Last Day

Today we left Taos in the morning after a great breakfast and made a quick stop at a Vietnam veterans memorial. The memorial had a Vietnam era helicopter used for air support to ground forces. There was also a museum and chapel where you could pay your respects to fallen members of the Vietnam War as well.

After paying our respects and roaming around the museum absorbing all the information we could in the little amount of time we had we were right back on the bus heading through the lower rocky mountains. Eventually our tour guide Tam pointed out a welcome to Philmont Scout Ranch sign on the right of the road as we drove onto the land owned by the BSA that was generously donated by Waite Phillips in 1938. We rolled through the main gate of Philmont and thus started a crazy hectic day! we unloaded all of our gear and sat in registration for awhile and went over medical training on certain issues with our Philmont Ranger. The crew leaders meanwhile went from registration to logistics to meeting after meeting and were overwhelmed with the information they were taking in. After everything calmed down and we situated the registration and our crew leaders Chris Fox and Kevin Bohland came back to the two crews then we got going on all the other activities we needed to do today. We went to the mail room and picked up the package with crew gear such as stoves and fuel we shipped out to ourselves, then went to the medical tent to be re evaluated medically to see if we were okay to hit the trail. We all passed!! Next, we went to the crew gear building and got all of our pots and pans, our bear bags, our rope, our soap for dishes, cooking utensils, everything we didn't bring from home that we still needed basically. Somewhere within all this we ate lunch.... More Mexican food. We were all very glad at the change in menu options. NOT! After lunch we continued our busy day and went and picked up the food necessary for each person to eat the meals for four days until we make it to another commissary for a pick up. Finally our last major task was a shake down. Our ranger Frances took a look at all the equipment we were missing and what we still needed or what we could leave behind to cut down on weight. Chris Foxes crew 714-B1 has Frances as the ranger. She is a Naval Cadet at the Navel Academy at Annapolis and is going into her junior year. The other crew 714-B2 is the crew that i am not in and i don't know much about him but i know he is from central PA, this is his first year, and his name is currently slipping my memory but it has been a very long day and were all ready for bed! After the the crews went to dinner where we had fried chicken, veggies, and chocolate brownies. momma Crozier if your reading this i promised Ryan i would tell ya he didn't finish his veggies! After dinner the crew leaders chaplains and conservation guides all went to more meetings. The rest of the crew had some much needed down time for an hour or two where we went to the trading post to look for any needs or wants. Then we meet up with the members of the group in the meetings and we all left for 7pm religious services. There were services for people of every denomination from Catholic to Protestant to Jewish to non denominational. After mass we all traveled to the opening campfire where we learned many new things about the opening and history of Waite Phillips and even before he owned the land that is now Philmont. After the campfire we made our way back to the tents where everyone made sure they are 100% packed and ready to hit the trail tomorrow at 930. Goodbye for now and the next 10 days while were on the trail. See you the 25th when we get back into base camp with lots and lots of pictures!!!

-Crew 201-
714-B1 and 2

Last Day in Taos

Today was our final day with Blue Sky Adventures travel group before we arrive at Philmont Scout Ranch. We had a 6:30 wake up call with breakfast a very nice breakfast of pancakes or french toast, eggs, bacon, sausage and every other breakfast item you could think of! The crew hit the road early around 7:30 this morning and headed out to a massive bridge that spanned across the Rio Grande river gorge that we had white water rafted down just a day before. We took a very nice group picture on the bridge with the rising sun and sprawling gorge in the background.

After looking off the bridge down 500 feet to the Rio Grande below we walked down the road a little ways and meet up with out mountain biking tour guides who got us all fitted with bikes, helmets, and water bottles. Our guides then explained the importance of shifting and when and how to at certain times. They also covered basic rules of the course and do and don'ts for our own personal safety. We rode about a ten mile trail and ended at the bottom where we all had an amazing lunch prepared for us by the guides! They made sandwiches with fresh cut ingredients and vegetables such as sprouts avocado tomato pepper, and so much more!

After lunch and biking we said thank you and goodbye to our mountain biking guides and headed to Taos Pueblo. Taos Pueblo is the only sovereign nation within the United States. The families who currently live on the reservation actually have their dual citizenship for the US and the Taos Pueblo! We learned much information about the small country from our guide who lived off the pueblo but had a family within the walls of the pueblo. One of the most beautiful buildings was their church which was constructed in 1850. The previous church that the pueblo people used was demolished in acts of war twice and since so much death had occurred there the Taos Pueblo natives decided to make it into the pueblo's graveyard.

After we all had some free time to roam around the tourist shows within Taos Pueblo we jumped back on the bus where we took off for downtown Taos. Here we roamed around the shops, got ice cream, and enjoyed the difference in culture that was apparent. Once we had our fill of shopping for the day we headed back to the hotel around 3:30 and relaxed until dinner at 6. Most of us went swimming took a nap or watched some television. Dinner was in the hotel tonight we ordered 8 pizza hut pizzas, 3 dozen wings, and mounds of bread sticks! we all ate as much as we possibly could without bursting! which was good cause it was our last meal before Philmont! After dinner many of us went to the movies next to the hotel and either saw cars 2 or zookeeper. The movies were very funny and entertaining and a pleasent break from everything that was happening. Thursday we travel to Philmont in the morning and are all very excited! good bye for now.
-Crew 201-

Taos New Mexico

Sitting in our hotel in Taos. We had many exciting adventures today. Where to begin!? Today we woke up in our hotel in Albuquerque at 5:30am. We headed down to breakfast at 6 and left for the day at 7. Our First stop took us to Santa Fe. The capital of New Mexico. We stopped at a brass sculpture of a wagon that symbolized the Santa Fe trail and how the city came into development. We took our first of many group pictures for the day here.

