6-11-O2

"Down 3 Men and Still the Toughest Crew!"

Philmont 2003

Tent City Here we are at our tents in Tent City our first morning. We got very good tents (A Tents) since we left on the third day. In the background you can see the Tooth of Time, what we would be hiking over in less than two weeks. A lot was going to happen before that though. We knew it, but didn't know to what extent that it would be true.

Sioux Our first campsite was the same as the first campsite I had been at two years before, so it held special memories. I was surprised how well i remembered it. I knew exactly how to get there (and how not to get there) and exactly where all the sites were. My tent is the blue one which says ALPS Mountaineering on it, right next to the Red Roof Inn.

Ponil Here is Adrian, one of our advisors, trying starting across a small stream (possibly Ponil Creek?). This was on the first day, when we were one of the twelve crews which missed the trail and ended up in the stables by mistake. We went back and found the real trail though, so we got to cross the lovely stream twice.

Ponil's Cliffs Ponil, the Cowboy/Western Camp, is known for its cliffs. When I first saw them in 2001, I was amazed at the formations of the rocks and the amount of vegetation on them. They truly are an amazing site, as they are literally right on top of the road.

Pueblano's Storm Just as we were getting into Pueblano, there was a terrible storm building up. I happened to look up and notice the height of their flag pole. It was truly an amazing sight seeing the flag flying against the black sky, but apparently I took the picture at the wrong instance. Shortly after this picture it started to hail. Pueblano was our second camp.

Pueblano's Camp Fire Virtually anyone who has seen Pueblano's Company Meeting (Camp Fire) will agree that it is the best at all of Philmont. (Cypher's Mine is a close second.) The staff members always have such talent at singing and playing instruments, and you get to hear a humorous version of the history of Philmont and the area. If you are in the area, it is definitely worth the hike. This best song they they sang was a stunning rendition of Kokomo, complete with the tambourine in the background. Luis and I were disappointed when they didn't sing Mountain Dew (our favorite song and most vivid memory of Pueblano) but we heard it at Cypher's Mine later. Another vivid memory of Pueblano was the temperature drop and strong wind that "lands" at the fire site. This time we brought jackets.

Spar Pole Climbing Pueblano is the Logger (not Lumberjack) Camp, and one of their activities is Spar Pole Climbing. We didn't have time for everyone to participate this time, so I let those who hadn't climbed before climb. This is a picture of Omar up at the top.

Is He Dead? His "donkey" let him go a bit too fast. (If you haven't realized it, no he is not dead) Actually, he landed on his feet, stood up and then fell down for the attention. It got his uncle's (another advisor) pretty quickly.

Ewells Park In 2001, we passed through Ewell's Park, but stayed at Ute Meadows. I had a very good memory of well's Park (the beauty of it) but a bad memory of the well. I spent about an hour and a half pumping water here in 2001. For old times sake and because we were tired of Iodine (and we had been carrying the water purifier for a few days) Luis and I decided to pump some water. Boy, is that stuff good.

Checking the Map The next morning we left for Baldy at about 5:30. No, we were not lost when this picture was taken. We were simply making sure the path we were taking was correct.