Troop 53
2008 Philmont Expedition

Planning materials we used

Presentation

When we received confirmation from Philmont in late 2006 of our 2008 reservation I searched all over the internet for a PowerPoint presentation about Philmont that could be used as talking points by a unit at their first Philmont parents'/participants' meeting. 20-something pages of Google hits later, and several downloads of presentations suitable for training seminars or council contingents, I realized I'd have to do it myself. I don't have PowerPoint (I do have the "viewer" available free from Microsoft) and considered how I'd like to build a presentation with the applications I have. I considered building it in a word processor, then converting to PDF, and showing it full-screen with random page transitions, but finally decided upon Powerbullet. Powerbullet creates Flash presentations and can either embed them in a web page or create a stand-alone executable. Best of all, Powerbullet is free! Below are links for the presentation I made. Please read the "readme" file included in each download!

• Stand-alone executable — "Windows-only" executable of the finished product. You do not need Flash installed on your computer to view this.
• Flash-only version — The finished presentation in a Flash (.swf) format. Should be viewable in any OS on most browsers with the Flash plugin installed.
• Source files — Everything I used to build the presentation except the Powerbullet application. These will give you a start on modifying the presentation for your expedition's use.

Our travel itinerary

Since this was my 9^th trip to Philmont and my 6^th as lead advisor I knew how to get there and back traveling by private vehicle. From the St. Louis area there are 2 basic routes to Philmont: a northern route through Missouri, Kansas, and Colorado, and a southern route through Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. I knew we wanted to spend some time in the Colorado Springs area. A secondary goal there was to spend a few days "at altitude" to help get acclimated prior to hiking. We had decided to camp on the way out and back so I looked for camping areas close to where we'd be traveling toward the end of a day, i.e about half-way across Kansas and about half-way across Oklahoma. A couple other "requirements" I had for camping areas was that they be relatively close to things we wanted to do or were close to our route and that they have showers since a Scout is Clean and is not olfactorily offensive to the public. Due to our late-season trek we would have to do all our sight-seeing on the way out so our Scouts could get to their first day of school on time, therefore the northern route was chosen for getting to Philmont and the southern route for getting home. As mentioned above, I knew where I wanted to go, so I was able to put our itinerary together in one afternoon. Googling, phone calls, reservations, creating a parents handout for it, etc. — all of it. If you are planning your first trip, count on more time than that. Also, because I'd done this before, other than where we'd be spending the night things were not planned to the "n^th degree". If we saw something we might be interested in seeing we went. There were some "definites", e.g. Pikes Peak and Garden of the Gods, but time was left for spur of the moment activities.

Philmont-bound:

• Day 1: Belleville, IL to Wilson State Park west of Salina, KS. We basically followed Interstate 70 all day.
• Day 2: Wilson State Park to Colorado Springs. I-70 to Limon, CO then southwest on US Rte. 24 to Colorado Springs. We arrived in the Springs earlier than planned so we went to the US Air Force Academy north of town. They have a nice museum there and a trip to the Chapel is impressive. Allow a couple of hours minimum. We spent this night and the next night at Lone Duck Campground in Cascade, CO about ½ mile from the road up Pikes Peak. It wasn't real cheap at $40/night and isn't really suitable for a larger group (2 crews for example) but it does have showers and laundry facilities as well as a swimming pool. They also have a cheap ($3.00), all-you-can-eat pancakes and sausage breakfast.
• Day 3: Sight-see around the Colorado Springs area. We drove up Pikes Peak (about $35 per vehicle), then went to Garden of the Gods (free).
• Day 4: Colorado Springs to Cimarron, NM. State Highway 115 out of Colorado Springs to Cañon City then west on US Rte. 50 to Royal Gorge. We decided that the admission price was a bit steep for just the little amount of time we had to spend there. There is an overlook that you can walk to off the parking lot where you can look down into the gorge, see the suspension bridge, etc. Back out to Pueblo, CO then I-25 south to Raton, NM, US Rte. 64 west to Cimarron. Spent our last night before Philmont at Cimarron Canyon State Park just west of Philmont. Went up to Eagle Nest to see Philmont from the "back side", get a good view of Wheeler Peak, the highest point in New Mexico, and see Eagle Nest Lake. Note that you must be "bear aware" while camping here. We had no problems but one of our neighbors did the previous night.
• Day 5: Cimarron Canyon State Park to Philmont Scout Ranch. A short (15-20 minute) drive down the canyon to the town of Cimarron, a hearty breakfast at Heck's Hungry Traveller restaurant, another short drive down the road to Philmont's Welcome Center.

