumped on my head), washed clothes in a ziplock, and dried things. It was at this moment that the Philmont gods decided to teach us a lesson in the form of a 30-minute hail storm that left the campsite covered in inches of ice. The temps dropped into the 40s, and we spent the rest of the day walking on ice.

That evening, our scouts and adults competed in a hatchet throwing contest, and then we attended a comedy show put on by the staff.

We loved Miranda; it’s a great meadow! (This is an inside joke for those who have been there)

Day 6: With only a 5-mile hike, we had a lazy morning drying everything out as we hiked to the Baldy Skyline trail camp.

Of course, after a sunny hike, it started to rain as soon as we set up camp. At this point we were running light on isopro gas, so two of our scouts made a tripod, and we boiled our dinner water in a pot over the campfire.

The scouts spent the afternoon playing football in a field.

Day 7: We had a short morning hike to Head of Dean, where we ran into our other Troop 33 crew. After a short visit, we participated in a challenge course which was really fun.

We then took the long way to the Dean Cow campsite to gain some miles and get a few more views of the mountains. We arrived at Dean Cow with plenty of time to spare and had a slow afternoon hanging out. Just before bedtime, we saw a black bear, which caused the scouts to recheck their tents for smellables, producing several unaccounted snacks for the Oops Bag.

Day 8: This was a 10-mile downhill hike to the Cimmaroncita staffed campsite. After setting up camp, we did 3-D archery and took an ecology and history tour.

While trying to cook dinner, we were hit with a gusty thunderstorm, which required a temporary retreat to the tents. After the storm passed, we finished cooking and dished up ramen noodles in the chilly weather.

Day 9: We had another slow morning to dry things out, then briefly hiked to the bus.

We arrived at base camp shortly before lunch. After returning the equipment, we all showered (and bought soap for the boys to ensure they used it) and visited the National Scouting Museum. The Museum has a large 3D map of Philmont and is worth a stop. That evening, we attended the closing campfire program, which was special.

Day 10: After breakfast, our charter bus picked us up at 0900, and we headed to Colorado Springs for an uneventful flight back to Austin.

This trek was fun and something I am sure I will remember. All the boys had a great time, and they are already talking about coming back for the more advanced treks. As for me, I don’t know if I will be back, but I certainly would not mind running it back with another one of my kids.

From the first step off the bus upon arrival to the step back on the bus to leave, the youth Crew Leader, not the adult lead advisor, is responsible for leadership.

The three “official” Philmont leadership positions are Crew Leader, Chaplain’s Aid, and Wilderness Pledge Guia. Of these, Crew Leader is, by far, the most crucial position. In consultation with the other scouts and with appropriate advice from the adults, the Crew Leader makes decisions for the crew. We encouraged our Crew Leader to rotate responsibilities for the various jobs between the scouts. For example, each scout was the navigator for a day. This worked well for us as it gave all the scouts ownership in the crew’s success or failure.

This is not to say that adults are just spectators. As crew members, adults owe a responsibility to everyone else and must pitch in to help the crew achieve its goals. On our trek, this meant that I helped hang bear bags, cook dinner, clean dishes, and hang the crew dining fly at various times.

Most adult advisors I observed and visited with understood their role appropriately. But I know from visiting with staff and other advisors that this is not always he case. The most common problem is adults who fail to allow the youth to lead. Adults should not decide when a crew will take a break, where to set up camp, what route to take, or what programs to attend. Of course, adults can advise the crew leader on these matters, but adults should be prepared to abide by the crew leader’s decision even if the adult disagrees (unless the decision is unsafe). 

Indirectly, adult advisors also play an essential role in setting the tone for the crew. If adults are laid back, laughing, and positive, chances are the scouts will take that cue and be positive. If adults are critical of each other in front of the scouts or overly critical of the scouts, a negative vibe will likely take hold of the crew. On Day 1 of the trek, the Philmont General Manager held an advisors meeting, where he advised each of us that we would be confronted with a situation where we would need to force ourselves to smile when we did not want to, but for the sake of the crew, we had to. This was great advice.

A Note on the Importance Advisors Coffee

The staffed camps usually hold an “Advisors’ Coffee” in the evenings, where the adults from different crews can visit with each other and staff. This is an excellent opportunity for adults to recharge and share perspectives. My crew’s adults also held our advisors’ coffee at the unstaffed trail camps. We were not compelled to limit advisors’ coffee to once a day! Sometimes, we would have an impromptu advisor’s coffee under the tarp during an afternoon rainstorm or around a campfire; other times, we would have it during a long trail break. We even had advisors coffee on top of Baldy. These on-trail breaks allowed us to joke around, maintain our sanity, and give space to the scouts to own their trek. So make sure you bring your mugs and coffee.

This is going to be a short post. While some backpacking experience helps, one does not need to know any Philmont-specific skills or procedures before arrival. A Philmont Ranger accompanies every crew for the first few days of the hike and will teach these skills—even if the crew already knows them. A physically fit crew with light packs, good attitudes, and zero skills but a willingness to learn will be fine at Philmont.

So, don’t spend time practicing skills unless you are absolutely sure that (1) everyone in your crew is in tip-top shape, (2) you have good crew dynamics, and (3) every member of the crew has an appropriately light pack.

Even though you will be taught all the necessary skills at Philmont, I recommend at least one pre-Philmont shakedown hike to reinforce the need for packing appropriately. Everyone should carry full packs and at least 4 liters of water. The shakedown should be difficult enough to punish those with heavy packs and cause those with new boots to get blisters. Bring a scale to weigh the packs to reinforce the importance of packing light.

Again, don’t sweat the skills. You will learn skills at Philmont. You can’t learn fitness.

The two most important things for a successful Philmont trek are:

• A high level of physical fitness. 
• The personalities in the crew getting along.

Everything else – gear and backcountry skills – can be bought or learned after you arrive at base camp. But showing up at Philmont out of shape or with an a-hole in your crew cannot be remedied. 

On Fitness: Philmont does not allow crews to split up, which means the entire crew moves at the speed of the slowest person. In extreme cases, one person’s failure to adequately train can cost a whole crew the opportunity to participate in activities and achieve crew goals. Nobody gets to summit the mountain if 11 crew members want to, but the twelfth person cannot. Therefore, failure to train adequately is a failure to be a good teammate. This concept – that failure to train is a failure of accountability to others – must be explained to the whole crew well before the trek to give everyone adequate time to prepare.

The adult leader of the crew needs to assess the crew participants early and identify members who will need extra help and encouragement getting into shape.  Roughly speaking, crew participants can be divided into four categories:

Physically active youth play competitive, year-round, rigorous sports requiring running or high exertion (martial arts, football, soccer, basketball, cross country, track). They require little if any, extra training. These scouts are not overweight, eat with a hollow leg, and are the workhorses of the crew.

Less active youth are not heavily involved in sports. These scouts lack the physical work of regular sports practice and the mental strengthening that comes with tough workouts and competition. Some of these scouts are just plain soft, while others are surprisingly tough. These scouts need to attend crew workouts regularly.

Physically active adults who already train. This category includes adults who are not overweight and who legitimately train (i.e., more than just walk around the neighborhood) over 7 hours a week. Good metrics: Can comfortably run 10 miles, can comfortably bike 30-40 miles, can comfortably swim 1-2 miles, can do 10 pull-ups, or can easily deadlift more than one’s body weight for reps. This group will find a Philmont trek easy.

Less active adults are the most common adult group and struggle most on the trail. This group lacks an endurance base, strength, or (most commonly) both and carries too much weight. Adults in this group cannot run even 5 miles and cannot do a pull-up. This group needs extensive training, at least 7-10 hours a week for a year.

The best way to convince crew members of their need to train is to require an early, mandatory workout involving hill repeats with a full (30-40 lb) pack, which exposes weakness. For this test, I prefer to let everyone hike at their own pace (scouts as buddies) and see how everyone does after 2 hours. Here in Austin, we have the Hill of Life, about 300 feet of climbing over half a mile on a rough trail. This workout separates the youth and adults in shape (that was easy/not too bad) from the ones out of shape (very slow, out of breath, taking lots of breaks, gassed).

After the initial test, the crew leader (for the scouts) or lead adult advisor (for the other adults) should regularly check in with each participant who is not in one of the “physically active” categories above and confirm they are executing a training plan of 7 to 10 hours. The most efficient workouts are those with vertical components like hill repeats, inclined treadmills, and the Stairmaster.

Be blunt and tell your crew: Don’t go to Philmont if you are unwilling to do the work. Philmont is a physically demanding adventure. Most of the problems on treks result directly or indirectly from participants who are physically or mentally weak. When forming a crew, it is essential to communicate the expectations for fitness and training. The lead-up to the trek is over a year, which is more than enough time to get in shape. With positive encouragement, everyone can be physically and mentally at Philmont ready for success, but everyone must commit and be accountable.

Crew relationships. Besides a lack of fitness, internal conflict is the most likely thing to blow up a crew. The adult advisors in a crew should be familiar with the youth and have a plan for encouraging positive behavior. I was fortunate to have three other laid-back dads as advisors in our crew with great senses of humor. While there were occasional tensions within the scouts, there were never adult conflicts, and we were able to help the scouts resolve their conflicts.

As mentioned in the prior post, having an asshole adult as one of the advisors will be disruptive and is likely to result in a bad experience for everyone. An overbearing, conflict-seeking, or bossy adult can be a cancer for a crew. I would be particularly wary of adults in troops who like to pretend they are in the military (if you are involved in scouting, you know what I mean). These are the adults with ribbons all over their uniforms who like to give orders rather than empower others to lead. I would not participate in a crew with such a person nor allow my child to participate.

Physical fitness and a great crew are the keys to a good trek. Take care of those two issues and the crew will likely have an excellent experience. The following post will deal with the less critical but always fun topic of gear.