Sam Houston Area Council B.S.A. Troop 505
Chartered to St. Vincent de Paul Roman Catholic Church
Houston, Texas

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Stripes
Philmont Scout Ranch, July 2003

by Chris W.

Our Philmont trek took place in the North Country. We traveled over 60 miles, one of us with a pack weighting over sixty pounds. For our shortest hike we hiked no more than two hours, but our longest was between six and eight hours of hiking. That day happened to be all up, except for the end, a decent of about 900ft in a space no more than a fifth of a mile long. For the first two days, the easiest ones, we had a ranger named Ian. Ian is a student at Texas A&M, and this was his first year as a ranger. Ian was nice, and tolerated a great deal of joking. On our seventh day we side hiked Mt. Baldy, an altitude of 12441ft. Just a little note, pilots in non-pressurized cabins are required to wear oxygen masks at any altitude over 10000 ft. We were scheduled for an activity of some sort every day. Our favorite activity was black powder rifle shooting. The food quickly tired us but it was certainly better than any other scout camp, as if that is saying much. For the last couple of days we got a burro, who we so aptly named Major Tom. In general the whole of Philmont was wonderful, you are surrounded by nature, climbing huge peaks, depending on each other and having a great time. By the time we got to base camp we were dirty, tired, relieved and generally pleased that we had a great time and were going home. Throughout our trip we did things that can be done no where else, and that we'll probably never be able to do again.
Click on the thumbnails for full-size images (and click the Back button on your browser to return here)!

Loading the bus Ready to roll Rock climbinb
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Made it! Cleaning up 60-lb. backpack
(including 5 qts of water!)
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Wrong turn Indian rock art Indian home
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Our crew Uphill climb View of Mt. Baldy
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Erich and Mt. Baldy Service project site at Dan Beard Downhill to Rich Cabins
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Rich Cabins Trying to hoist bear bags Green Canyon
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Typical view Mt. Baldy Snow (in July!)
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Ascending the summit View from the top  
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View from Mt. Baldy Which way from here? Blacksmithing at French Henry
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John and Jimmy have a go Fanning the flames Hammering away
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Aztec Ponil mine Tomahawk throwing at French Rendezvous, Miranda Our burro, Major Tom
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We climb logs the old-fashioned way! Who's leading whom? Branding our boots at Ponil
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Joe tries sneaking up on a deer Entrance to Philmont (Dr. Holubec's shoes are up there)
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Stripes
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