Monday, June 16, 2008

Final Report

Here is the link to all the pictures I took at Philmont ... http://picasaweb.google.com/mdscouter/PhilmontPics

There are a lot of them.

I had a GREAT time and want to go back next year. Not only is the ranch a great place the courses are wonderful too. You learn so much from the instructors as well as other scouters.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

The Adventure Continues...

Yesterday ended fairly well. It was sort of chilly last night but okay. A Venture Crew from Amarillo, TX came done and did some Native American Dancing it was really cool. Speaking of cool, last night was sort of chilly, I hope tonight is not as bad.

Today went fairly well. I am learning all sorts of neat stuff and will most likely come home with all kinds of ideas to help in my volunteer position. They fixed the showers so you don't take your skin off as well as the dirt. Yesterday they were so hot that you could only turn them, get wet, turn them off, etc. Today at least you could stand under them the whole time. Tonight was Western night. We had bbq buffalo burgers in a picnic setting. Later on there will be western dancing.

Tomorrow is our free or "family" day. In the morning I am doing laundry and will visit the Philmont Museum. Then a few of use are taking a tour to the Kit Carson/Raydo Museum and then the tour of downtown Cimarron. When we get back a bunch of us will be going to dinner in Cimarron. They advised us to avoid driving at night because of the deer so we don't want to go too far from camp.


I hope to have some more pictures to post tomorrow.

Monday, June 9, 2008

Philmont Pics

Here are some pictures from the Philmont Training Center..

Views from my campsite...








The inside of my tent.







I have better pictures that I will be able to post when I get home.

Philmont Training Center

Well, I finally made it to Philmont...well the Training Center anyway. The trip out was fine. The drive down from Colorado Springs to Cimarron, NM was beautiful. I wanted to stop almost every mile and take a picture. I saw all sorts of deer, antelope and even bison!

I am really lucky, I have a tent all to myself. The tents are huge, with real mattresses and power. I was able to park right out side my tent and the bath house is just one row of tents behind me. This is really good, since you need to drink about 8 liters of water a day because of the altitude...so a bathroom near by is definitely needed for those 3 AM potty calls.

The food is pretty good considering it is camp food, much better than the usual summer camp fare. There is a really nice breeze during the day and the nights are nice and cool. Of course I had to visit the Trading Post and have acquired several Philmont only items. I have hooked up with some nice people from NCAC and the Baltimore Council. We usually eat together. It turns out that Wednesday is a totally free day. I am trying to decide if I should go to Taos or take the afternoon Cimarron tour.

I will try to post pictures later since most of my pics are on my camera and I did not bring the correct cable to transfer them to my laptop. But I can use my cell phone later.

Thats all for now.