One Thumb Away!

I've just returned from my fourth crew, one for every finger except the one that sometimes isn't a finger ("How many fingers do I have?", "Four, because the other is a thumb!" Yeah, bad joke, sorry).

Once again (maybe I'm just that lucky? Nah, gold star please) a pretty great crew, very well prepared with the skills and in pretty good shape. I was a little surprised because they are from Little Rock, AR and I didn't expect great fitness, given that I believed AR to be relatively flat. A little research and I see I was basically incorrect. While they don't have the altitude of some of the more mountainous states, they do have quite a bit with significant elevation change, and I guess the took full advantage to be ready for Philmont.

I guess it didn't hurt that one advisor worked at Philmont as a Backcountry staff member for 4 years, including one year as the Camp Director for Urraca camp. And it hurt even less that another advisor also worked at Philmont for a few years, but as Ranger. While both of their tenures were in the early 2000's, like many who have been here, they remembered quite a bit. I was nervous because I thought they would "take over" doing things the way they remembered and not the way they are done today. But in the end they were both very respectful of my position, and seemed to enjoy stepping back and letting me do what I needed to do. That was a big relief and made it very easy to connect with the scouts!

Our destination at the top of that mesa.

Our first stop was Deer Lake Camp, which sits on the top of Deer Lake Mesa (there's a Deer Lake Mesa Camp, so that confused all of us for a while). I think this is the first year since the 2018 Ute Park fire that the camp has been opened, so it felt kinda special. You can see the burned trees in the background of the fire, but the undergrowth is coming back and while not as pretty as it was, it was still a great sight (and site!). It was listed as a dry camp, so we were prepared for no water, which is good, since while the lake had water (probably from the few days of heavy rain we had prior to arriving) it was swampy at the edges and pretty smelly. Nice to look at, not so good to drink without filtering.

It was a tough-ish hike up to the mesa, but we had an early bus, so we arrived at camp at a decent time. The camp didn't have bear cables to hang the bear bags, just a big steel box with some latches that the scouts had some initial trouble with. I've heard the overlap between smart bears and not so smart people is very large, which makes latch design of bear boxes challenging. Theory proved. So some time was saved since there's usually a lesson about bear bags when we arrive at camp. And, to top it off, the Red Roof Inn (a local name for the outdoor toilet facility) was on its side. I gave the "how to poop at Philmont" talk, but it wasn't quite as funny without being able to demonstrate some techniques in the actual Red Roof Inn.

Deer Lake Camp, our tents (eventually) surrounded that tree.

This did mean a bit of a leisurely afternoon, which was a nice change for all. Campfires are now permitted again, and even better, you don't have to carry the ashes out! During dinner I mentioned that my thorn for the day (of the infamous "Roses, Thorns, Buds" discussion) was not having a fire. After this, one scout decided he wanted a fire too, and so we did. I had to take my thorn away the following day during the same discussion. I do so love a good campfire!

The next camp was Harlan, which while it was spared by the same fire, was inaccessible due to damage and debris on the trail into the camp. This was finally cleared this year, and shotgun shooting could return to the itinerary choices. This was the camp that our Troop 911 from California visited in 2017, so it was kinda cool to see it again. Not much changed. When we left the camp in 2017, we were given a clay pigeon, signed it, and were told if we returned to basecamp with it intact and sent it back (via intercamp mail known as i-camp) it would be hung on the wall. I looked, not there. Not ours, not anyone's. We carried that fragile thing carefully for untold miles, I really wanted to see it. Oh well, I guess it was a few years ago and they had other issues in the meantime.

View from Harlan Camp Cabin, almost exactly as I remembered from 2017.

The hike to Harlan was only 2.5 miles and all downhill, so we arrived very early at the camp. I did teach bear lines, but by 2 p.m. we were all just hanging out. So we lit our second fire of the trek at around 3 p.m., and burned our share of the many piles of downed branches and undergrowth. Until 9:30 p.m. I wish I had taken a picture of the pile of wood before we burned it all. We did our share, if ever there's another fire, there will be one campsite at Harlan that might survive!

Overall a nice crew and a nice trek. I think Deer Lake might be one of my new favorite campsites here at Philmont.

To top it off, besides my hike-in day (the day I leave my crew, with the plan to get back to basecamp and be ready for the next one), I was given not one, but two glorious days off following. So, since I didn't have to pick up my next crew until July 1, I took full advantage of time in the backcountry, having grabbed extra food and planned some outrageous hiking. But that's a long story worthy of the next post.