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Philmont: Trek 728-A2, 1983
Getting There
We left Fort Worth (the Longhorn Council office) for Philmont by bus in the late afternoon of July 27, 1983, at 6 p.m. I remember the bus ride all too well -- the red and white Trailways coach slipping out of the city westward as the sun was setting before us, trying to get some sleep while sticking to the red vinyl seats. All of our gear was packed in the lower compartments of the bus, and only a few personal items were carried up top with us. One of these items was dinner. We had been advised to bring sack dinners since our only stop would be around midight. I took my seat of the left side, against the window. The trip to Cimarron, New Mexico, where Philmont is located, is about 13 non-stop hours by bus. In all, there were three crews on the bus, comprising a total of 32 people.
Front: Derek, Sid, Gene, Toby, Greg
Back: Bud, Brien, John, Robert, David
My own trek crew was made up ten people -- all from various troops. John (also known as just "Klocek"), Derek, Greg and his father, and I (Bud) were from the same troop, Troop 28 of Colleyville, Texas. John and Greg were OA inductees, which is why you see them wearing wooden arrows. They had to remain on throughout the entire trek though I am not sure they did. Fortunately, I had already done this a year or so earlier, so no arrow for me. Our troop's contingent was was not large enough to form a crew, so the Longhorn Council had teamed us up with five others whom we did not know: David, Toby (Tr. 1xx), Robert (Tr. 458), and Brien and his cousin, Sid (Tr. 2xx). With the exception of Robert, who had accompanied my troop in its summer camp at Sid Richardson a few weeks before, this bus ride was our first meeting, and our first chance to figure out how we were going to interact. I now wonder where they all are, as it might make writing this easier with their assistance. But, aside from those in my own troop, I would not know them beyond the two weeks of our trek.
The sun was just about to drop into the horizon as we rolled west and hit the loop of Interstate 20 out of Ft. Worth. It illuminated the bus cabin, and all the new faces in it, in an eerie orange glow. The trip was made mostly in the dark of night, a midnight express of sorts. Several kids brought out decks of cards and played in small groups between the seats. They obviously had done this before. We followed the loop around to the north, and on up through Interstate 35W, where we soon branched west on Hwy 287. 287 would take us through Bridgeport, Wichita Falls, and Childress, on our way to Amarillo. We passed through Amarillo at about 12 a.m., stopping at the bus terminal/diner for a change of drivers and refueling. I suppose this qualifies as "Amarillo By Morning" (I guess that singer Terry Stafford would have liked that.) I had been to Amarillo once before, visiting the red sand vistas of Palo Duro Canyon with my parents. And, I would visit that park on our stopover for the second trek (1984) as well. But, on this trek, we remained in the bus station.
Everybody got out and went into the diner. Unfortunately, this was depriving me of sleep, and I wondered how it might affect my first day at the then-mysterious "Scouting paradise". I hate the feeling my stomach gets after waking up after a night of no sleep. So, I and several others ordered diner waffles and other assorted things. If I was going to go without sleep, I was not going to go without food. I stood in the glass-enclosed ticket foyer while the others finished buying things in the station. Our bus sat outside waiting for a new driver. When we were finally back on the road -- which was by this time Hwy 87 heading north to the cities of Dumas and Dalhart -- sleep finally set in around 2 or 3 a.m. But, it was brief. I have never been able to sleep soundly when I am waiting for something big to happen. This was true then, and my anxiety about Philmont is what had kept me up. It was the magic of youth, that sense of mystery felt when experiencing something new and unknown for the first time. Such things rarely come to us as adults. While I slept, we passed throught Texline, and soon, Hwy 87 became Hwy 64. Then, our route branched off to New Mexico's Hwy 56 in Clayton. I began to wake between 5:30 and 6 a.m., as I always do when the sky begins to lighten. However, I knew how little sleep I had had, and tried to force myself to drift off again even if for what little time was left. When I awoke at about 6:30, we were in Springer, and Hwy 56 had become Hwy 21. I did not realise at the moment how close were were to Philmont. The mountain range in the west, ahead of us was, I would later come to realise, that of Black and Bear mountains, Shæfer's Peak, Baldy, and the Tooth of Time. As we took 21's bend northward, I heard Greg point out a large white cliff jutting out of a ridge. He said it was the "Tooth of Time".
We arrived at Philmont at about 7:00 a.m., on July 28, 1983. There was more to the date than merely our arrival at Philmont. It was exactly two months after death of a friend and fellow Eagle Scout in my troop named John. He had been our troop's Senior Patrol Leader. In addition to this, he was Greg's brother. At 15, his loss had a pretty heavy impact on me, though I know I tried not to let it show. I really did not know how to manage the reality ot it yet. But, it was actually because of John that I was here at Philmont. He and Greg had come to Philmont the year before, and, ever since then, had urged me to go on this trek. I was initially hesitant -- summer camps were beginning to bore me. But John was sure I would love it. I probably would not have come to Philmont had he not kept after me to go. And, so, I cannot begin this journal without mentioning him.
Greg and his father came along as our adult advisors. The trek was to proceed as planned. I think I learned something from that, eventually. At any rate, I would get to know both of them much better over the duration of the trek.
Our Trek
A little over half the scouts on my crew came from outside my own troop. Our contingent was made up of the following people:
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Standard Philmont treks last for two weeks, and are identified by numeric designations based on the date on which the group arrives at the camp. So, this first trek was "728-A2" because our first night at Base Camp was on July 28. Crews are further differentiated by an alphanumeric suffix (-A, -B, -C2, etc.) according to the order in which they arrive at Base Camp. My bus of folks got the "-A" suffix because we were the first group scheduled to arrive at Philmont that morning (about 7:00 a.m., in fact). Recall that there were three crews on the bus. The other two were designated 728-A1 and 728-A3.
Trek 728-A2 Itinerary, Itinerary #13a - rugged
So, what about the route we took on the trail? Our itinerary was #13a, 64 miles, and considered "rugged". Utah Cox -- a helpful guy I met on the net when trying to put these memories together before I had all my own records from home -- tells me that the trek numbers have changed over the years (and they seem to have gotten a little longer on average), but that there are several still very much like this one. In fact, after examining the itineraries for 1998, I see that my old 13a was pretty much identical to what is now designated as Itinerary 15 (which I am told is now the most popular trek at Philmont!). Be that as it may, old 13a took us through what is known as the North Country of Philmont. This meant that we'd get to hike over both of Philmont's most famous landmarks -- Baldy Mountain and the Tooth of Time. The "a" in "13a" indicates that this route is designed to support more than one crew at a time. In fact, we had a sister crew that shadowed us. Their itinerary was simply called "13b". I will discuss them more a bit later.
Let's begin!
