High Five! and Pick-Six!

A lot has happened since I last posted. Let me see if I can recap, it is all a blur! And sorry for the long(er) post.

Ok, when we last left our hero, he was about to head out on trail with crew number five. A pretty typical assignment, and some a repeat of what I have done before. What was kinda cool was the crew was from Charlotte and while I didn't know any of them personally, we did know some common scouters and we knew A LOT of the same places to backpack in the area. I didn't know all of the places, and now I have a fun list of places to visit someday, a bonus on top of being a Ranger!

Some spectacular cloud lightning our first night, that thankfully stayed far in the distance!

They were very well prepared, with many of the advisors being repeat customers of the Philmont experience, and so they knew how to leverage the "mountains" of NC. Sorry, those quotes are a bit snarky, Mt. Mitchell is officially 6,683' and the highest peak east of the Mississippi. Not quite the height of basecamp (more snark), but they did train very well and even had some experience with rain that prepared them for the massive downpour and hail we received. Nothing like standing under a tarp strung between trees to bring everyone closer together. Literally.

Morning clouds over basecamp, sun on the tooth. Typical spotty Philmont weather!

The rain meant they couldn't do the climbing program, so they were a bit disappointed, but the lead advisor was a grandmaster at getting a fire started after a soaking rain (I was impressed, and that doesn't happen much with campfires) and that lifted spirits, as did the pound cake and chocolate icing that I had carried for two days secretly. I love pulling that out of my pack and (falsely) claiming that I stole it on their behalf. They eat the cake and icing, and I get the leftover icing for a sugar high (and subsequent crash, but imma keep doin' it).

I left them on July 4th (Happy Independence Day!) and had a small adventure, but I'll save that for the next post.

When I arrived back at basecamp on July 5th, I learned I was to be an Alternate. A reminder this is a role where I step in as Ranger if one is sick or injured. Last time I was an alternate, I got called up, so I thought no way this will happen twice. Yeah, that was bad thinking. Probably jinxed it. Shoulda done laundry and dried my gear better.

So, I waited around on July 6th as assigned, and nothing. So far so good. A previous crew invited me to join them for their celebratory dinner at the St. James Hotel, considered the best restaurant in the area and known for their ribeye steaks. I took my car and warned them I might get a call. Nothing. Food was ok, they were slammed, so I'll have to go back when less crowded and judge properly. We had a great time as they caught me up on all of their adventures on trek, made me want to do another 12 days with a crew!

I was at breakfast the following day when I got the call. No kidding. 7:20 a.m. A Ranger was ill and pulling himself out. He had spent the entire previous day getting them ready. I was to go, introduce myself and hit the trail with them at 10 a.m. Crazy, I thought I was in the clear. Don't get me wrong, I wanna be on trail, but 2.5 hours to get them settled, learn who they are, finish the paperwork, pack my kit and get walking? It was hectic. There's a Ranger saying, "Scramble, Be Flexible". Done. Even with having to replace a scouts pack with a rental one that actually fit him, we were on trail by 10:15 a.m. Some of my finest work if I do say so myself (and I just did!). We're also supposed to have Humble Pride, but I'll share this with just you. Don't rat me out?

Morning at Lovers Leap campsite.

Crew was from Ohio, and no one had ever been to Philmont. They did have good shakedown hikes, but these were typically 2 days even if they were longish miles. I think this is why the pack issue didn't come up for the scout, or as we learned on the trail, for several others. It also didn't help that they were issued 3 days of food at basecamp and picked up another 4 days of food on the second day on trail. This is honestly absurd. By the time we were headed up the trail (and I mean UP!), they were carrying almost 6 days of food, on top of extra water as the camp we were headed to didn't have a water source! Some literally had boxes of crackers strapped to the outside of their packs. They looked like a moving grocery store. I was glad to have been able to help them adjust packs for better fit, but nothing short of a pack horse or burro would have really helped. Or so I thought.

I felt so bad for them I carried some of the stuff, including quite a bit of food and an additional 6 liters of water. This is usually discouraged because they need to carry all of it once I leave, but I couldn't set them up for difficulty (or failure) this early in a nine day trek. Once we got to the camp, we repacked and figured it out (along with eating some food and drinking some water), but I thought for sure there was going to be a trail of discarded food in our wake.

Just keep hiking!

In spite of this, they were in the best of spirits! They were frustrated with the lack of space (or the abundance of food), but really did take it all in stride. On the 2 mile, 900' gain from the North Fork Urraca to their campsite, they SANG! We did two rounds of 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall (I don't think I've ever finished that song once, let alone twice!) and then people would just jump in and sing songs they liked. Hotel California. Sunglasses at Night. Don't Stop Believing. Anything and everything was game and I can't even remember them all! Without a doubt, the smoothest trip up the trail that I've ever been a part of, including my own training trek earlier in the year. We made great time, almost no breaks, and singing and smiling the entire way.

I might need to learn a few more songs, it was that effective.

They had some long treks ahead, but I have no doubt they'll get through them. Maybe cut a retrospective album afterwards. I might even buy it.

Tooth Ridge -- Shaefers Peak to Tooth of Time and down into basecamp.

I left them this morning (July 9) and hiked in with a Ranger friend. We headed through the Demonstration Forest, sat for the program for an hour and were home in time for lunch. And as I dropped my gear at the tent, I could now count six crews. I hear the average is going to be eight, but I hope to beat that by at least a few.

Oh, and my next crew is assigned for July 11, Lucky Number 7 here we come!