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
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