Home-bound:

• Day 1: Philmont to Norman, OK. The shortcut route through New Mexico is to go from Cimarron to Springer, then "boony-hop" down to San Jon and get on I-40 east. Make sure that you have plenty of gas when you leave Springer. Gas stations are very few and very far between and you'll be travelling through some pretty empty countryside for the next couple of hours until shortly before San Jon. Followed I-40 the rest of the day. I really would have preferred to spend the night closer to I-40 in the OK City area, but the best I could find was Lake Thunderbird State Park east of Norman. A word of warning: morning rush hour traffic on I-35 northbound from Norman to OK City can be a bear...
• Day 2: Norman, OK to Belleville. Basically I-44 all the way to St. Louis. Yes, this is a toll road in Oklahoma but it was only about $7.00 total.

Other travel ideas

While we didn't do any of these on this trip these are places and activity ideas that I've either been to or done or that others have recommended to me. If time and/or budget allows, you may want to consider one or more of these. I'll leave it to you to Google them.

In Colorado:

• Seven Falls. This is in the Colorado Springs area.
• Durango to Silverton/Ouray. Either the highway or the train. Outstanding scenery! This is really for those coming from the west since it's in far southwest Colorado.
• Mesa Verde National Monument. In the "Four Corners" area so the same recommendation as above on travel.
• Koshare Indian Kiva, La Junta

In New Mexico:

• Taos
• Taos Pueblo
• Rio Grande Gorge State Park. Camping is available here.
• Sandia Peak near Albuquerque
• Capulin Volcano National Monument near Raton. An extinct volcano that you can drive up and walk down in the crater.

Whitewater rafting — I've thought that this would be a great after-Philmont activity. The reason for "after" is that if someone gets hurt you're at least on your way home and their entire trip isn't ruined. Unfortunately the last 2 times we've gone to Philmont we've had late season treks and had to hurry home for school. So I haven't been able to use this idea yet. Rafting is available in Royal Gorge, CO and Rio Grande Gorge in New Mexico. Probably several other places as well. I have no recommendations for operators or outfitters so you're on your own there.

Some final travel thoughts

Don't forget your Tour Permit (now "Tour Plan")! You don't need much detail about your travel plans, just "From", "To", and "Distance", and the distance can be an approximation. And yes, the Philmont Registration people do check your Tour Permit/Plan so have it ready when you walk in.

If you are unfamiliar with where you are going or any of the routes you are taking be sure to have maps. I left home with only a map of Colorado Springs but I knew the route pretty well. In fact, from previous visits there I had a pretty good knowledge of the basic layout of Colorado Springs. The map was just to fill in the details. I picked up an Oklahoma map at a rest area so I would be able to navigate through the Oklahoma City/Norman area but other than that I didn't need it.

GPS — I had my first experience with an in-vehicle GPS on this trip. We had a Magellan™ in our vehicle. I have since bought my own and have learned, both with the Magellan and with my TomTom™ not to rely slavishly on them. When we were in Limon, CO we entered Colorado Springs as our destination. Rather than take us on the shortest/fastest route (US Rte. 24) the GPS wanted us to take I-70 to Denver then I-25 to Colorado Springs. And for miles and miles and miles down 24 it kept wanting us to turn around at the next intersection and go back to I-70. I've noticed that my TomTom relies heavily on Interstates and the shortest route to the closest Interstate. This is not necessarily the shortest or fastest route to my ultimate destination. On the other hand, when you're in an unfamiliar town or city and are looking for a restaurant or the local WalMart they'll take you right to where you want to go.

Have at least 2 cell-phones with you while travelling — preferrably on different carriers. This gives you a greater chance that you'll get a signal when you're out in the boonies.