disney4dan

I have 2 sets of the maps, one untouched and the other marked up showing the trek we did. Those are going in a box to be saved for years to come. I'm curious about which camps you did and which sites you got to see? There is so much that can be done at Philmont. I bet you are as glad as I am that you got to spend time in scouts with your son. The time I have spent with Matt in scouts has been a great time during what can be a really turbulent time with teenagers. Best position I was ever "volunteered" to do. The rivers in the mountain area are so different than they are in New Engl

So I spent about half an hour at the dealership service center and tried some editing. Got about most of the way into the second day when I lost the wifi connection. Let me know if the photos on page 1 are good!

Had about ten kids over last night for a campfire, all good kids and three of them scouts. I was headed to bed before them, and my wife was wondering if it was safe to leave the fire going while we slept. I figure four scouts was enough coverage to be sure it was out properly. There are several kids sleeping in the living room now. I wonder why I'm so busy? I promise to edit this TR soon. Off to bring my daughter somewhere soon, then out to get rental vans for our troops trip to Gettysburg on Monday.

Congratulations! Matt is at Life Scout and needs to get moving!

My weekdays are super busy right now, so let me try this one photo to see if I get it right before I launch into a complete rebuild of this TR! You should be viewing a photo of the boys checking out a lizard. They really wanted to see a rattlesnake while out there. Lucky for us, that didn't happen.

Trying that next! If not that, then maybe load all the photos to a different sharing site? My Photobucket account isn't an option I am so glad that they got to go, and you should definitely go out there with them sometimg, even if to someplace other than Philmont! Those belts are a big thing, and if I can get this to work correctly, I have a cool tie in to an historic visit. I hope that his review went well! It is an amazing place!

Testing the file name issue with this. Now it is not even letting me add photos like it did earlier today. I did try adding .jpg to the end of the link while in Google photos and it would not let me do it there. Tried putting the link into the "insert image from URL" on this page and it let me add the extension, but it's not linking the photo either way now. I'll give it a try in the morning. What is frustrating is that I can see the photos when I log in on my desktop, but not on my tablet or phone right now. I was able to see them on my phone earlier today.

I'll have to try that!

So, we finish our service hours on the trail and head on out to the next camp. The problem with the next camp is that it is supposed to be a dry camp (no water) and we are supposed to carry 4 gallons of water to get us through to the next point. Instead, we decide to hike on in and plan to send some scouts off to a nearby well that is a mile away once we set up camp. Don't you just love plans? They always work out, right? On to our next camp, Devil's Wash Basin (cue scary music now). As you can see, the boys are dragging today. Lots of miles, lots of heat, muscles are sore.

I have been using mostly Google photos since yesterday, as Photobucket was giving my machine heartburn. I was seeing the same issue with photos last night on my phone, but today on the desktop I get to see all of them. I hope they all show up eventually, this is a lot of effort if they aren't showing! Can you see the pictures from today?

We didn't get to do any burrow racing. The storm had left the race field a muddy mess and it would not be safe for the animals. Plus, I don't think the rangers wanted to deal with it. We hit the sack early and had to get up to do our three hours of conservation work the next day anyway. Part of the Philmont experience, and a requirement to get a coveted Philmont patch, is to complete service hours. Our project was trail building for a new trail out to Vacca. Matt and others at the training area. We had to learn how to safely use hand tools. Those shovels are complicated instruments yo

The interesting point of this trail is that you cross under the highway as you head to Harlan camp. It has developed a reputation because many scouts will call ahead and get pizza delivered to this crossing! The pizza delivery guys will wait for everyone to finish and take the trash back to town (for a hefty tip). Our boys didn't have the time for it today, we were not making great time. We rolled into Harlan just in time to watch a thunderstorm roll up the canyon. It poured and the lightning was intensive, all around us. In this photo you can see two adults at the door watching t

July 24 - heading out of Dean Cow early. We have a lot of miles today to get to Harlan where the boys will get a chance to load their own shotgun shells and try some skeet shooting. And if all goes well, participate in burrow racing after dinner. Matt did not recover well over night and was still sluggish when we started. We had a steep uphill climb out of the canyon at sunrise, so one of the adult leaders asked the other scouts to take some of his weight out of his pack so we could make decent time. The kids stepped up and helped out, knowing that he would need that help if we hoped to ma

