Day One:
What We Did—Processed through the base camp, did the shakedown, and finally caught the 2:30 bus out toward the Lover’s Leap Turnaround. From there on, hiked to Lover’s Leap, underwent ranger instruction on cooking, cleaning, setting up camp, etc.
What Was Good: Getting out of camp and on the way; the view from Lover’s Leap; walking back from a late-night water run under the Philmont sky, with the stars right at hand.
What Was Not So Good: Undergoing the ranger instruction on the Philmont Way was necessary, but sometimes a little unfun, especially since we had to ditch our plan to bakepack our food on the trail.

Day Two:
What We Did—Hiked up to the Haunted Mesa, went through the confidence course and had a campfire program. Afterward, hiked up above the camp with Ranger Don and took the Wilderness Pledge under the stars.
What Was Good: A full day out on the trail, the first real day’s hike, and the crew was as good as we expected: absolutely awesome. We started to get the picture on the Philmont system and everything got a lot easier to do.
What Was Not So Good: Some of the staff had been out there a little too long, though on the whole it was a great stay.

Day Three:
What We Did—Hiked down the Haunted Mesa to Abreu camp, arriving right at lunchtime. Afternoon program included a tour of the homestead; evening program was a Mexican dinner to die for, then chasing chickens, milking goats and keeping burros in their pen.
What Was Good: Eating peanuts and drinking root beer in the little cantina, listening to Dear Prudence; watching the scouts chase the chickens but get outsmarted by them running beneath the outhouse.
What Was Not So Good: Had some navigational issues on the hike in, but they only cost us a few minutes and steps and we were on our way again. A great hike, great views and mostly downhill. 

Day Four:
What We Did—Hiked to Fish Camp along a long high ridge; set up camp along a creek surrounded by cowflop. Started to work on our conservation project when a giant thunderstorm burst right overhead and we dispersed to camp, expecting it to stop raining—but it didn’t. Evening program inside the Fish Camp cabin, warm dry campfire, very nice.
What Was Good: We were hiking, and came across a snake eating a field mouse on the trail—the snake about ½” across and the mouse maybe 1-1/2”, the snake working him down headfirst. Pretty awesome piece of nature, though not much of a spectator sport.
What Was Not So Good: Rain, rain, rain, and we hadn’t figured out how to handle it yet. Also we got attacked by minibears in the campsite and they chewed right through a camelback hose.  

Day Five: What We Did—Finished up our conservation project, helping to demolish and haul away an old cabin at Fish Camp. Hit the road to Bear Canyon, set up camp and headed over to Apache Springs for a commissary run and program. Totally awesome program, 3-D archery and the Apache sweat lodge. Back to Bear Canyon, got hit with another thunderstorm and then steady rain right as we were about to eat. Quick dinner and cleanup, Thorns and Roses and to bed before we drowned.
What Was Good: Believe it or not, the sweat lodge really did get everyone clean, and by now we had some people who really needed it. Much better-smelling crew on departure than on arrival. Finished 3-D archery in a hailstorm, very cool with ¼” hail bashing us on the head. Mr Davidson and Mr Randolph were hauling food and watched a bear cross the meadow between Bear Canyon and Apache Springs, very cool. Had fun with the conservation project, whacking wood with a sledgehammer.

What Was Not So Good: Way more rain, though by now we were getting the hang of it. Seemed colder this time for some reason. We hiked with a lot of water weight the next day.

Day Six:
What We Did—Still working our way uphill, got to Cripple Creek by way of Phillips Commissary. Loaded up on three days’ food at Phillips, ate lunch and got clean and dry. Got to Cripple Creek about 4:00 and got our porch brief from Miss’ipp. Definitely the most laid back camp at Philmont. Another bigtime rain at dinner time, and we were all about to turn in about 7:30 to stay dry, when the storm passed and we walked to the camp cabin for the evening program and a wonderful bonfire that we stood by for a couple of hours.
What Was Good: Phillips was a little piece of heaven, with apples and oranges, all we could eat, plus we laid out everything and set up a clothesline for drying. Evening program was great, milking cows after a course of instruction: “How can you tell this is a cow? Because it has the parts of a cow!!—two lookers, two hookers, four stander-uppers, four hanger-downers, and a swishy-wishy!” A double rainbow that looked as if it were fluorescent when the rain passed by Cripple Creek. Mr. Randolph broke out some spices for dinner, and suddenly everything tasted a little better, or in some cases a lot better.
What Was Not So Good: The rain seemed always to hit right at dinner time. By now, our fourth time, we were ready for it though that really didn’t make it any more fun.

Day Seven:
What We Did—This was the Big One, up Mount Phillips from the west side. Up early and hiked to Clear Creek for lunch, tomahawk throwing and black powder shooting, once again drying out clothes and gear and getting a little nap for the advisors. Then it was up Mount Phillips, yahoo!—hauling our extra water up a forty degree slope (seemed like). Got up to the top in record time, one hour and thirty-eight minutes, most triumphant. Dry camp at the top, but nobody was very hungry anyway. Full moon on the peak of Mt. Phillips is as good as it gets.
What Was Good: The crew could have made the hike in about an hour if they had abandoned the senior advisors, but they took care of them and we all got to the top in good form.
What Was Not So Good: Absolutely the worst lunch ever, inedible even for scouts who had been on the trail for a week—powdered banana pudding and macaroni and cheese that scared away the minibears. Geez, that was awful.

Day Eight:
What We Did—Back downhill toward Sawhill, through the prettiest stretch of forest we found anywhere on Philmont—mixed beech and pine, wild flowers everywhere. Arrived about lunchtime and signed up for the 30-.06 rifle program. Loaded and fired our rounds, then back for dinner and at last a dry evening. Seemed hard to believe that we could hike with dry clothes and gear the next day, but we got over it.
What Was Good: Loading the rounds, and then firing them. Daniel Davison hit Mike Schneider’s Saddam card deck on the second shot and scattered them all over the hillside. Several of us took advantage of the wood-fired shower, though not as many as needed to.
What Was Not So Good: More confusion on the navigation, though again nothing serious. Although we didn’t suspect it yet, we were hiking around in 2003 using maps made in 1991, and sometimes that was confusing.

Day Nine:
What We Did—A long, long hike to Vaca Camp. The first half was great. All the way to Ute Gulch Commissary, nothing but pine and beech forests. After we left the commissary, we plunged into another ecozone and this one was dry and hot as we worked our way around a mesa to Vaca. Stopped off at Harlan camp for shotgun shooting, the last installment in our NRA Trail program; then by a long and winding road to Vaca.
What Was Good: The morning hike, and even the stay at Ute Gulch, though the commissary staff was clearly ready for the summer to be over. Playing casino in camp and watching the stars come out on another warm, perfectly clear evening. Several of us hiked up onto a ridge behind the camp to get a look at Cimarron and see whether we could spot a restaurant there.
What Was Not So Good: Getting from Harlan to Vaca should have taken about ten minutes, but we barely missed the trail and ended up detouring for about a mile or so—usually not a big deal, but at the end of the day we could easily have done without it. Squeezable cheese was getting a little old. We hadn’t had any injuries to speak of, but people were beginning to get a little chipped up, especially knees and backs on the long downhill slopes.
Day Ten:
What We Did—This was our last real day of hiking, and it was the only one where our maps were completely inadequate—not a great combination, though again we did fine by dead reckoning and leg power. A pretty long hike, up and over a high canyon and then down into Dean Cow Camp for our rock-climbing program.
What Was Good: Getting into camp, and feeling like this one was in the bank—as good an experience as you can have in this life. Stargazing with the crew, and learning the summer constellations. Feeling that we really had this hiking and camping stuff figured out, from setting up camp, to the cross-handed pack toss, to the rotation of hikes and breaks on the trail. A solar-powered shower and clothes wash at Dean Cow Camp.
What Was Not So Good: Nothing except knowing that it would be a long while before we got to do this again.

Day Eleven:
What We Did—We were scheduled for a 1:30 pickup at Six Mile Gate, but figured that if we got there early, maybe we could snivel an early pickup. Hiked out of camp at 6:45, passing along the fringe of the area that burned last year. Got to the pickup point at 8:20, hitched a ride at 8:30, and got back to camp by 9:15. Spent the rest of the day eating everything we could afford and packing for the trip home. Took the crew out to a steak dinner in Cimarron, back to camp for the “homebound” campfire at night.
What Was Good: Seeing that bus come down the road toward us with nobody in it but the driver. Long hot shower at base camp. Great evening campfire program, and another lovely New Mexico array of stars, with Scorpio big and bright in the southern sky.
What Was Not So Good: Does not apply. It was all good.

What Was Always Good: