Philmont 2016: June 28 - Day 2 - Carson Museum to Olympia


View from Dinning Hall

We started the day with our last civilized breakfast in the dinning hall. We went back to the tents to make those last minute adjustments to our packs, made a final drop-off at the lockers, and reported at the welcome center at 8:30 putting our packs in a pack line so that we could be transported by bus to the Rayado Turnaround.


Pack Lines

At Philmont, a turnaround is where treks either begin or end and bus transportation is required to get back to headquarters. It is also where the buses can turnaround either by horseshoe turn or a 3 point turn.

Pack lines are an organized way to store packs when not in use.


Waiting for bus to Rayado Turnaround

Back at headquarters we boarded the bus with our sister crew and one other crew from Pennsylvania. Our rangers provided entertainment for our 7 mile journey to the southernmost turnaround at Philmont with stories and corny jokes.

Adjacent to our turnaround was the Kit Carson Museum at Rayado. Before we enter the museum Alex went over a few of what seems like a hundred training requirements he must teach us. Two issues I remember him covering was orienting a map and how to use the bathroom.


Map Training

The outhouses at Philmont are called Red Roof Inns because of the red metal roofs. Philmont does not want peeing in the Red Roof Inns because the ammonia is what really makes the place stink. Instead they want you to pee on a rock and not a tree before using the RRI. They prefer the critters scratching on rocks and not dirt and trees.

For the orienteering part our boys did pretty well. The only new thing to add was that New Mexico has about an 8 degree declination. In Georgia our declination is less than one and almost insignificant.

Kit Carson Museum

The Kit Carson Museum is an interpretive museum where actors play the roles and dress in the time period represented. Here they were blacksmith, farming, and cooking. We toured the museum ending at the tomahawk throwing area. Here we each had turn throwing at 5, 10 and 15 paces. 5 paces seems to be the natural distance of one rotation on the tomahawk. One of the keys here was to not use any wrist on the throw.


Tomahawk Throwing

We met back at the front of the museum where we had our first trail lunch. Each lunch bag supports two crew members. Most have two of each item, some items you have to share with your partner. My partner for the trek was Curtis. During lunch some chickens swept through the area a few times picking up any scraps we may have dropped.

It was finally time to start hiking. Today we were heading to Olympia Tail Camp. Jacob identified the naviguesser and gave everyone their hiking positions. On the map it was easy to see the trail followed the Rayado Creek. However, finding the trail was a different issue. Unlike most of the trails where we trained, we very quickly discovered that trails were rarely marked with signs and never with blazes. We also discovered that we would be going through many fence gates. After going down the wrong street right from the beginning we were finally on the trail.


First Creek Crossing

The trail was a service road with two paths where the vehicle wheels roll. As we progressed for a while we came to a decision point. Cross the creek or continue along the service road. After a short debate we decided to stay with the service road. It wasn't long before the service road just died out and we decided to double back and cross the creek. At creek crossings we have to disconnect our belt and breast straps. We also have to cross one at a time. After you cross you then have to buckle back up and wait until everyone is ready. As we were starting back, crew 1 was coming to this same decision point. We hiked on and didn't see if they followed or not.


Horses

A bit further up the road we came to another decision point. I'm almost certain our ranger through power of suggestion influenced our crew to take the right option of the fork. After about a half mile hike we came to a fence gate and some diverging roads. At first the debate was which way to go. After some time Alex stepped in asked them to take a close looks at the map to determine where we were. Turns out we had diverged from the creek and had taken a northerly route. So we had to double back again this time making up the half mile. I asked Alex about this later and just got a little grin.

Although we had a few mistakes so far, our spirits were still high. As a high spot, Alex continues to sing and play his ukulele.

Back on the trail, we finally arrived at Olympia trail camp. Each camp you come into has a camp map framed on a tree. Smartly Jacob took a photo as we continued into the heart of the camp. The map shows the location of camp sites, red room inns, latrines (open air toliet), and the bear bag lines. Some camps have up to 15+ camp sites. We selected a camp site that was near the creek and a red roof inn; however, the bear lines were a bit farther away.


Securing Bear Bag Lines

Alex covered many lessons that night with the big ones being how to cook, clean, set up the bear bags, use the sump, the bearmuda triangle, fire pit and purifying our water. He did the work and we mostly just watched.

Bear Bags

Compact Tent Formation

The night was cool and I broke out my wool jacket and hat just for comfort. The skies were incredible. Crystal clear with details you just can't view in Georgia. At home I can see just 3 stars in the little dipper but here I could see all eight. Wake up at 5.