Troop 40 Philmont Trek, 2002

The Philmont adventure was a very good experience for everyone who went. It was a sixteen-day trip to New Mexico. Eleven of those sixteen days were spent backpacking on the Philmont Ranch itself. The Troop 40 guys that went were split up into two different crews, 617D3 and 617D4. The two crews worked separate of each other to cook meals, carry food, and find their way along the trails. Each crew was a fully functional team and everyone got a lot out of the team participation. Everyone learned how to work as a team and basically live as a team. Everyone carried his own gear plus crew gear and food for eleven days straight, which was a very humbling experience. The trek made you appreciate everything that you usually take for granted in everyday life. On the trail we ate dehydrated foods, mostly pastas and different kinds of rice meals. We ate many crackers, and packet or half a sleeve for each person, each lunch and breakfast. We had lots of beef jerky for lunches, as well as peanut butter, cheese, and jelly squeeze packets. We ate all healthy foods, and drank lots and lots of water. Out west the humidity is very low compared to hear. Here we usually have 70%-80% humidity rate, while out west the usual is about 5%-20%. You sweat without knowing it, all the time, it evaporates that fast. So because of this you need to drink lots and lots of water. We drank one or two Nalgenes (32oz.) an hour. Everyday we would also get powder Gatorade packets in our lunch, so we had a break form water for a little while, but that’s all the flavor we got the whole trip.

The trip had life changing mountain top experiences for some people. David Noll writes, “…the major turning point in my altitude was at the sunrise on the Tooth of Time. Although I did not act on my thoughts right then I have worked on being a better person and putting other people before myself.” Many people had experiences like this while on the trail. Patrick Ridge writes, “Philmont was an experience of a lifetime for me.” It is the type of experience that everyone should have once in their lives. Matt Hayden writes, “From Philmont we brought back many memories. I feel that the most important thing I got back was leadership. Without leadership there is not much you can do in life.” Everyone brought back their own value from the whole Philmont experience, traveling out to the west, completing the trek, and finally coming home.