Trek 2

After my hike in day(the day i leave the crew) I picked up another crew and did not get a day off. My next crew's trek number was 616B1. They were from gainsville florida and were a pretty interesting group. The advisors were either engineers or professors at the university of florida. We went to south country and got dropped off at zastrow turn around. We hiked to rayado river camp. At rayado I taught them everything. In the afternoon we hiked over to abreau to get some rootbeer in an old cantina. It tasted really good. I sat up on the porch of one of the old cabins and talked to some other staff members and crews. We headed back and made dinner. Clean up was soooo easy because they cooked everything in turkey bags. That night we went to bed before nine and woke up the next morning around 5:30. We had a tough hike over urraca mesa to urracaa camp. It took about eight hours. The trail was really steep and some of the crew was struggling. We eventually made it though and set up camp. We cooked dinner then the advisors and i went over to advisors coffee. Later that night we had a campfire. The staff members of urraca put on a littler show of music and story telling. Urraca is apparently haunted. The show ghost hunters has actually been out here to try and film a show. We went to bed after i did wilderness pledge and woke up around 6 today. I left them after breakfest and ran down urraca with my pack to try and catch a bus at lovers leap turn around. I got it just as it was coming in and got a ride back to base. I got back to base around nine. I took a shower and headed to taos with some guys. We spent most the day there then headed back and got some dinner at base. After dinner I played ultimate at the villa then did some tye dying with shirts. I pick up another crew tomorow from sioux. Im still waiting to get a day off, but i am still having a great time. Hiking great out here and being a ranger is soo much fun. Im really looking forward to the rest of the summer!

Trek 1

As I mentioned my first crew was from frisco, texas. Their expedition number 612-p1. They were really chill. The advisors were really neat. There expedition was not too hard. The first day we hiked from 6 mile turn around to anazazi camp. This camp was up in north country. I taught them how to put up tents, cook, put up bear bags, and filter water. The afternoon of the first night we went to do a conservation project. We did trail repair for about three hours. After cooking we sat around and did something known as thorns and roses. Every one goes around saying one thing they like about the day, one thing they disliked and one think they are looking forward to. We went to bed around nine and got up at 5:30. We packed up camp and did an easy hike over to indian writings. Indian writings was really neat. It is back in a canyon with a huge medow and river. It got pretty hot, but we found some shade. The canyon has the most mountain lions in the state of new mexico. We didn't see any though. We took a tour of petrogliphs up in the canyon that were made by anazazi indians back in 900 ad. It was really interesting and it looked like the crew really liked it. Later that night after dinner there is advisor's coffee. If the crew is at a staff camp advisors and rangers can get away from the kids and have coffee and tea up on the cabin. I attended that and chilled with some other rangers. Later that night when it was dark I did the wilderness pledge. The wilderness plede is a pledge the crew makes stating that they will help conserve the wilderness. I took them out in the medow and had them be quiet for a few minutes. We looked at the stars and I asked them what philmont meant to them. The crew definetly enjoyed it. We went to bed after and woke up at 4:45. We broke camp and I left them. They had eight more days on the trail. I hiked over hearts peak into ponil and caught a bus back to base. It was an awseome first crew!

The Begining

Tomorow i begin my official duties of a ranger. I pick up my first crew from the council "circle ten" in texas. Im pretty pumped. I pick them up from the welcome center bright and early at 8:00 am. I had this morning off, but this afternoon I had a ranger work day. I spread topsoil all along this new building so that they can plant some sod. We worked pretty fast and had it done under 1.5 hours. After the work, i washed off a little then attempted to take a nap in my tent. The went here is unbelievable. It is almost like a small dust ball. Tents were breaking down all over the place. After dinner I went to a class on the wilderness pledge. The wilderness pledge is a pledge saying that you will preserve the wilderness. Rangers have to give cards to everyone in their crew while out in the backcountry. After that I hit up mass. The mass is outdoors and is always really peaceful and nice. You got the mountains to look at all through mass while still listening. After mass i played kickball which was put on by the activities staff. Good ole thomas pynn was in charge. He did a pretty good job. We had twenty or so people, with bases, and played nine innings. We actually went into extra innings. Thomas' team won, but it was still alot of fun. Later tonight im going to do some laundry and hit up my last shower until i arrive back to base in four days. My crew is going up to north country, a part of philmont i have never been. Each day here is getting better and better. In fact, i just requested three days off, my only three days off, at the end of july so i can go to the mile high music festival in denver with thomas alex will and david!

Waiting Game

So the first crew came in sunday. Since I am a first year ranger I could not recieve a crew on the first day. Monday, however, first years got crew. It was randomly chosen on who would get a crew. David robinson, will sadler, and alex schneider lucked out and all picked a crew up on monday. The people who did not get a crew had a ranger workday all day monday. We had to hike along this road and pick up trash with other rangers. I thought it was going to be a bad time, but it actually turned out to be pretty fun. We ended up just messing around, talking, and taking a break here and there. I played frisbee sunday night for 2.5 hours out on the villa lawn. It is a huge field with soft green grass. The sprinklers come on in sections so every thirty or so minutes we have to move the field further down. I was pretty beat, but it felt great to get out in run. The altitude got to me a little though.
Sunday morning i went on a run pretty early with will, alex, and thomas. It was my first run back from track. It wasn't to bad. We ran for about thirty minutes on this trail leading up into the back country. Horses were in free reign all over the place. Back to monday...We got off of our ranger work day around 11:30 and had the rest of the day off. I just chilled and messed around on base camp. I played frisbee again monday night and played a pretty intense game of basketball. After getting some exerxcise, I hit up the opening campfire around 8:45. It was pretty funny because the actors were still `tting use to their lines. I headed back and took a really hot shower then headed to the tent for the night. I started reading the book huckelberry fin. It's not a bad book so far. Today, tuesday, we got the day off. One of the other rangers from tulsa, David Osborn, and I might go into the town of raton or red river. It feels good to have a whole day off

The Mill

The day after ranger day off we had some more training around base camp. It was on where to take your crew when they get into base. The places are logistics, medical recheck, services, the dinning hall and the villa philmonte. It wasn't to bad , but i am ready to0 get my first crew here in the next few days. We got the afternoon off and hung out in the tents. For dinner we got to finally start eating in the staff dining hall where the food is so much better. Before that we were eating in the camper dining hall. Treks started to come in and the first treks hit the trail on june 9. That evening we went to this mill that was built in the early 1800's that is still standing. Our tour guide was an old cowboy type guy and was pretty funny. We headed back to camp after that and listened to music in the tents. We stayed up to about eleven then headed for bed.
Today, june 8, more treks arrived. We had more training as first year rangers. We had to go through a sar course which is a search and rescue course. It was not an intense learning, but a sar would be pretty intense. Apparently the can last all night. We have had the afternoon off and played a little disc. Tonight at 6:30 there is a big utltimate game on the villa philmonte lawn. We have an oklahoma team getting assembled and we should do pretty well. Hopefully i get my first crew tomorow and really begin my job and summer!! I should have one for sure in the next two days. Im ready to get back in the mountains backcountry again because it is starting to warm up at base camp. Philmont is fully up and running ready for a great summer.

Ranger Day off

For the ranger day off I went to taos. I got split up with my tc(training crew) because I went in a different car. However, I had one of the best days yet. We went to this canyon where there is a huge bridge over the rio grande river. We grilled out brautwarst, hotdogs, and hamburgers. The food really hit the spot. Its awesome how everyone here is all around. I once again met so many people. They were all dow to earth just having a good time. One of the ranger challenges is to jump off the bridge. The river was really high ad running extremely fast. The bridge is almost as tall as dripping springs at grand lake. We got in our bathing suits, all fifty or so of us, and started jumping. When you hit the water the current started to take you. I had to get up and just start swimming as hard as you could towards shore. It was freezing but well worth it. All the river guides were chillin on the shore cheering us on. Everybody was taking pictures. It just made me appreciate the mountains and philmont so much more.
After that extravaganza I got dropped off at a place called orlandos. I met up with will sadler and his family, thomas pynn, and matt who is also from ou. We had some great mexican food. The sadler's covered our meal which we could not thank them enough. They are a great family. After dinner we headed over to taos mountain outfitters. This store is locally owned and they sell camping/mountain gear. We got 10% since we were staff at philmont. I got a new kavu visor that i have been looking for forever. After the little shopping spree we headed back to philmont which is about an hour and twenty minutes away. We go through eagle's nest and angel fire. I think i even saw where i had my ski crash at angel fire. Haha. We made it back safely and went to the tents. We chilled and listened to music for about 2 hours then hit the sack. One thing i love abot the mountains is the low humidity. Its a great get away from tulsa. Im stoked to get this summer rolling as a philmont ranger!!!

Day 4,5,6 of ranger training

Day four we woke up on top of fowler mesa in the medow. it was a nice day but still extremly windy. We ate a short breakfast and hit the trail for beaubian for the ranger rendevous. It was a 3.5 mile hike through a huge medow. It was amazing. We saw all kinds of flora. We saw aspen, ponderosa pine, yellow salsfly, flebane, kinikanik and many others. It was a nice day with mild wind. We arrived one day early to the rendevous. We hung out and i tossed the bee all day with other crews. I also crashed for a couple of hours. Dinner was pretty good. We had black beans and rice. That night the stars were the brightest i have ever seen them. Ursa Major was right above me with satelites going every direction. We woke up pretty late the nevxt morning, around 8:30ish and all of the other training crews began to show up for the ranger games and rendevous. The day was great. I got to meet up with all the oklahoma guys again. My training crew did pretty well in the games and we got a team pic and whole ranger staff pic. After the games all the other tc's headed out and we decided to stay another night. We crashed on the porch of an old cabin. That night was overcast so the stars were not to great. However, it was the best night of sleep thus far. We woke up for day six at 3 am to go and catch a sunrise on top of trail peak. It was a three mile hike to the top. We put on our head lamps and headed to the top. On top of trail peak there is a b-24 plane that crashed in 1942, seven service guys died. That was neat and the sunrise was through the clouds. It was freezing though and it sarted to snow. The hike down was not bad.
We stopped at fowler pass and headed down to crater lake. It was snowing really hard and later on we heard that fowler got two inches. I was really cold. We made it to crater and got into an old cabin and waited the storm and weather out for about 5 hours. I got in my sleeping bag and we all made hot tea. It was an awesom view. I got to know my training crew really well, Im the youngest in it. They are all really tight. We finally decided to start hiking and headed down to lovers leap turn around where we got picked up. It was close to a nine mile hike that day. We made it back and all took showers. It felt amazing and refreshing to be some what clean after a six day hike, no shower, one pair of clothes. We also all passed the ranger aptitude test. So, I am officially a philmont ranger!!