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"Philmont" redirects here. For other uses, see Philmont (disambiguation).
Philmont Scout Ranch is a large, rugged, mountainous ranch located near the town of Cimarron, New Mexico covering approximately 137,500 acres (556 km2) of wilderness in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of the Rocky Mountains of northern New Mexico. The ranch, formerly the property of oil baron Waite Phillips and now that of the Boy Scouts of America, is currently in use as a National High Adventure Base in which crews of Scouts and Venturers take part in backpacking expeditions and other outdoor activities. It is the largest youth camp in the world by size and number of participants. Philmont is also home to the Philmont Training Center, which is the main center for BSA's national-level training for volunteers and professionals. In addition to its extensive BSA programs, Philmont continues to operate as a ranch, maintaining a relatively small stock of cattle, horses, burros and bison. It is the site of the only documented Tyrannosaurus rex track in the world (discovered in 1993 and formally identified in 1994) in North Ponil Canyon by Anasazi Trail Camp.[2]
[edit] Location and geography Philmont is located in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of the Rocky Mountains of New Mexico. The closest village is Cimarron, New Mexico, which sits at 36°27'13.04" North, 104°57'29.81" West (36.4536222, -104.9582806).[3] The address of the ranch is usually given as 17 Deer Run Rd., Cimarron, NM, 87714. It is also about 20 miles (30 km) west-northwest of Springer, New Mexico, and 35 miles (56 km) southwest of Raton, New Mexico. It is about 12 miles (19 km) across (east to west) at its widest point, and about 30 miles (48 km) long. There are no mountains to the south of Philmont, or to the east (indeed, part of the eastern fringe of the ranch is prairie) but the interior is quite mountainous.  The lowest elevation is 6,500 feet (1981 m), at the southeast corner. The highest point is the peak of Baldy Mountain at 12,441 feet (3792 m), located on the ranch's northwest boundary. The most recognizable landmark is the Tooth of Time at 9,003 feet (2744 m), a granite monolith protruding 500 feet (150 m) vertically from an east-west ridge. Tooth of Time Ridge, and the latitude line on which it sits, mark the boundary between the central and southern sections of Philmont. The boundary between the central and northern sections is around U.S. Route 64, which runs just south of the narrowest part of the 'I'-shape, which is only a few miles across.  Aside from Baldy, the ranch contains a number of prominent peaks. Directly south of Baldy lies Touch-Me-Not Mountain, which is located in Cimarron Canyon State Park. The South Country is home to a series of six difficult peaks, namely Mount Phillips, Comanche Peak, Big Red, Bear Mountain, Black Mountain, and Schaefers Peak. The final prominent South Country peak is Trail Peak, which is popular for its relative ease, its nearness to Beaubien, and the wreckage of the crash of a B-24 bomber in 1942 near its summit. Of the ranch's various hikeable peaks (where a trail leads to the peak), Black Mountain is widely considered the most difficult, followed closely by Baldy and Big Red. Other prominent landmarks on the ranch include Grizzly Tooth, Window Rock, Deer Lake Mesa, and Urraca Mesa. Urraca Mesa was owned by Elias Cory an immigrant from Lebanon who is related to the parties who started that oldest democracy in the Mid-East. After a tragic automobile accident, the ranch was re-possessed for unpaid taxes. These circumstances might give extra reason for its being allegedly haunted. [edit] HistoryNative Americans of the Jicarilla Apache tribe and Ute tribe once inhabited Philmont. A few Native American archaeological sites exist in the northern section nearby the 'Indian Writings' camp, and various camps seek to preserve Philmont's Native American heritage. On April 22, 1942, a B-24 Liberator crashed into the side of Trail Peak. Waite Philips led a rescue crew up, but the 5 member crew was lost, 2 of whom were Eagle Scouts. Some of the wreckage still remains, including a wing and propeller.