Philmont Journal

Philmont Journal Day 7
October 24, 2008

Today we woke up at about 5:45 in order to get camp packed out and hit the trail by about 6:30 am. We quickly and efficiently pack up personal gear, tore down tents, and distributed the crew/group gear. After these assignments were made we hit the trail without eating a full breakfeast. Throughout the the hike we snacked on various items in order to hold us over until we got a large meal for a late afternoon lunch at a fast food restaurant which ended up being Arby's. The distance we covered today ended up being about 8 miles, which means for those members of the group who hiked the whole distance they were eligible to recieve the 50 miler patch. I have already recieved the standard 50 miler patch so to me it wasn't the biggest lose ever but it was still slightly disappointing. Considering I had a fair amount of pain in my knee I ended up staying at the front of the group for the majority of time after the first stretch. Some group members believed that there was not a problem with my knee towards the middle because I was doing so well. Even though I was doing so well I still had pain in my knee but was able to manage and tolerate it a little bit longer than some because of the fact that I have a fairly high pain tolerance because I have experienced many excruciating migraines. After reaching the vehicles we did a end of the trail cheer got in the cars and headed back to philmont headquarters. At headquarter we went into the trading post. This trading post is huge and you could have easily spent a couple hundred dollars right then and their if you were not carefully and watched your money closely. After getting some stuff at the trading post we hit and trail and after stoping for lunch we drove straight home to castle rock in order to beat rush hour traffic, which could have been horrible because it was a saturday evening but it ended up being fairly tame considering that some many odds were stacked against us. We get back to the Benzel house where I am suppose to stay the next two nights.

Route:

1. Start from Beaubien and head south along Bonito Creek Trail to Fowler Pass Trail
2. Follow Fowler Pass Trail and go over Fowler pass which has a elevation of 9216 this is the highest point we will have to go to today, minus our starting elevation.
3. Follw Fowler Pass Trail All the way to Crater lake Trail and stop at crater lake in order to get a good picture of Tooth of Time Peak.
4. Follow trail of a Crater Lake that leads to Lovers Leadp Camp ground.
5. At east end of Lovers Leap Campground we take a secondary emergency access road down to the primary road that will head to our vehicles and ultimately after driving in the vehicles will get us back in the Philmont camping administration area.

Philmont Journal Day 8
October 25, 2008

Spend the day recuperating from the philmont experience. I also spend the day hanging out with the Benzel family but I spend most of my time with J Benzel and not with D Benzel because he invited one of his non-scout friends over in order to hang out with his cool friends. What I mean by cool friends are the friends that are fully socially acceptable and not involved with the scouting program. D Benzel does not have a problem with scouting but needs to take a break every once in a while from the program.

Philmont Journal Day 9
October 26, 2008

Woke up at about 4:30 am and left for a early morning flight out of denver. I get into kenai which is about twenty minutes from where I live at about 2:00 pm Alaska Daylight Savings Time.

Yours in Scouting Service
Mark W
Junior Assistant Scoutmaster
Troop 1616