After some forced hydration we continued our day by travelling down the road a little further to Downtown Santa Fe. We toured the famous Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi.  And took yet another group picture.

After checking out the Basilica we made our way down and around the streets of Santa Fe checking our monuments, buildings (such as the capital roundhouse), and other interesting sight seeing locations. Our tour guide Tam then took us into the La Fonda hotel where we learned the history of the adobe and stucco architecture. We then had a little bit of free time to roam around and take a longer look at some of the things in town Tam had showed us. Most of the boys happened to make their way back to the French pastry shop in the Hotel where many purchased either a chocolate croissant, or a french baguette.

No sooner than when we arrived in Santa Fe we were gone making our way up to the Rio Grande river gorge about 20 miles outside of Taos. Here we did a 3 mile hike from the highway up to a beautiful over look of the gorgeat the end of the La Vista Verde Trail! The hike was full of fun things to see like all the geckos and lizards of the desert climate along with ancient petroglyphs carved by the ancient indians of the territory into the volcanic rock. Once all the kids made it to the over look followed ten minutes later by the old men with their oxygen packs we took another group picture. This one has to be my favorite yet.

The scenic views were absolutely amazing along the trail and everyone loved the hike. However, we were all greatly looking forward to the main attraction of the day. White water rafting in the river on two person "Fun-yaks" was a very anticipated part of the trip and not a single scout didn't have a smile on his face the entire five miles down the class 1 2 and 3 rapids. A particularly tricky class three rapid resulted in many of the boys being thrown from the craft. If you look closely at the picture you can see Taylor Weber and Tom Hoy both laughing hysterically as Kevin Bohland and Matt Wachowiak both fall into the Rio Grande!!

After our white water adventure we ventured into Taos where we all settled into our deluxe accommodations at the hotel. After a little much needed rain and some down time we ventured off to dinner down the road at a local Mexican grill. The food was delicious and plentiful at that! many of us enjoyed burritos, quesadillas,  and other Mexican delicacies. After the main course we all had massive servings of deserts in either the deep fried ice cream or chirros! After finding out Kevin Bohland and myself ate tripe food was no longer sounding too good to anyone and we headed back to the hotel for some evening activities. After swimming as much as we could. Or sinking in our case from the weight of the food we ate. We all headed back to each others rooms to hang out and plot some hair cutting schemes! We broke into Tim Knaggs and Adam Woodruffs rooms to give them a nice shave but we couldn't pin Adam down long enough to cut off any substantial amounts of hair! Tim however willingly let Taylor shave his head and the results were stunning!

With a new looking crew we all settled down for the night and prepared ourselves for the 6:30am wake up call with breakfast at 7 and a full day of mountain biking planned ahead. Good bye from Taos for now!

-Crew 201-

In Transit.

Howdy Y'all!! We all made it safe to the Houston airport with the except of a few minor incidents on the plane ride. Apparently Taylor was not aware you couldnt use cash to buy drinks or food on the plane. Even after his 3rd or 4th times asking... Maybe he was trying to hit on the Flight Attendent. And sitting next to him Tom managed to spill his beverage. So a minor few hiccups but the plane landed on time in Houston around 7:40 local time or 8:40 back home. We all refueled with food at Wendy's, Texas BBQ, or any other food place we could find quickly! We are beginning to board the plane to New Mexico now and are very excited for the trip to begin. We should touch down later tonight and by the time were at the hotel i doubt i will be in the mood to blog about anything so until tomorrow. Bye and thank you to everyone for the support!!

Cleveland Hopkins

Everyone go to the airport on time with the exception of a certain person named Tom.... and the jokes begin. We are all sitting here at the gate preparing to fly to Houston, Texas then to Albuquerque New Mexico. All the guys are doing nothing but laughing and joking with each other anticipating the events of the weeks to come. Dinner is the next stop at Houston. I have a feeling some of the scouts are gonna blow half their trips money at a taco bell or something knowing it will be one their last suppers. Good bye from Cleveland until the 26th of the July

Sunday July 10th

Here we are one day short of leaving Cleveland for our long trip out west! Having already gone to Philmont in 2006 I can only say that i am thrilled to be returning! At Philmont the rangers and staff all have a ongoing chat that they teach to the hundreds of participants each summer. "I wanna go back to Philmont!" is a chant often yelled before going to dinner or any activities at Philmont's base camp. It wasnt until now that I realized how true that statement is! I just want to go back to Philmont. The good news is that in four days time our Blue Sky Adventure Guides will be dropping us off there to the main gates of Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron New Mexico. As of now though i have to focus my thoughts on finishing unpacking and repacking a minimal of two or three more times. I have had everything packed and ready to go for awhile. Now it is just down to silly things to conserve weight like using a child's toothbrush instead of a full size one. It may seem ridiculous to the readers but every bit of weight counts when we are carrying all of our supplies needed for the ten days on the trail! I can't really think of anything else to write about as of now so until tomorrow! See everybody at the airport! dont be late!!