[1] [edit] Private ownershipIn the mid-19th century, the Santa Fe Trail crossed the plains just southwest of Philmont. The Tooth of Time owes its name to this trail; travelers knew that once they passed it, they had only one week to go until they reached Santa Fe, New Mexico. Philmont's strategic location along the trail spurred some interest in it. In 1841, Carlos Beaubien and Guadalupe Miranda obtained a large land grant from the Mexican government, including the present ranch. Soon the grant fell into the hands of Beaubien's son-in-law Lucien Maxwell, who played an important role in developing and settling it. Maxwell sold the ranch to the Maxwell Land Grant and Railroad Company, which gave up and handed it on to a Dutch development company, which decided to parcel it out to ranchers. One of the most prominent ranchers was Jesus Gil Abreu, who ran the Abreu Rayado Ranch from the 1870s to his death in 1901. Operating from the Rayado Settlement, he raised cattle, goats, sheep, as well as growing limited amounts of crops. The family owned this property until 1911, when they sold most of it off. One of the sons remained on the ranch near the site of Abreu, a present staffed camp, and his homestead was preserved for years. However, the building was made from adobe and collapsed. The foundation of this building now serves as the foundation for the Abreu cantina. The house was reconstructed in 1998 about 100 feet (30 m) uphill. The history of mining at Philmont dates back to the years immediately after the Civil War. At the time, many U.S. soldiers were stationed in the West, as the U.S. Army was driving out the American Indians. The story is that one of these soldiers befriended an Indian, who happened to give him a shiny rock. The shiny material in the rock was found to be copper. According to the story, the soldier and two of his friends went up to investigate, and found gold. However, they could not stay and mine the gold, and by the time they returned the next year, the area was overrun by miners. Scores of gold mines were excavated in Philmont, and operated into the early 20th century. A large vein of gold is said to lie under Mount Baldy to this day, but extracting it has not been feasible. In fact, its a common joke at Philmont that some day the mines under Baldy will collapse and Phillips will be the highest mountain in Philmont. The Contention Mine, located at Cyphers Mine, and the Aztec Mine, located at French Henry, are open to guided tours. The penultimate owner of Philmont was wealthy oil magnate and wilderness enthusiast Waite Phillips, who amassed a large part of the old land grant in the 1920s, totaling over 300,000 acres (1,200 km²). Phillips built a large residence in the lowlands of Philmont, and called it the Villa Philmonte. The ranch became a private game reserve for Phillips and his friends, and a number of hunting lodges and day-use camps were built. It would not have been beyond his means to bring electricity to those camps, but he decided not to. Some of these camps, including Fish Camp and the Hunting Lodge, have been preserved, complete with wood-burning stoves, oil lamps, and unique design features indicative of Phillips's often eccentric taste. [edit] Boy Scout involvement Phillips sometimes allowed others to visit his ranch, including a few Boy Scout troops. He was so impressed with the Scouts that in 1938, he donated 35,857 acres (145 km²) to the Boy Scouts of America. In giving it to the Scouts, he included 3 provisions: that his horse Gus could stay there until his death, that his family could come and visit the ranch, and that it remain a working cattle ranch. They initially named it the "Philturn Rockymountain Scoutcamp" [sic].[4][dead link] The word 'Philturn' comes from Waite Phillips's name, together with the "Good Turn" he did by donating the property. In 1941, Phillips added more Philmont property, including the Villa Philmonte, bringing the total to 127,395 acres (516 km²). (Contrary to popular belief, Phillips did not give his entire ranch to the BSA, but only those properties that would have the most recreational value. The total donation comprised about 40% of the ranch.) To help fund the upkeep of Philmont, he threw in his Philtower office building in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The ranch's name was changed at this time to the "Philmont Scout Ranch and Explorer Base". Philmont was run differently in the early years than it is now. Half a dozen "base camps" were constructed at strategic locations. A visiting group of Scouts would stay at one of these camps for a week, and day-hike to surrounding locations of interest. If the Scouts wanted to visit a different area, they would pack up their gear, hoist it onto burros, and hike to another base camp. Eventually, possibly due to the advent of modern lightweight metal-frame backpacks and other backpacking technology, the program was restructured to be backpacking-based.  In 1963, through the generosity of Norton Clapp, vice-president of the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America, another piece of the Maxwell Land Grant was purchased and added to Philmont. This was the Baldy Mountain mining area, consisting of 10,098 acres (41 km²). In recent years, Philmont has also been able to gain use of the Valle Vidal Unit of the Carson National Forest. Since 1989, Philmont has had a series of five-year special-use permits from the Forest Service, allowing crews to hike and camp in the Valle Vidal as part of their Philmont treks. Philmont operates three staffed camps— Whiteman Vega, Seally Canyon, and Ring Place —and two trail camps in that part of the Valle. Those camps serve around 3,000 Philmont campers each summer. Each camper performs three hours of conservation work in the Valle on projects approved by the Forest Service. In addition, Rich Cabins, a historical farming cabin on Ted Turner's Vermejo Park Ranch, is also operated as a staff camp. [edit] Programs and activities[edit] Trek The standard and most popular Philmont program is the trek. A typical Philmont trek lasts 10 days and covers anywhere from 50 to 103 miles (80 to 166 km) of trail. In 2008 there are 35 different trek itineraries, ranging from easy to super strenuous. Each trek is unique, covering distinct regions, peaks, and camps. A group of Scouts on a trek is called a crew; most crews are assembled by troops, Venturing crews, or local councils. A crew consists of eight to twelve people, with two to four adult leaders, a chaplain's aide, and a crew leader. A contingent consists of one or more crews from the same council (see Boy Scouts of America: Organization), traveling together. Sister crews are crews that follow the same itinerary and are usually from different troops. Around 360 trekkers arrive at base camp every day of the season.  A typical crew's experience is as follows: The crew arrives in Base Camp, checks in at the Welcome Center, and meets its ranger, a trained staff member from the Ranger Department. He or she assists them in the various registration ("processing") procedures, which consist of verifying their itinerary with Logistics and checking out gear, such as a dining fly, bear ropes, bear bags, and water purification tablets, from the Services building. A crew also receives several days' worth of Philmont trail food, packaged in bags which feed two people each; the exact quantity depends on the crew's itinerary and the day on which it is scheduled to reach the next commissary (see below). Philmont also provides optional cooking supplies.  The crew spends its first night in Trailbound Tent City where the trekkers sleep in canvas tents. The next morning, they eat breakfast at the dining hall, have their crew photo taken, and board a bus to one of the ranch's several trailheads, called "turnarounds" because they consist of a loop in the road for the bus to turn around. The ranger verifies the trekkers' general backpacking knowledge, and teaches them specific Philmont procedures, such as bear procedure and latrine usage. Rangers stay with their crews for two days, and depart on the morning of the third day. In the next eight days the crew will hike through the Philmont wilderness, staying at various staffed camps and unstaffed "trail camps" scattered about the Ranch. On the final day, the crew returns to Base Camp, sometimes by bus from a turnaround or by climbing over the Tooth of Time and hiking directly into Base Camp. During the final day at Base Camp, the crew cleans up, returns various Philmont-issued supplies, and attends the closing campfire. [edit] AwardsBy meeting the challenge of Philmont, participants are considered to be worthy of awards. The awards represent the Philmont experience that can never be sold or traded; only earned.  Arrowhead Award
"We All Made It" plaque (WAMI Award)
 "Duty to God" Award
[edit] Other programs
[edit] CampsFor an article covering each individual camp, see Philmont Scout Ranch camps.  Philmont now operates from one large base camp. For the 2007 season there were 34 staffed camps and 65 unstaffed camps, known as "trail camps". Trail camps may, or may not have a nearby water source. Those without water are referred to as "Dry Camps". Philmont's camps are generally set no more than a couple of miles apart. Every few years new camps are created, such as the House Canyon Trail Camp in 2007, and camps are closed or relocated, for instance Comanche Camp was relocated in 2006 due to flooding. Currently there are in excess of 25 closed camps, many of which will never re-open as a result of evolving safety protocols. For instance camps once located on top of Urraca Mesa, or in the Baldy Saddle will likely never reopen as their locations posed lightning risks. [edit] Base CampBase Camp is the center of all Philmont administration, ingress, and egress. Most of its area is occupied by Camping Headquarters; ancillary facilities include the Seton Museum (devoted to Ernest Thompson Seton's Woodcraft Indians and other works), the Philmont Training Center and Villa Philmonte, the fire response facilities, the cattle headquarters, and the administration area.[5] Its population exceeds that of Cimarron on most nights of the summer, according to the hiker's pamphlet. Mark Anderson is the current head of programs.  Its primary facilities are:
[edit] Trail campsA trail camp is a camp without a permanent staff presence. Trail camps always contain several campsites, but they can be spread out over half a mile of trail or more, so that there is no sense of crowding. Each trail camp is identified by a map, attached to a tree or the side of a latrine at every trail which passes through it. Individual campsites are marked by:
[edit] Staffed camps Many camps have several live-in staff members who are in charge of the camp's "program", which consists of a wide variety of activities. Camps often carry a historical or modern theme, such as logging (Crater Lake and Pueblano), mining or blacksmithing (French Henry, Cypher's Mine, and Black Mountain), fur trapping and mountain man life (Miranda, Clear Creek), challenge events (Dan Beard, Head of Dean, and Urraca) or western lore (Beaubien, Clark's Fork, or Ponil). The program in a camp is run by staff known as Program Counselors. These Program Counselors are supervised by a Camp Director. Specific program activities include black powder rifle loading and shooting, shotgun shooting and reloading, .30-06 shooting, trail rides on horseback, burro packing and racing, rock climbing (on artificial towers as well as actual rock faces at Miner's Park, Cimarroncito and Dean Cow), tomahawk throwing, branding, search and rescue training, mountain bicycling, Mexican homesteading, blacksmithing, goldpanning, obstacle courses, archeological sites, spar pole climbing, and a variety of campfires and evening programs. Most staffed camps contain several campsites of the same sort which appear in trail camps (with the exception of French Henry); however, the primary distinguishing factor is the presence of one or several cabins. There is always a main cabin, where an arriving crew is given a "porch talk" by one of the staff members. This includes information about available program, location of trash receptacles, and other timely information such as the presence of "problem bears." Camps in the Valle Vidal (Seally Canyon, Ring Place and Whitman Vega) have yurts, large circular semi-permanent tents which allow for bear defense but may be removed in the off-season in the interest of leave no trace camping, rather than cabins. Most staffed camps have a swap box—a box in which crews may place unwanted food and take anything they might desire. Predictably, swap boxes tend to fill up with foods that people tend not to like, get too much of, or food no one wants to carry. With several exceptions, staffed camps accept trash, send and receive mail, and offer purified water. The exceptions are those camps which have no road access or where the camps receive their supply shipments by burro. All staffed camps also contain radios, by which staff members can communicate with Logistical Services, the Health Lodge, or each other. The radio is used for all manner of communication, including notifications of the movements of the ranch's various vehicles, logistical inquiries between camps and Base, major and minor medical issues, and a nightly itinerary read-out which often includes world news and a weather forecast. The ranch's non-stationary staff are assigned unit numbers, by which they identify themselves on the radio. The ranch also employs a variety of esoteric radio ten-codes for rapid communication. In all, there are 34 staffed camps currently at Philmont Scout Ranch, by name: Abreu, Apache Springs, Baldy Town, Beaubien, Black Mountain, Carson Meadows, Cimarroncito, Clark's Fork, Clear Creek, Crater Lake, Crooked Creek, Cypher's Mine, Dan Beard, Dean Cow, Fish Camp, French Henry, Harlan, Head of Dean, Hunting Lodge, Indian Writings, Miner's Park, Miranda, Phillips Junction, Ponil, Pueblano, Rayado, Rich Cabins, Ring Place, Sawmill, Seally Canyon, Urraca, Ute Gulch, Whitman Vega, Zastrow. [edit] CommissariesA commissary is a small warehouse which is stocked by weekly truck shipments with trail food for campers, real food for backcountry staff, and various other supplies. A small room in the warehouse holds a trading post, which sells a small variety of odds and ends, including postcards, postage, and games, along with repair kits, white gas for crews' stoves, and other backpacking necessities. A crew typically stops by a commissary every 3–4 days in order to limit the quantity of consumables carried by the crew at any given point. Food is initially issued by the Services building in Base Camp, and is resupplied at the commissaries. [edit] ConservationThe groups of trail workers known as "A-team" or Advanced Team are the first Conservation staffers to begin hiking and clearing the trails, one month prior to the first participants' arrival. The five divisions of the Conservation Department, each led by an Associate Director of Conservation (ADC), are Conservationists, GIS, Order of the Arrow Trail Crew (OATC), Environmental Education (R.O.C.S., Trail Crew Trek, and E.P.C.S.), and Work Crew. Conservationists live in staff camps and lead conservation projects for treks passing through their camp. The GIS staff map trails, campsites, and other features of the Philmont Backcountry. OATC leads Order of the Arrow members on a two week experience - 1 week building trail and 1 week on a trek of the participants' design (not a standard pre-determined itinerary). ROCS instructors lead both male and female crews on a 21 day experience that typically encompasses most of Philmont and the Valle Vidal, in which participants learn conservation techniques, hydrology, geology, land management practices, ecology, and other conservation-based lessons. Trail Crew Trek instructors lead participants on a fourteen-day education experience rooted in service through conservation. Participants build trail for seven days and then go on a seven-day trek anchored in conservation and environmental science education. Finally, Work Crews are staff groups who are responsible for maintaining and sometimes creating campsites and trails. Also see: Roving Outdoor Conservation School Also see: Trail Crew Trek [edit] Ranger Program
When Jack Rhea, former Assistant Chief Scout Executive of Operations for the Boy Scouts of America, became Director of Camping at Philmont, there was no Ranger program. But, as Philmont became more and more popular, he and his staff developed what they called the Ranger Program, which is now mostly responsible for teaching backpacking skills, first-aid skills, and developing the leadership of the crew leader. Rangers are responsible for ensuring that all participants know all required skills and procedures needed for backcountry treks.[6] They generally will also hike along with crews on the 10-day treks for the first two days on the trail during which they teach and observe the crew. The Ranger department is also responsible for maintaining a ready search-and-rescue team at all times for use on Philmont land or in surrounding areas. The Ranger department also consists of Mountain Trek Rangers that are responsible for taking out the week-long mountain treks associated with the Philmont Training Center. Ranger Trainers are at least second year Rangers that are responsible for training and supervising other Rangers. The Ranger Department was started in 1957. During the summer of 2007, the Philmont Staff Association coordinated a 50th Anniversary Ranger Reunion at the ranch. Over 300 former Rangers attended this event. [edit] Philmont Museum and Seton Memorial Library Philmont is also home to the Philmont Museum and Seton Memorial Library, which offers exhibits relating to the ranch's history and the history, art, and natural history of the Philmont area. The Ernest Thompson Seton Memorial Library is a research library containing Seton's personal collection and an extensive collection of volumes pertaining to western lore and the history of the area. Crews at the beginning or end of their trek can come here to sign up for a tour of the Villa Philmonte. [edit] Kit Carson MuseumThe Kit Carson Museum is a living museum that operates in the summer in Rayado, located 7 miles (11 km) south of Philmont's headquarters. Interpreters demonstrate 1850s period frontier skills and crafts including blacksmithing, cooking, shooting and farming. The museum also features exhibits about frontiersmen Kit Carson and Lucien Maxwell, who founded a colony at Rayado. [edit] Notable former staff
[edit] The Philmont HymnThe "Philmont Hymn" [10] the ranch's official song was written by John Benton Westfall (1928-May 9, 2009) in 1947 when he was 19. Westfall was the lone staffer at Vista Grande (then called Cimarron Bench Camp) at the time. Westfall, who at the time was a student at Pittsburg State University wrote the song on a trip home to Kansas on a train from Philmont influenced by the "click-click, click-click" of the tracks. He would later be a professional scouter in Iowa, Kansas, and Oklahoma and worked as a salesman for Phillips Petroleum.[11] [edit] See also
[edit] Further reading
[edit] References
[edit] External links
[edit] General
[edit] Applications
[edit] Staff
[edit] Other
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