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The next morning, after an early breakfast, we hurried to get all of the items we would not be taking with us on the trail into the orange lockers in the quartermaster's building. Philmont crews are generally given free reign to make their own decisions about things. But, Greg gave the crew one little Advisor's rule: No radios. He explained that we were here for two weeks to get away from the trappings of society as much as possible, and that, as much as he appreciated Motley Crue (or somesuch group), they had no place among the pines. Furthermore, we needed to shed every bit of unnecessary weight as possible (but, this excluded Greg's supply of peppers). This was no problem for me as I figured that I could simply keep my music in the back of my mind, and mentally "listen" to it whenever I wanted to. School kids tend to do this since music isn't allowed in the classroom either.
At 10 a.m., with everything in order, we assembled in front of the
Welcome Centre for the final shakedown before getting on the
bus. Each of us hung our packs on the spring scale to check the
weight with all the equipment we would take on the trail.
We had all been told what not to take, so there were no unexpected
items discarded. My pack, if I remember correctly, weighed something
around 40 pounds.
While waiting for the bus, I snapped my first picture of Philmont --
the cusp of the Tooth of Time as it can be seen peeking over the ridge
into Tent City. Had I aimed the camera down just slightly, the picture
would have included the Photo Services building which stands between the
two trees shown. I was no good at picture composition in those days.
With our route laid out, and our gear loaded on a re-used school bus, we pulled out of the Base Camp parking lot and were driven to somewhere in the North Country very near Ponil Camp. On the bus, Dennis, our Ranger, recited the standard Philmont informational speech, including the description of the Tooth of Time,
"An igneous intrusion of dacite porphyry formed approximately 60-million years ago in the Tertiary Period."
These words are standard Ranger doctrine. For some reason, although I was never a Ranger, I still remember them to this day. Strange how things work.
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Ponil is an old campsite, and was used often as a drop-off point. Originally, however, it was the central site for the entire Philmont scout camp back when Philmont was only what is now known as North Country.
We were dropped off a little way east of the camp, and proceeded to walk along the road into the main area. As we did, we passed a few burro or horse pins. Adjacent to these were small meadows which bordered Ponil creek. There were fairly large wooden platform structures placed in these meadows which I was told was for storing and dispersing feed hay. It did not really look like they had seen much use in a long time. There seemed to be plenty of live grass around. We trodded on past and entered the centre of camp.
At Ponil, we were given the first non-food that we would eat in those two weeks, as this site was a food-pickup/commissary and trading post. I took my crew itinerary sheet to the Ponil Office for check-in and food acquisition. Philmont food is rich. Lots of starches, no-cook meals, usually for breakfast or lunch, and pasta-based food that only requires that you boil water. Yum. I think I later spotted David McCrory eating dried spaghetti right out of the mylar bag once! Talk about a la dente. A word to the wise: high-starch foods and scoutmasters do not mix well. Try it. You'll see what I mean. At any rate, the sweet-and-sour taste of the undissolved spaghetti sauce crystals are one of the things I can still remember with some clarity.
We discovered the Trading Post and the Cantina, and stocked up on snack foods. There was a large rock outside where we all gathered so that Dennis could take an unofficial group picture for those of us who had brought along cameras (which was pretty much everyone).
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Ponil Group Photo: This was taken by Ranger Dennis Depenbusch at Ponil from behind one of the camp buildings. I think he got one using everyone's cameras.
Sadly, my own picture turned out quite fuzzy. 110 film has a large grain size and a small frame size -- one of the truly great crimes of the producers of photographic film. Still, there was one advantage to having the 110 camera. It was small and light enough to be able to pop it into and out of the top compartment of my pack (while still wearing the pack) in a moment's notice. Try that with any 35mm camera of the day.
At the Ponil Office/Commissary: Signs read: "Don't Forget Advisor's Coffee at 7:30 pm", "Congratulations: ..." "Horse Rides and Burros", "Program... Branding: 10:00 - 1:30" |
Anyway, trading posts and commissaries, I would learn, were the few
spots from which you could mail postcards. At this point, I had no
urge to do so. In fact, I would end up only mailing one card during
the whole trip. Ponil offered not only
a Trading Post and Post Office, but also a Cantina (essentially a
snack shop). These were actually housed in one building which
had two halves with a breezeway in between. The Cantina half was
basically a large room with tables and a beverage service station at
one end. I and a couple of the others walked in and were greeted by
a female staff member, with long brown hair, working the bar. She
served up sodas and root beer.
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As the afternoon progressed, we looked forward to dinner. We, and everybody else, waited around the camp. The smell of the juniper trees, baking in the noon sun, pervaded the area. We hung around under what little shade they offered, as the Philmont flies -- ubiquitous large, black flies that are quite lethargic -- clung to the strands of juniper bark. We could not decide if it was due to the thin air or just genetics, but the flies were so slow to react that you could actually touch them while landed. Flies or no flies, we ate our first Philmont meal off the small frisbees (donated by one of the Dodge dealerships in Ft. Worth) that we all brought along. This was an ingenious idea given to us by Greg before we left home. It gave a whole new meaning to the phrase "Don't play with your food."
Ponil offers boot branding; however, it was only done between 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., and with all of the things we had to do at the time we arrived -- food acquisition, conservation project, and Ranger training -- we did not get the opportunity to brand anything. Dennis assured us, though, that we would have a chance to do this later at Clark's fork.
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| Ponil Creek on Dec 26, 1983 |
Ponil Camp sits in the middle of a small valley on Ponil Creek, a fact of which I would be reminded five months later when I visited it in the winter. I suppose not many trekkers have done that. I stayed in the buildings of Ponil Camp with a church youth group on a ski trip to Angel Fire. In December, the creek was still flowing, but nearly frozen over on top.
The camp area is beautiful with or without snow.
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After lunch at Ponil, we set out for Sioux Camp. It was at this point that I noticed that my pack and our Ranger's were identical -- Lowe "Alpine" internal frame models. Distinguishing them in a pack line took a little extra time. At least I knew that I had chosen a good brand.
Sioux was unstaffed, and although there were other crews there at the camp, most notably our sister crew, we hiked on a ways to find a spot where we would not be disturbed by them. I remember the hike to it, looking up to see an exposed latrine sitting on a steep embankment. At least we would get a view -- and everyone else too. Greg, being the civil engineer, reminds me now that one of the things that he taught us was that "when the latrine is an exposed model, as opposed to an enclosed model, a poncho works well to provide that small measure of privacy necessary to actual take care of business."
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Alright, while we're on the subject, I'll go ahead an mention it for what it is worth: There are several kinds of latrines at Philmont. Regardless of whether they've built a wall around it or not, it is little more than a wooden crate placed over a smelly cess pit. Most common is the two-seater arrangement, sometimes called "pilot/co-pilot" style because you just sit there right next to someone else. Enclosed latrines sometimes have half walls. There is also a triple model as well. As a variation on this theme, some double-holers are arranged such that there is a partition in the middle intended to serve as a chair back. Patrons of this style latrine are expected to sit back-to-back. At least there's a slightly higher degree of privacy provided. This arrangement is also called a "pilot/bombadier". These are pretty much the extent of civil engineering in the unstaffed camps.
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This was our Ranger Dennis's first real chance to go over things with us. We learned about the wildlife at Philmont, both flora and fauna: how to tell a chipmunk from a ground squirrel, how to tell a pine tree from a spruce tree (pine needles grow in pairs, spruce singularly), how to tell a mule deer from an elk, and how to deal with bears. He began by showing us a bear trap -- a large steel drum painted yellow with a trap door. Don't feed the bears. Don't deny the bears your food (their food) if they get into it. All sorts of wise things. Most importantly, don't put your food where bears can get to it. Tie it up in a burlap bag and hoist it up a tall tree overnight! And, the advice was not wasted, because we encountered a small brown bear later on at Cimarroncito. Actually all items which give off a strong scent were to be placed in bear bags. This included sunscreens, photographic film, soap, deodorant, toothpaste, etc. We learned about PHILSAR, Philmont's back-country Search-And-Rescue team, which is used to treat, and sometimes extract, people who get injured or, for various medical reasons, become unable to complete the trek.
Dennis also taught us how our food pickups would work, and how we'd distribute the food for transportation. Philmont food is nearly all dehydrated. Dinners were usually noodles, stews, and more noodles -- basically anything to give the scoutmaster gas (which would spawn all sorts of jokes such as sleeping bags becoming lighter-than-air blimps overnight). Lunches were usually intended to be eaten on the trail, and therefore rarely required cooking. They were often crackers and either peanut butter or a canned chicken salad known as "Spreadables" (Libby makes these). Breakfast was my little gem for the day. It was for breakfast that we would usually have the artificial cornstarch milk beverage. You know what's scary is that, after two weeks, you begin to like it. You come home wanting the taste of powdered non-dairy creamer.
We also learned to to manage food preparation. As most everything was dehydrated, it came package in sealed mylar and foil bags. We were taught how to tear the bags open -- careful not to fully separate the tops from the bottoms. This meant we produced one loose piece of trash versus two. Reduced the chance of stray litter blowing away. Funny, I still remember and even use this method today for all packaged goods. Mylar is a metallic-looking plastic, like the stuff potato chip bags are made of. Empty food packages of mylar, plastic, or paper were to be burned in the campfire. Some packages were aluminum-foil-lined. Anything that was metal -- tin cans, aluminum wrappers -- was also to be burned in order to remove food residues, and then removed from the ashes and packed out to the next nearest dumping point (usually a food commissary). The burning eliminates the scents that would otherwise attract bears.
Because the dehydrated food was typically rehydrated with boiling water, there were a few extra measures that we were instructed to take. Several camps, including Sioux, were classified as "dry camps". This meant that we either had to pack in water from camps that had plumbing, or else obtain water from streams. As mentioned earlier, stream water had to be purified somehow. If we wanted to avoid using the iodine tablet method, boiling was the way to go. The trick was in the timing. Dennis taught us how the fact that we were at a much higher altitude that we were used to, we would find that water boiled at a lower temperature than usual (because the air pressure was lower). Temperature over time is what kills bacteria. And, boiling water would be several degrees less hot than 212°F. Therefore, we were advised to boil the water for as long as 10 minutes before considering it safe enough to use for food preparation. (For what it is worth, in years since, I have learned that there are some bacteria which can even survive 212 degrees! But, these do not typically live in mountain streams.)
Cleanup of food utensils was achieved through use of special,
bio-degradeable soap (ours was a green liquid called "Campsuds").
After washing, the dirtied water (called "grey water") was poured
into a mesh-covered pit called a sump. Anything that did not make
it through the mesh was scraped back up and burned in the fire
(bear protection). Dishes and utensils were then rinsed in water chlorinated
with huge chlorine tablets. This served two purposes: remove whatever
remaining food and bacterial residues might remain, and remove any
soap residue. If soap remained on utensils, and later got into
the food, it would surely cause gastronomical upset on the trail.
This is worse than a scoutmaster with high-starch foods, I was told.
Ranger training was not the only activity for the day.
For those crews which wish to receive the coveted Arrowhead Patch,
Philmont requires that they complete three hours of service project
work -- usually related to environmental conservation and trail maintenance.
Our work was was split up between two camps: Ponil and Visto Grande.
We were scheduled to do 1.5 hours of our conservation work here
on the Ponil trail. The trail work consisted of moving large
white stones -- mostly porphyry and limestone -- into place to form
the foundation of the trail. This was most important in high stress
areas like switchbacks, where the wear of feet made the trail susceptible
to erosion. It drizzled rain sporadically as we worked... a condition to
which we would soon get quite accustomed.
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| Did you say "work"?: David reclines in his tent, resting up before the conservation project work. |
When the work was done, it was nearing time for dinner, and we headed down to Ponil again for a chuckwagon feast provided by the camp staff. It the last real food we would eat for two weeks -- stew, "cowboy beans", and a cobbler for dessert. One thing about Philmont is that it portrays a "western" theme, and food was no exception. But, I wonder if cowboy beans (pinto beans cooked in a chili base) is more exotic for the Scouts from northern and eastern states. We from Texas had had it all our lives at every picnic and get-together. Even so, this would be one of the few cooked meals we would have the entire time at Philmont. The rest of the time, lunch would be comprised of Spreadables, trail bars, and "Applets and Cotlets".
Applets and Cotlets were semi-dried blocks of fruit paste (apple or apricot), egg solids, gelatin, molasses, and cornstarch -- condensed into little bricks and coated in powdered sugar chopped nuts. I am sure they were nutritious for the hiker. And, they even sound good at first. But Applets, and especially Cotlets, were one of those things which gets rather nasty after you eat about four of them. We had them in almost every meal package and found them in every commissary's swap bin. They possess an inexplicable attraction/repulsion quality. That is, you know they are kind-of gross, but you will eat just one more anyway. I had forgotten their name, but the smell, taste, and texture were unforgettable. Thanks to Greg for recently reminding me. I don't think Philmont distributes these any longer, but the company which makes them is still in business somewhere in Washington state.
Other trail food was hard -- especially the granola bars, which had the consistency of particle board. In any case, they could be eaten quickly, as we were almost always having lunch on the trail. We learned to like them. Dinners were usually boil-and-eat.
The day's activities were drawing to a close. Ranger training ended with Dennis distributing to us our Philmont Wilderness Pledge cards. They would be ours to sign and to keep, listing five principles to which we would promise to adhere while in the back country:
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After dinner, at 7:30, was the Advisors' Coffee. As the name implies, this event is a coffee service provided for advisors to come and socialise, learn tribal knowledge, etc. I guess it is assumed that most adults have developed a coffee craving, and this would be one of the few comforts of civilisation they alone could appreciate. The event would be offered at most staffed camps.
This would be our first night on the trail, and my first opporunity to sleep without a pillow. For the sake of space, I had not brought one. I furthermore did not have enough junk stuffed in a duffle bag to suffice as a pillow either. So, for the entire trek, I formed a make-shift pillow out of a pair of blue jeans, all rolled up inside a T-shirt. These days, there are all sorts of ingenious inflatable pillows you can buy. But, this was the 80s. In any case, I don't recall complaining.
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DAY 1: BASE CAMP |
| DAY 3: PUEBLANO |  |
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Day: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 | |
Through good scout camping,
I pledge to preserve the beauty
and splendor of the Philmont Wilderness.
I commit myself to:
