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 Is anyone not ready?
Before leaving on their trip, the Scouts and their adult advisors
were offered lots of information on how to prepare for their trip
both physically and mentally. As a crew, the young men will work
together as a contingent group, but they are still made up of
individuals with varying abilities. The job of the Crew Leader,
which is filled by one of the Scouts, is to take into consideration
the abilities of each person and work to maintain the contingency of
the group,. If one is struggling, it is the job of the Crew leader
to recognize this and adjust the pace of the entire group
accordingly.
It is the job of the crew to be supportive of each other, and
respectful of each other. To help accomplish this, Philmont
recommends that at the end of each day, the group do “thorns and
roses.” This is a time when the Scouts share what was good and not
so good about the day that just passed. The exercise helps each
Scout to understand the effect the trip is having on the others in
his crew.
Philmont also suggests that at the beginning of each day and the end
of each break during the day, the crew leader poses the question “is
anyone not ready?”
 Typically, the question is “is everyone ready,” but the guidebook
states that often the “yes” answers may drown out the single “no” of
a scout that feels he needs more time to prepare.
Today may be the day, which there is a scout or two who says they
are not ready just yet. It’s going to be a challenging day. Today’s
hike will take the guys to the top of Mount Phillips at an elevation
of 11,650 feet. To put this in perspective, that is 2.2 miles above
sea level. Another comparison, the turbines at the Railsplitter wind
farm are 290 feet tall. To equal the height of Mount Phillips one
would need to stack 40 of those towers end to end, then climb them.
Today’s temperature in the mountain range is expected to be 83
degrees. As the boys hike, the air will get thinner, and taking in
oxygen will become harder. The boys will notice that they breath
harder, and tire more quickly. Bear in mind; they will also be
carrying fully loaded backpacks that may weigh up to 50 pounds.
Several of the scouts recognize that this may be their toughest day.
They were asked before they left, “of the events planned, which one
is the most intimidating to you and why.”
Here are some of their answers:
William Trent: “When we go up Mount Phillips, that is the most
intimidating thing because it will be the highest I have ever been.”
Zach Smith: “Of the events planned, the event that's most
intimidating to me is climbing up Mount Phillips, because it's a
steep climb up that mountain and it's got the longest hiking length
in a day for the days that we're on the trail - 8 1/2 miles.”
Jack Graue: “Probably climbing Mount Phillips and Tooth of Time, it
will probably be the most physically demanding tasks while we are
out there.”
Blake Hermes: “Day 7 seems like it will be the most intimidating
because it has the most hiking at the highest altitude.”
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Leader David Smith: “Probably the day I am looking forward
to, and the most intimidating event is the same. I look forward to
climbing Mount Phillips and camping up on top at around 11, 700
feet. But I know that will be a big climb that day, and we will go
up 2, 500 feet that day and that will be tough for someone from the
flat lands of Illinois. But the beauty and the view will be worth it
all. I look forward to the beauty and wonder we will see and the
pictures I can take.”
No doubt, when this day is done, all 16 members of Troop 102 will
feel a great sense of accomplishment. Though this will be a hard
trek, there will also be some great times as the boys will get to
visit the Rocky Mountain Fur Company and participate in some
activities that relate back to the days of beaver trading in the
wild west.
During the camping season, Philmont publishes a weekly newsletter
called PhilNews.
In August of 2013, the Rocky Mountain Fur Company was a feature
article in their paper.
Extracted from that article:
Isolated from much of
Philmont and nestled under the silhouette of Mount Phillips, Clear
Creek is set in 1831 and hosts the interpretation of the Rocky
Mountain Fur Company. “I think the most exciting thing about Clear
Creek is you’re really far away from everything,” Camp Director Paul
Marsh said. “We have to rely on ourselves to be creative and to make
a really good experience for the crews.”
To help offer a good time, Clear Creek has a lot of activities to
keep Scouts occupied. “Nobody gets bored because you can do so many
different things,” said Program Counselor Scott Felder. “[We have]
the .50 caliber black powder rifles, the tomahawk throwing, the lead
smelting, the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, talking about the
beavers,” said Marsh. “I really enjoy the big variety of program.”
“We open up the shooting range at 8 o’ clock,” Felder said.
“Normally we’ll have one or two crews shoot and once they’re done,
we’ll come down. After that they’ll come do tomahawks.” Just as much
a part of the program are the porch welcomes. “It’s not a porch
talk, it’s a porch welcome. We tell them everything about Clear
Creek and Rocky Mountain Fur Company,” said Felder. It gives the
staff a chance to introduce their interpretive characters and to
chat with the Scouts.
Following the porch welcome, crews will often take a tour of the
cabin. “We usually show them the finished furs in our cabins because
we have a couple tanned hides. We have a couple buffalo hides, bear
hide, deer hide, and we just teach them about the hides,” said
Felder. Today's YouTube Video
360 degree view from the top of Mt. Phillips
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXBMyDIC33w
[Nila Smith]
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