Day 2 (Monday)
We got up pretty early and most finished packing up. There were a few last minute trips around camp to hit the store and get pictures. We were called to breakfast in the cafeteria. Â
Once we were packed up and our tents cleaned, we went over to weigh our packs. Some were pretty light, but a fair number of them were between 35-45 lbs. The day before we learned that water would be pretty scarce so we all bought a few more water bottles and filled them up. Konrad suggested for the first day we each carry 4 bottles of water. It added about 8 lbs to each pack. It was a good thing that we got rid of so much of our non-essential gear during the shake down.
We helped load the bus and what was interesting to note was how much heavier many of the packs were from the other crews. Many of them were well over 60 lbs. All in all it seemed like we did a good job of keeping our packs light. The day before we went through the food and culled out about half the snacks, which helped reduce the weight quite a bit. A few other things that we did that helped lighten the load was bringing lighter versions of the Philmont issued equipment, such as pots and pans.
Once we were on the bus we headed out for our first day on the trail. On the way there we were told to keep our eyes out for buffalo and bears. We didn’t see any buffalo, but we did see a bear ambling through a river bed, probably off to pull down poorly hung bear bags. The bus stopped at the Ponil turn around and dropped us off.
We unloaded the bus and broke into our crews. Konrad spent some explaining hiking and trail rules. Except for not doing #1 in the red roof shacks which were for #2 only, he didn’t say anything we had not heard before. Still, the crew listened respectfully and before you knew we had our packs on our backs and we headed up the trail. Our destination was the camp called Dean Cut off. It was about a half mile past the Ponil Staff camp.
It would have been a pretty short hike if we had followed the dirt road, but we followed a trail that paralleled the road. The hike about a little over two miles. The hike from the drop off to camp was just over two miles. It was a gentle up hill slope most of the way with some occasional dips. It didn’t take long to get to camp.Â
Once there Konrad showed the whole crew how to hang our bear bags. We all practiced throwing the rope over the wire. The most important part according to Konrad was to make sure the Scouts hung “sexy” bear bags. That meant they were about 2 inches apart at a uniform distance. It’s didn’t sound at all YPG, but the scouts remembered it and from then on they always had the sexiest bags on the line. He also showed us how to check the height and proper way to tie them off on neighboring trees.Â
After getting our bear bags up, we headed back to camp to set up tents and our dinning fly. Troy did a good job of organizing the crew and getting camp set up. We were instructed by Konrad on the proper way to organize the tents, which meant they could not form a circle or other geometric pattern to them. They needed to have some randomness to their placement so as not confuse the critters that might come into camp.
Once our bags were hung and tents were up, we hiked back to Ponil for program. On the way there Konrad instructed our crew leader Troy on the proper way to approach a staff camp to request a porch talk and get permission to participate in the program. We got to Ponil and got our porch talk, that basically amounted to a recital of the local rules and got us signed up for horse back rides that afternoon and pistol shooting the next morning.Â
When the porch talk was over most of headed over to learn about branding. They didn’t let us brand stuff, but it was still cool. We had the staff brand our hats, belts, wallets and a bunch of Nalgene water bottles, which was quite a hit with the youth and adults. We then hung out doing a variety of activities, that included horse shoes, sitting on the porch swing, roping plastic cattle, drinking root beer from the local watering hole and just relaxing.Â
Our time to ride the horses was scheduled for just after lunch. We sat down near the stables under some trees, had lunch and waited for the stable staff to show up. Our ride was to be with another crew or two. We were instructed to get helmets, and stand near the fence until our horse was brought to us. It seemed like some of the people from the other crews were a bit nervous, but most everyone in our crew had some level of experience with horses. Paula had a moment of doubt, but once she got her horse and was on it, it looked liked she was a pro and it was easy to see by the big smile on her face that she was having fun. My horse was Sunny (named for his disposition), Mike had Klondike and Laura had Moody and Carly had Punchie (which means cool).Â
The ride was a nose to tail ride. Which for those of us with significant horse experience, makes for a very very relaxing ride. I was so relaxed that fell asleep on my horse in the middle of the ride for about 5 minutes. My horse took advantage of my inattention to get out of line just a bit, so the trail boss yelled at us. I don’t think she knew I was taking a snoozer, but she was load enough to jolt me back to reality.Â
When the ride was over we headed back to main staff cabin and did some more hanging out. We showed up for root beer just after the “store” was closed, but the staff was so nice. They kept it open a few extra minutes for us. We decide to make dinner in Ponil instead of going back to camp. For all the warnings we had about the Philmont way for cooking, it was pretty much a non-issue. We heated the water in our Jet-Boil and poured it into the pot with our dinner mix or in the case of those of us that brought our own meals we poured the water into the mountain house bags. It was a definite advantage to bring our own food. The portions were correct, the food was palatable and cooking and cleaning was easier. The recommendation from this crew is to be allergic to something in the contents and bring your own food. They do provide some pretty good items, my favorite was the bags of Gatorade. It masked the taste of the water very well.
We cleaned up from dinner, hung out some more and then watched the show. The show was full of songs, jokes and skits. It was very well done and entertaining. The highlight was the Indian story of Falling Rock, which is also a favorite at Lost Valley, but with some regional differences, but the same punch line. After the show we walked back to camp in the dark. We did Roses, Buds and Thorns shared some stories, made our plan for the next day and headed to bed. Our first day on the trail was very successful. All of the preparation, including our hikes in Daley Ranch, PQ Canyon, San Jacinto, Mataguay and Scripps Ranch really paid off. Everyone was looking forward to the next day and pistol shooting.