PHILMONT EXPEDITION 720C4 2003 Trek 5

                                                                                                                    PHILMONT JOURNAL
                                                                                                                         by Charlie Dierker
                    

Danny Burke, Steve Unger, Len Prisco, Charlie Dierker, Jake Hammons, Cody
Burke, West Allen, Eric Darsey, Andy Card, A.J. Prisco, Nathan Nash, John Laird


7-18-2003, Friday

Departed Scout Shack at 6 a.m. Ate breakfast at Jolly Truck Stop. Steve's
Trailblazer is getting lousy gas mileage. Lunch at McDonalds/Subway in Amarillo.
Arrived in Cimarron, N.M., at 6 p.m. Camped at Ponil Campground. Grilled steaks
for dinner. Tenting with Len.

7-19-2003, Saturday

Drove to town, breakfast at Heck's Hungry Traveler, then on to Philmont. Toured
Villa Philmonte; guide was Jeff (?), a 1999 Paschal High School graduate and an
OU student. Saw museum exhibit about 2002 Ponil fire, the largest ever in New
Mexico. Grilled burgers for dinner.

7-20-2003, Sunday

Day 1 at Philmont. Ranger is Skye Schnell, a Rice University Philosophy major, and
also a vegan. Quick and easy checkin. Went to Chapel under threatening skies,
then to opening campfire, which had a new Power Point presentation. Slept very
well after two lousy nights at Ponil.

7-21-2003, Monday

Day 2, 9:30 a.m. bus to Lover's Leap Turnaround. Forgot about the great view of
the Tooth of Time from that vantage point. Sister crew is one of 20 in the Longhorn
Council contingent. They lost one guy to a scratched cornea, then two more when
a kid wimped out and his dad drove him home to Arlington! Camped at Lover's
Leap Camp, Campsite No. 9. Think its the same one at which we stayed in 1997!
Watched a tom turkey across on the meadow. Traded Cody and A.J. jalapeno
squeeze cheese for Nutterbutter cookies at lunch. Ate spaghetti & corn for dinner.
Jake is doing a very admirable job-very mature, helpful; I'm really glad that he's
along. Played a card game that Skye taught us, "Mafia." Need 12 - 13 players, lots
of fun. Spike woke up in the night with a bloody nose; lots of confusion, but I slept
thru it. Later, Cody got tangled up in his sleeping bag and became disoriented.
May have thought he was back in the womb.

7-22-2003, Tuesday

Day 3, up at 5:30 a.m. and out of camp by 6:20. Crew working well together. No
other crews at Lover's anywhere near ready to go when we pulled out, including
hot-shot California outfit that briefly passed us on the trail on Day 2; disrespectful
of their Ranger, even in front of their own advisors! That explains it.

Pulled in Crater Lake Camp just before 9 a.m., proceeded to climb spar poles with
the whole place to ourselves. I had a much more difficult time than before, but did
make it to the top. A.J. climbed several times, best effort of 30.9 seconds, but
West beat him with 22.8 seconds! New Troop 50 records! Climbed to camp site up
the mountain; flies are horrible! Skye climbed spar pole with no gaffs and no belt!
New Ranger lore! A.J. won the title of "Toughest Man at Crater Lake," mainly by
taking off his shirt.

Boys really enjoyed campfire that night. Skye gave us a pound cake and icing, also
told us that we were the best crew he's rangered.

7-23-2003, Wednesday

Day 4, up at 5:30 a.m. and first crew out at 6:20. Said goodbye to Skye, but ran
into him at Miner's Park, where we stopped for breakfast. Left Skye again, hiking
north toward Shaefers Pass. Turned west and hiked up North Fork Uracca Creek,
crossing it 50 times. It's a beautiful hike, lots of aspen, beaver dams and ponds,
trout in all of 'em. A long hike to Black Mountain Camp. Pulled in just ahead of a
storm, but got set up just before it cut loose, rain and hail. Rained for three hours;
cold. Stopped at 6 p.m., boys made a J-hook (at the blacksmith shop). Later we
shot black powder rifles.

Terrible camp site; no flat ground at all. Didn't sleep well. 44 degrees overnight.
Saw Skye again! He hiked Shaefers Pass, then up over Black Mountain. Brought
us donuts that he got at the staff camp!

7-24-2003, Thursday

Day 5, up at 5:30 a.m., pulled out at 6:25, just behind a crew from Minnesota.
Gorgeous aspen groves on the hike up and over to Beaubien. Sang the "Sterilize"
song on the way. Right knee starting to swell. Decided I won't side-hike Trail Peak.
Danny and the boys off to commissary for food pickup at Phillips Junction. Len told
funny, funny stories about the nuns and brothers who ran his schools growing up.
Danny was pooped on return from PJ; boys pushed the pace too hard, and then
brought back five days-worth of food. Later, played horseshoes and roped plastic
cow heads. I'm a pretty good hand with a lariat!

Wrote and sang a new song, "High Lonesome Trails." Enjoyed campfire a great
deal: three girls sang "I'll Fly Away" and another really sweet bluegrass tune.
We're staying at Campsite No. 10 (same as in 1997), and I'm really concerned
about two trees leaning over tent sites. Didn't sleep well at all worrying. Plan to
alert Mark Anderson about the problem.

7-25-2003, Friday

Day 6, saw Mark Anderson and his daughter with a group of Girl Scouts on an
outing (didn't mention trees). Worked conservation duty on path to Trail Peak; built
five diversion dams for cons crew member Laura Tomlinson, Reed College,
Oregon. She was one of trio at campfire! Len and Danny hiked to Trail Peak with
the troopers; Steve and I drank coffee and chased away the army of minibears.
Danny and Len also gave in and took a shower! Went to campfire again, this time
mousy blonde also sang along on "I'll Fly Away".

7-26-2003, Saturday

Day 7, Happy Anniversary Kathy! No. 23. Out of camp at 6:15 a.m., earliest yet!
Hiked to Phillips Junction and ate breakfast, then on to Crooked Creek. Boys
pastured two burros, two cows (mom and bull calf), and a ewe and her lamb.
Staffer there, Clara, is a girl from Dallas whom we gave a ride home in 2001!
Troopers got a little fussy over mucking out the corral and hauling away the waste!
Crooked Creek is a really picturesque camp. Girl from Kansas gave us cabin tour;
she and Clara were barefoot.

Hiked on north and stopped for lunch at intersection with 4WD road, then on to a
steep climb to Wildhorse. Sister crew caught up to us at Crooked Creek, passed
us when we stopped for lunch. Crew Leader is a mouthy kid; don't care for them.
My left heel hurts; right knee noticeably swollen. Hitting the aspirin every day. Don't
know whether I'll be able to do this with John and Ben. Sure hope I can. Forgot
how high we are at Wildhorse - 10,400 feet!

7-27-2003, Sunday

Day 8, pulled out of Wildhorse at 6:10 a.m., best time yet, and we were first crew
out! Arrived at Clear Creek Camp just before 8:00. Ate breakfast there, boys went
off to shoot black powder rifles; Steve and I sat at 24/7 campfire and drank coffee.
Camp director and staff very friendly and laid back. Arlington crew pulled in after
us, but again did little program and left ahead of us for Mt. Phillips (we stayed and
watched beaver-trapping demo).

Played musical chairs on the trail up to Phillips with a Venture crew of mostly girls
(from H-E-B area). There was a four-girl Rayado crew at Clear Creek, and one
was carrying a pink feather boa! They were on Day 11 of the 21-day Rayado trek.

Reaching summit of Phillips is magical, as before. Clouds most of the day helped
make the climb much easier. Pulled into Campsite No. 1 on Phillips, just 100 yards
off the summit. Knee is still swollen and stiff; tomorrow will be a big challenge. Lots
of rain overnight, then windy.

7-28-2003, Monday

Day 9, cloudy and 38-degrees at dawn, pulled out at 6:15 a.m., passing Arlington
crew still in camp. Descended Phillips, then up over Comanche Peak and down to
Cypher's Mine. They have a nice new cabin there. Toured "Contention Mine." Boys
briefly panned for gold, with Danny telling the staffer how to do it!

Left Cypher's at 11:30 a.m., ate lunch on Middle Fork Cimarroncito Creek, then
pulled into Hunting Lodge for program tour. Finally headed north to Cimarroncito
and arrived at 3:45 p.m. Spent nine hours on the trail - a long and very hard day.
Knees very stiff and sore, everything else is OK. Hunting Lodge had a bear skin taken from an animal that had been raiding Ponil Camp in 2001, no doubt the very bear we saw there that same year!

7-29-2003, Tuesday

Day 10, layover day at Cimarroncito. Needed it. Slept 11 hours. Boys headed off  
to Ute Gulch Commissary at 7:30 for food pickup, returned a little after 9:00 a.m.
Piddled around camp. Ate three-bean chili and mashed potatoes for lunch. They
were horrible.

Went with boys to climb rocks at 1:00 p.m., but with rain moving up the canyon, it
was soon washed out. There was a special-needs group up on the rocks, and our
guys got held up behind them trying to get back down. All were pretty well soaked
when they did, but then they were first in line for the indoor climbing facility.

It rained pretty hard for 20 minutes or so. Back at camp we pretty much hung
around and talked. Got a kick out of watching the guys in the adjacent site pick up
and goof around with a number of long sticks that had been laying in an area where
we had all been peeing.

Finally finished the last verse of "Out on the Trails" and sang it for the boys. They
seemed to like it, and actually requested it three times because the first two times
John Laird was not there. Went to bed about 9 p.m., light rain overnight.

7-30-2003, Wednesday

Day 11, up and out of Cimarroncito by 6:15 a.m., down the trail to Hunting Lodge
and on to Cimarroncito Reservoir. Ate breakfast there at a forest demonstration
project pavilion. Saw deer there, and also turkey. Filled all bottles at Clark's Fork,
where a big guy from another crew barged into our (unnecessary) Porch Talk.

Arlington crew had passed us on the trail, but we caught them at Clark's Fork,
where they decided to do branding. We hiked the long, long uphill to Shaefers
Pass, where we ate lunch and repaired a strap on Spike's pack.

Started on across Tooth Ridge, and wound up hiking most of the way with a
third-year medical student from the Health Lodge (Wendy). The Tooth trail is
incredibly rough, as before. Arriving at the base of the Tooth, a crew was stopped
with an adult having chest pains, so Wendy stopped to assist. We camped at site
No. 8 at Tooth Ridge Camp, same spot as in 2001!

Took a nap, then Danny and I climbed the Tooth with the boys. It was higher than I
had remembered. Oh yeah, Nathan, walking lead, nearly stepped on a four-foot
long rattlesnake on the trail. After dinner, decided to play Mafia one last time.

7-31-2003, Thursday

Day 12, up at 5:30 a.m. to watch sunrise from edge of camp, then ate breakfast
and hiked in to base camp. Trail is far to long, and is punitive to inbound crews.
Pulled in to base camp at about 9:30 a.m. Showered and ate real food for lunch.