We checked in to Dean Cow. Our expedition was chosen by the crew based on the opportunity for three rock climbing sessions, including an advanced skill course only open to this expedition number. They were all stoked for the first session, even though it meant being on a rock cliff face in full sun on a hot day. The female ranger had no problem keeping their attention while going over the rules. And then off to our site for another hearty meal. We were really enjoying the level ground at this site after sleeping on slopes for the past three nights. The o

Now we are back down in elevation, trudging our way through this canyon heading for Dean Cow camp. The weather was sunny and hot. Almost Florida in August hot. And no shade. Matt was beginning to fade again. When we were at Baldy Town I had asked the staff if they had a thermometer to check for a temperature and they did not. Said it would not work at that elevation, and there really wasn't any need. I thought that was odd if you thought a kid was running a fever and they had a practical reply "What would you do if you thought he had a fever?" I said I'd give ibuprofen or Tylenol t

Not over yet if I can keep posting more pictures.

Upper Dean Cow camp had a lot of straw in it, so I assume that a crew on horseback had been through recently. I awoke before sunrise and went to start packing my bag by headlight. When I looked into the bag I was greeted by four little beady eyes staring back at me. Some field mice had moved in and stuffed the bag with straw. A lot of it too! Matt had been feeling a little run down since Baldy Town, but was being a trooper and keeping up. Well - looks like no photos will link right now. Time for a break and I'll be back later! A friend on the trail One of

And finally, around mid-day, we stroll into Head of Dean Camp. This area is very scenic, and the tent sites are scattered around in areas similar to this. At the staffed camps, the scouts can participate in organized activities. Here, the activity is a team building exercise on an obstacle course. A great opportunity for the adults to put their feet up and rest their tired bones. And we did. The cabin. While we were relaxing here, the chipmunks were running in and out of our pack line trying to find food. Because of the way everything was packaged, they didn't get any. How

Welcome Dave! Amazing how fast the kids grow up, isn't it? Hope we get to meet up again some day either in the parks or maybe on a trail sometime. With college tuition looming, it might be a while before we get a chance to visit the Fort.

More pictures from along the trail. I should have invested in a camera that could do a better job of capturing the colors. In this next photo, taken mid-day, you can see how the clouds always build up in the afternoon and it will rain somewhere in Philmont. It was also around this point that we encountered our first military jet fly by. There is a military base not far from here, and the pilots know that there are lots of scouts out during the summer. We got to see a good size bomber screaming over this canyon at low altitude. Amazing how the canyon isolated us from the sound

We had an uneventful afternoon, nice and relaxing hike down, we grabbed our supplies and took it easy. The best part of the resupply days is getting a piece of fresh fruit for that day. I can still remember how good that orange was after eating meat sticks, envelopes of tuna, crackers, energy gel packs and dried fruit. There is always a crowd around the building where food is handed out. I have to say, the rangers have the whole food distribution thing running like a well oiled machine. And as much as I like to complain about the trail food, they did provide some high quality items. There is

One of the crew decided to create a rock statue And down we went. I forgot to grab a photo of my watch showing the altitude at the summit, but remembered a little way back down the trail. If only there was a way to show how steep this trail is. My knees were so happy to not have an additional 50 pounds on my back today!

I hope the images are showing up in the posts. I checked on my phone earlier today and it seems like the only images that I could see were the ones that are posted on photobucket. I reached my limit on photobucket and have also discovered that my Malwarebytes software was having fits over that site and was fighting off a lot of malicious stuff, so I put all the photos on Google. The google images were not showing through on my phone, so raise your hand and let me know if nobody else can see those photos either. I can see all of them from the desktop. Alright, let's pick this up again, sha

That was quick! Welcome aboard and enjoy the hike. I agree, so glad I got to do this with my son. i debated about even posting this on FF net because it is not WDW related. But I know that there are some scout families out here who might not be considering this type of trip with or for their scout. I know I always thought of it as a "for other scouts" and "way too expensive for my taste" type of trip. But when I got a chance to go I thought about this is the only time I could do this with my son. We made it work somehow. Luckily, I have lots of coworkers in scouts, and my line mana

Eventually we reach the saddle, an open field at about 11,500 feet in elevation that is used for cattle. I find it amazing the a cow would ever want to climb up here, but there was enough evidence that they had been there recently. This is Matt posing with the summit right behind him, just a few hundred yards through some trees and then the final push up a steep slope of broken shale to reach the top. Making good time, and as you can see, weather is perfect. Up we go! Our boys resting in the shade while another crew takes a break a few yards uphill.