Harumph

Just got back from Philmont on 7/12/2019. As for the "crowds", we saw fewer people there than we tended to run into hiking the GA sections of the AT for our prep hikes, but it wasn't uncommon to pass other crews coming the other direction. Only 2 times (from my poor memory) did we overtake crews going the same direction and one of those was on the way approaching Baldy, so that was fairly understandable. Camps tended to have enough room to move away from others so it didn't feel crowded, but there were only 3 nights out of 10 on the trail (out of base camp) where we were the only group in a camp and both of those were trail camps. At the main/activity camps, you're probably going to be around 3-8+ other crews. There was one night at Dan Heard where they didn't have any more sites left and were worried about what they'd do if another crew had to re-route to stay there due to weather. When you're out on the trail it's MOSTLY just going to be your crew, and I wouldn't call the camps "crowded", but you definitely run into people most days after your trail time. We actually ran into some of the same crews probably 3-5 times. We had a good trip, I think the boys learned a lot and came away with valuable life experience, but if I wasn't going to help advise a crew and it was just me......I don't think I'd go again. But then again, I'm no "trail conqueror" and long distance hiking, skimming over nature on a trail with all my food in my pack is not motivating to me. It's a great classroom to teach the boys and get them out into nature so that's why I do it.