Philmont question - Arrival target time each day?

[TAHAWK]

What spelling error?

 

You are really working at being offended.

[Col. Flagg]

I suspect he meant to say "Philmont even" and not "Philmont seven", and you pointed it out. Maybe the thought you were mocking him given how it was quoted and the lack of smiley faces makes it tough to know if it was meant jokingly or otherwise. I'd just let it go.

 

That not withstanding, Philmont was pretty clear with us that 4 liters of water was considered a per person minimum.Our ranger hammered it home over and over.

Edited April 17, 2017 by Col. Flagg

[TAHAWK]

If you assume the worst . . . . 

[Stosh]

We always assume the worst, it's human nature to always find fault.

 

People do things correctly 99% of the time, but the one time they slip up, we remember.... and often times we don't let them forget it either.

 

If it involves child molestation or abuse, it would surely be serious enough to remember, but how often does that really happen in the vast majority of cases? 

[TAHAWK]

HANLON'S RAZOR

 

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

[Back Pack]

Getting back on topic, I appreciate the responses of those giving advice about their experiences at Philmont.

[Sentinel947]

I've been to Philmont twice. Once as a Crew leader in 2011 , once as a crew advisor in 2015.

 

It really depends. Is your crew doing a big "peak bagging" type trip where your crew is doing 80+ miles? If they don't care about the program at the next camp/camps they are hiking through, then a wake up time is not as important. 

 

If your crew is really keen on doing a certain activity at a camp they are staying in/hiking through then they need to consider what time programs generally end at philmont (I want to say it's 4 pm but I could be wrong...they also need to consider there may be a line...) Most backpackers generally walk between 1 and 3 miles per hour depending on the terrain, weather, temperature. Depending on the section of philmont that is something to important to consider. Breaks are another thing to consider. With a crew your group is generally going to be taking breaks. This depends on again on the terrain and weather. 

 

I would sit down with my crew leader and navigator at night and ask them questions. "Do you know where we are going tomorrow?" "What route are we taking?" "How long do you think it will take us to get there?" "What activities do you plan to do?"  Based on that, they would decide when we needed to get up. The earliest we woke up on my 2015 was 5:30 AM. That was the day we hiked up Baldy Mountain, which has a time restriction on how late you can begin the summit. 

 

Unfortunately, with stuff like this, there is no perfect answer. It's always some flavor of "it depends." 

 

One thing is for certain, your Scouts will love Philmont. 

[Eagledad]

Yep, Scoutmaster Sentinel has a nice ring to it.

 

Barry

[RememberSchiff]

I would sit down with my crew leader and navigator at night and ask them questions. "Do you know where we are going tomorrow?" "What route are we taking?" "How long do you think it will take us to get there?" "What activities do you plan to do?"  Based on that, they would decide when we needed to get up. The earliest we woke up on my 2015 was 5:30 AM. That was the day we hiked up Baldy Mountain, which has a time restriction on how late you can begin the summit. 

 

 

Back in the day, I don't recall a time restrictions to starting hikes. The no-go or time-to-return decisions were ours to make.

Edited April 18, 2017 by RememberSchiff

[Sentinel947]

Back in the day, I don't recall a time restrictions to starting hikes. The no-go or time-to-return decisions were ours to make.

@@RememberSchiff,

 

There is only one at Philmont I know of. Summiting Baldy has a time you must check in at Baldy Town Camp. Philmonts reason is so that crews have a reasonable time to summit and descend the mountain before frequent afternoon thunderstorms.

[RememberSchiff]

Back in the day, four of us scouts asked and received permission from our one adult advisor to ascend Baldy on an afternoon hike. There was no sign-in log. Our plan was to reach treeline by nightfall and see the sunrise from the peak. We got about 2/3's the way up before pitching tents for the night.  Since a peak ascent in time for sunrise now seemed unlikely to us, we waited on the trail the next morning for the rest of our patrol (6 scouts and advisor) and summited as a whole patrol by early afternoon. Our advisor had this look on his face - "this is how I thought this would play out".

 

Upon returning down, there was a thunder shower with ball lightning hitting a peak south of Baldie.

 

Great experience.

[Sentinel947]

Back in the day, four of us scouts asked and received permission from our one adult advisor to ascend Baldy on an afternoon hike. There was no sign-in log. Our plan was to reach treeline by nightfall and see the sunrise from the peak. We got about 2/3's the way up before pitching tents for the night.  Since a peak ascent in time for sunrise now seemed unlikely to us, we waited on the trail the next morning for the rest of our patrol (6 scouts and advisor) and summited as a whole patrol by early afternoon. Our advisor had this look on his face - "this is how I thought this would play out".

 

Upon returning down, there was a thunder shower with ball lightning hitting a peak south of Baldie.

 

Great experience.

Sounds awesome! But we all know how things have changed in the name of managing risk. Casuality of lots of inexperienced hikers and sue happy folks.

[Ankylus]

@@RememberSchiff,

 

There is only one at Philmont I know of. Summiting Baldy has a time you must check in at Baldy Town Camp. Philmonts reason is so that crews have a reasonable time to summit and descend the mountain before frequent afternoon thunderstorms.

 

This was not true in 2010. We started out from Miranda on our layover day, climbed Baldie without checking in with anybody, and then descended down the other side of Baldie to Baldie Town. We even took a side trip to French Henry before going to Baldie Town. Maybe they changed the policy in the last 7 years. Perhaps I will find out in July, although we don't get to hit Baldie.

[jmartine]

Joe these are almost the same selections we made. I don't have time right now to take a look and give you ALL the detail we looked at, but here are my off hand recollections:

 

 

Wow, great advice! Thanks so much Col. Flagg! We're very anxious to find out which itinerary we get.

 

-Joe

[jmartine]

Does anyone know when we can REALISTICALLY expect to find out our assigned trek?

 

Our assigned date to submit preferences was on April 4th, and I submitted our choices right when the button became active. I had been expecting that we'd get an almost instant confirmation of our assigned trek, since I thought it was supposed to be first-come-first-served based on when you submit your choices. Instead, I got back a response saying that we'd find out what trek we get by June 1st. I don't see any reason why it should take anywhere near that long. It's been 2 weeks now, and nothing.

 

Honestly, I don't see why the web server can't just make the assignments instantly if it's first-come-first-served.

 

-Joe