69RoadRunner

Thank you very much!!

Perhaps I worded it poorly. We are there for scout safety, first and foremost. Sure, we help out. We should not be viewed as replacements for paid staff while being charged full price and burning personal leave.

We were told they had 50 people sign contracts and then not show up. I do sympathize with that problem. At both Philmont and Summit, it just seems like the paid adult staff see adult volunteer participants as just being an extension of their paid staff rather than customers.

When we were sentenced to Camp Covid at Philmont this summer after an adult tested positive, I was awakened by everyone singing Happy Birthday to a mountain lion. Allegedly, 1 person saw a mountain lion. When we saw several sets of eyes in the woods adjacent to the camp, a 19 year old ranger thought we were surrounded by mountain lions. Uh, the only animal dumb enough to just stand there and stare while 50 people sing loudly and shine headlamps is not a mountain lion. It's deer.

The kids had a great time. The cost just keeps skyrocketing. Their web site says over $500 for next year for the merit badge camp.

Nobody was free. And they wanted to charge us extra to get a site in the trees. We rejected that.

Yep. $435 plus a $50 Covid fee.

Fortunately, I'm told our scouts had a great time. The adults were not expecting to employees for the week. Asking adults to take a week of leave, pay over $400 and then expecting them to do the work of the full time staff made their week less than enjoyable. Again, I do sympathize with the camps. Everyone is struggling from camps to restaurants. But they should take the money they set aside for wages and give it to the adults performing those jobs. It's not right for them to not do that. Show some respect to the volunteers who saved your camp.

Philmont and Summit are both experiencing staffing shortages and adult leaders are having to make up for it. I genuinely sympathize with them. It's a problem everywhere and I know it's got to be driving people who have to deal with it crazy. Our troop did merit badge camp at Summit last week. Summit had 50 people sign contracts to work and not show up. One of our adults had to teach Brownsea Island for the week. Two others had to run fishing. Here's my problem. They charged our adults over $400 each for the week. Summit expected to be paying staff to do jobs that our adults ended up volunteering to do. Why are we paying full price and then doing these jobs ? Shouldn't they pay our adults since they're not paying staff? Our adults stepped up and made things work because it's for the kids. But you can't treat your customers like this and expect them to come back. I told our troop last year that I'm retiring as scoutmaster this year. I'm burned out for many reasons This just adds to it. I just don't get the impression that Scouts BSA cares much about the volunteers.

Too muddy. Every vehicle going into the backcountry had to be approved by upper management.

We did still have a good time and got to summit Baldy. Hopefully things will improve for crews and staff this summer.

They are short staffed (hire taller staff?) and the bathrooms/showers aren't cleaned frequently. Some were downright nasty. An adult in our crew got sick with Covid on trail. He had to hike with us to Ponil to be extracted because rain made roads to Elkhorn impassable. His son said he wasn't feeling well but tested negative. He was also taken to the infirmary. He returned a little later after testing negative again. They told us they were pulling the rest of us healthy members from trail because they're in 2020 mode. But they couldn't get vehicles to Ponil to extract us. We'd be stuck in a campsite in 50 degree weather and nonstop rain and nothing to do. The guy who is in charge of Ponil put us in a workshop, dried our clothes and fed us Elk spaghetti. We will be forever grateful. Next day we were sentenced to 5 days in Camp Covid, aka The Leper Colony, aka Herradura where we could day hike and maybe fish. We were fuming. The GM threatened to send us home when we expressed our frustrations to him. I had pointed out that both the CDC and state of New Mexico state that if you're vaxxed/boosted and asymptomatic you don't need to isolate when exposed to someone with Covid. After 2 days, he changed his mind and we got an early release because our entire crew was the only one fully vaxxed and boosted and we finished our trek. Just like the health experts say and I had pointed out. Sending healthy people all to the same camp due to 1 member testing positive is not the way to handle this. We're not at basecamp, we're outside where transmission is greatly reduced and distancing from staff and others is easy. On to gear and other odds and ends. Trail runners are much better than boots. Yeah, you have weak ankles, just like everyone else. People hike the Application Trail more often in trail runners. You can do 11 days at Philmont. ULA Catalyst is a good Philmont pack. It's too big for individual backpacking, but for bulky Philgear and Philfood, it works, particularly when you're emptying a sick crew member's pack to lighten his load. If you can't fit everything in it, you're overpacking or using car camping gear for backpacking. OR Ferrosi pants are my favorite hiking pants. I wore them every day. The Jolly Gear sun hoodie is a great shirt. Unfortunately it's a small company and they now have limited supply. Swartwool boxer briefs are comfortable but no better than synthetic at preventing stinkiness. Wegmans drink mix containers make a great, cheap sunglass case (and aren't a smellable because the drink mix is in separate tubes). White gas stoves are like points ignition. Canister stoves are like electronic ignition. Pack liners are more effective than pack covers. Make sure you have a very good rain jacket, puffy and fleece. It got to the low 50s and rained for more than 24 hours straight. The pesto pasta was the most disliked meal. Spaghetti was the favorite. Make reservations in advance for dinner at The St. James before you arrive. I'm tired of crackers. All forms. Locate the red roof/pilot to bombardier when you arrive, not middle of the night. DAMHIK Embrace the stink. Don't bring too much clothing. Don't get Covid.

I don't recall us having a campfire at our campsite. I don't think there would be enough wood if every crew had one every night.

We went in 2019, the year after the big fire that went through Philmont. We had a fire every night. This was encouraged specifically to reduce the amount of fuel on the ground for wildfires. I believe over 20,000 people go through Philmont every year. We saw crews having fires every night. I would venture that more dead wood is cleared now than in 1971 with that many crews.

Cooks Peak Fire Update: April 26th, 2022, 11:00 AM MDT The Cooks Peak Fire is estimated at 54,021 acres and 18% contained. There has been no report of further loss of any Philmont structures. Philmont personnel were able to survey areas within the burn zone and Olympia trail camp has survived. There has been loss to a significant amount of fencing and gates. Philmont continues to protect structures and the Carson Meadows cabin was wrapped yesterday with fire retardant material. The precipitation yesterday was a significant aid in fighting the fire, however there are still several red flag days ahead. Fire crews, including hotshot teams, continue operations to contain further spread. The Philmont staff has returned to work and continue to prepare for the summer season as scheduled. The spike camp at the Philmont Training Center continues to operate as a host for 150 firefighters and is preparing for additional personnel to arrive. We are grateful for all those involved in fighting the fire and keeping Philmont and our surrounding communities safe.