Philmont trek Planning

[Jim6]

We are taking two crews to Philmont in '04. I think we are OK with the planning of the trek itself, but we are looking for pointers/resources for pre trek and post trek activities ... We could fly into any number of places .. Albuquerque ... Denver ... What we need to think about is places to stay, things to see on the way out and the way back. When I went as a kid nearly thirty years ago, we went through Denver, stay at Fort Carson & the Koshare Kiva, visited the AF academy & Royal gorge ... any more ideas out there from more recent visitors?

[eisely]

If your group has the time and money to do a little extra touring, good for you. Last summer we did not and we zipped in and out. We flew into Albuqurque (sp?)and took a charter bus direct to Philmont. Since we were four crews traveling as a council contingent, we enjoyed some economies, but I think it would have been impossible to gain a consensus on side trips, even if everybody was willing and desirous. The one thing we did was take a couple of hours in old town Albuqurque on the way home between our arrival there and our flight time.

 

It is a good idea to arrive the day before your scheduled arrival. Philmont will put you up in tent city and feed you dinner that day and breakfast the next day for a nominal extra charge. This will give everybody's system another 24 hours to start acclimatizing to the altitude. Altitudes at Philmont, even the highest point, are not severe, but both times I have gone, somebody in the group experienced some problems with altitude sickness.

[jackstraw]

Always a good idea to acclimatize before hitting Base Camp. Might I suggest Rocky Mtn. Nat'l Park?