I've peaked!

Literally.

Well, let's hope not completely, but I did finally ascend the final peak I needed to collect the full Philmont Summit Series of patches. When I arrived at Philmont I had collected four of the eight peaks of the series (and the corresponding patches) and had set a goal to collect the others. It was a nice way to consider how to use my time in the backcountry, and I was excited to get the last one, even though it came close to the end of my time here and I was getting a bit worried.

A lovely hike through a riparian ecosystem on the way to Cypher's Mine

I had put in a request to the scheduler for a trek that would get me close to the final peak, Cimarroncito, but it never seemed to get granted. Until finally, after a chance conversation at lunch, that the request was granted. On my last crew (#9!), I was scheduled to leave them at a camp that was officially eight miles from the peak, the closest I would get if I didn't want to get there on a day off. I didn't care. I took it and was excited by the planning.

Cimarron Peak, doesn't look too tough.

I was scheduled to leave them (on day four as usual) at Cimarroncito Camp, which ironically is not really that close to the peak. That's because the trail up the east side of the mountain was ravaged by fire and was in the process of being rebuilt. That meant a trip to the west side of the mountain (further away from basecamp) and the corresponding trek back to the east when I was done, making coordination a tricky detail. If only I could just wander the backcountry at will with no deadlines or need to arrive at an 8:00 a.m. Ranger meeting.

The crew was scheduled to head west as well, to summit Mt. Phillips, even further to the west, by traveling through Cypher's Mine camp, which was going to be my jump off point to make the summit. So, while I normally leave them on this day, this time I traveled with them to the camp. This was a nice change from usual departures (and resulting fanfare and goodbyes), but it only delayed it by the time it took us to go the six miles. Still better than nothing. At no time did I consider traveling even further with them, I already had the Mt. Phillips patch!

This cabin, converted to a defunct shower house, uses a woodfired boiler for hot water!

Cypher's Mine is an original gold mining camp from mid-1800s until around 1920. It was one of the least profitable mines in NM history, but they kept trying. It sits in a valley with a lovely stream (Cimarroncito Creek) running through the camp area. There's a song they sing in the opening campfire about the camp, about never leaving it alive, and about how the sun rises at 10:00 a.m. and sets at 3:00 p.m. The valley is that deep that at times the sun just doesn't shine down into it for very long. Thankfully in the summer it's not as bad, but it does get cold at night!

I must admit, the hike to the summit from the camp was underwhelming. Darn scouts and their trail building skills. With the shallow grade of the relatively new trail and the few properly planned switchbacks, it had to be the easiest summit of a 10,000 ft. peak. The whole climb of ~1400 ft. in about 4 miles was practically a Sunday stroll in the park. If I hadn't planned to eat lunch at the top, I might not have even needed water. Maybe I've just gotten spoiled. It was nicely shaded and a few good lookout spots, so that was a saving grace. Well, I needed the patch, so it had to be done and the patch don't care how hard it was (or wasn't).

Backside view of Tooth of Time and Tooth Ridge from just below Cimarroncito Peak.

I spend the night at Cypher's Mine, catching their musical campfire show, which I enjoyed. I slept on the porch and while the trees blocked much of the sky, I could see it was a good stargazing night as I lay on my pad in my bag. Plus, an easy return day since the bus I was trying to catch was at 2:30 p.m. so I didn't really need to get up too early. I did get awakened by scouts about to head out from the trek and their stomping on the porch, but I was getting up anyway.

View of the peak from my sleeping spot on the porch.

I headed back through Clark's Fork, a camp where I knew the staff and they insisted I stay for lunch, even though I arrived at 10:30 a.m. The cook is fantastic and so I had to say yes. Still plenty of time to eat, relax and hike the rest of the way to the trailhead for the bus. Plus, I brought my plastic camp mug and got the official Clark's Fork brand, which you can only get at this camp. So maybe that was a second benefit of this trek and time off.

A good crew (#9!), a final patch, and a unique brand? Yeah, it's all coming together.

It's also baby burro (burrito?) season, this one stopped jumping long enough for a picture!

I have one more crew and one more opportunity to see the backcountry. Gotta think hard about how to use my limited time left. Too bad I'm out of patches, that made it easy to figure out what was next.