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14 days, 65 miles, 11,000 feet up
By Brian Hauger

     Last June, myself along with Phillip Smith, traveled with 42 other Scouts of the Sioux Council to Philmont Scout Ranch. Philmont, the worlds largest Scout camp, is located in Northeastern New Mexico by the little town of Cimarron. Philmont consists of 214 square miles of rugged terrain in the Sangre de Cristo area of the lower Rocky Mountains.
      Philmont was first established in 1938, after oilman Waite Phillips, of Phillips Petroleum, donated 35,857 acres of his ranch to the Boy Scouts. This camp was first known as Philturn Rocky Mountain Scout Camp. In 1941, after seeing the success of the camps first few years, Mr. Phillips donated even more land, which included his house and his ranch headquarters. Now the camp totaled 127,395 acres and was renamed Philmont Scout Ranch. Attendance to the camp was slow in the 40’s because of the war, but took off in the 50’s topping 7,000 in 1954. In 1963 Norton Clapp, Vice President of the National Council of the Boy Scout, purchased and donated 10,098 more acres of land, making Philmont 214 square miles. Today Philmont is a very popular camp, with over 70,000 scouts applying every year, but only 50,000 scouts are accepted to attend.
      Our stay at Philmont consisted of a 10 ½ day trek, backpacking through the breathtaking back country of Philmont. We hiked a total of 65 miles climbing to elevations of 11,711 feet, all while carrying our backpacks weighing close to 50 pounds. During our trek, we stayed at many different camps that had lots of different activities to participate in, including spar pole climbing, black powder shooting, blacksmithing, horseback riding just to name a few. While in base camp we received a tour of Waite Phillips’ home, the Villa Philmonte, a Spanish style home with elaborate architectural features.
      The trip was a very well rounded adventure. While traveling down to Philmont we stopped in Colorado Springs, went up Pikes Peak on the cog-rail, hiked in the Garden of the gods, and on our way back we visited the Air Force Academy.
      This entire trip also took a lot of preparation. After being accepted to attend, we had to pay the $1,000 fee for the trip, which included the cost of Philmont, transportation to and from and all of our food along the way. We also had to buy some necessary equipment to attend Philmont such as a backpack, a small but warm sleeping bag, sleeping pad, and other miscellaneous equipment, all adding about $500 more to the cost of this trip.
      To help with this cost, we asked the American Legion Post 49, our charter partner, to help us with a donation. They graciously gave each of us $250 to help pay for this trip, which Phillip and I are both very thankful for.
      Philmont is a trip of a lifetime and I recommend it to any scout who wants a true challenge.
      Phillip and I would be willing to give a presentation on our trip to any community organization that would like one, and again I would like to thank the Legion for their donation and for supporting Scouting in Clear Lake.