At about three in the afternoon, we all took a side hike to Abreau to play chess, eat chocolate, drink their homemade root beer, took a tour of the 1912 farm house that was built before New Mexico was annexed to the U.S, and most importantly fill up our Nalgenes. When we came back, we started cooking dinner. Our cooks for the day were Graham W. and Taylor C. We took turns cooking each day. When the food was cooking, Trevor L. did not feel well at all. He started to hurl squeeze cheese, root beer, and chocolate. When dinner was done we all "Human- sumped" our plates. " Man-up" was a term we used the entire trip. Trevor L. was taken to Abreau with the help of Mr. Lauten, Taylor C., and Michael P. where the staff took care of him and made sure he was well enough for hiking the next day. By ten o'clock, everyone was sound asleep before the next day's hike to Urraca. 

Day 3 We stopped at Abreau and milked the goats and got to see the baby goat that was born that night. On our 5 mile hike to Urraca, Graham did 25 push-ups with full backpack on the steepest trail, and Logan showed us how to fill our nalgenes from the Toothache Springs well and purify the water with micropur tablets. We frolicked in the meadow at Urraca camp after we set up camp. Our crew participated in the Highland games that evening while Mr. Lauten, Mr. Flatter, and newest adult leader Michael P. had scoutmasters' coffee and cookies on the cabin porch. Graham took first in the caber toss and second in the axe handle throw, sporting his "Johnny Bravo" hair-do. At the campfire that night, the staff sang songs, and told ghost stories: "The Imp", "Lost Scout", "Cannibal Cowhand", and "Bruises on the Scoutmaster's Chest". The last story about the staff member cutting himself with a razor and shooting himself with a shotgun before he said, "I am no coward, but it is so hard to die," was the scariest story. Logan served us a pound cake for dessert. 

Day 4 Logan took us to Inspiration Point where we watched the sunrise while he read the Giving Tree to us. We left at 9 a.m. for the first part of our planned, mostly uphill 15 mile hike to Shaefers Pass trail camp, Shaefers Peak and Tooth of Time. We participated in the environmental fun time program at Miners' Park while Mr. Lauten, nursing a bad cold and sore throat, slept for an hour on the porch. Graham did 38 pushups. We got water from the running stream at North Fork Urraca before the grueling, steep climb to Shaefers Pass. By the time we set up camp it was too late in the day to make the side hike to Shaefers Peak and Tooth of Time. The latrine was an open air "pilot-to-bombardier." 

Day 5 Graham W., Michael P., Michael F., and Mr. Flatter got up early to watch the sunrise at Shaefers Peak. The downhill five mile hike to Cimarroncito was easy. On the way, we got water at Clark's Fork, and got lost for half a mile from the hunting lodge using an old map. Trevor L., Jared D., Anand M., Audley H., and Mr. Lauten climbed to the top of the rock face for rock climbing and rappelling, while the rest of the crew hiked to Hidden Valley on a nature hike for the environmental program. The staff at Cimarroncito presented Mr. Lauten with his ditty bag with all of his contact lenses, glasses, alarm clock, medications, retainer and towels, that he had lost in base camp. Was he ever happy! Trevor broke Michael P.'s chair when he leaned too far back. After we all took our first shower (as it turned out, our only shower on the trail) and washed clothes on the washboards, we went to the staff area to climb the traverse wall, while the adults had coffee and dessert on the porch. 

Day 6 Michael P. Michael F., Mr. Flatter, and Taylor made the side hike to the Ute Gulch commissary to pick up four more days worth of food. We had lunch at the Cimarroncito Turnaround/Harlan crossing. Our campsite at Harlan was the best so far; very secluded close to the staff area and had cool rocks to climb. Our programs at Harlan were 12 gauge shotgun shooting & reloading and burrow racing. Jared D. and Mr. Lauten hit the most targets. Anand M. shot the most grass and dirt. We stayed to watch the sunset from the meadow and the adults had coffee again 

Day 7 This was our most scenic hike so far. Our eight mile hike to Cimarron River trail camp was very easy. Once again, we were the first group to arrive at camp, so we were able to get the campsite closest to the river. The one major road that runs through Philmont was within 200 hundred yards of our campsite but the traffic noise didn't prevent us from getting a good night's sleep. We filled our water bottles up the night before to save time in the morning for the ten mile hike to Baldy Skyline. 

Day 8 On the way to Baldy Skyline, we stopped at Head of Dean, and Trevor L., Michael F., Jared D., Anand M., Audley H., Mr. Lauten, and Mr. Flatter all did their challenge events. Some of the challenge events were the King's Finger where Trevor L. and Michael F. had to pull a tire off of a 10 foot tall log and the Lava Swing where you had to be like Tarzan, and swing on a rope to the other side. We also climbed a 15 foot wall and conquered the tire swings. Michael P. made friends with the staff's cat, Frankenstein. When we all got to our campsite, we did the usual and went to sleep around 10 p.m. waiting for the next day's hike to our layover day at Miranda. 

Day 9This was the easiest day on the trail. We only had to hike three miles to Miranda. When we got there we participated in the Mountain Man Rendezvous, Tomahawk Toss and the Black Powder Rifle Shooting. Graham shot a musket ball through his cowboy hat. We were not allowed to pick up our food at Baldy Town a day early as we had hoped. Staffer Graham had a cool "Mad hatter" top hat. Later in the day, we played Mountain Ball against the Mountain Men. The game was simple. There were a few rules, but the most important rule was that Mountain Men always win. After it hailed for 20 minutes, we all went to sleep waiting to climb Baldy the next day. 

Day 10Graham W., Michael P., Trevor L., Michael F., Mr. Lauten, and Mr. Flatter all got up at 4: 30 a.m. to see the sunrise from the Mountain Man cabin. We started up the mountain without our packs at 8:30 a.m., but encountered problems along the way. To make a long story short, only six of us made it to the top of Baldy Mt. Those that made it also did the mine tour at French Henry and picked up the food at Baldy Town. We had a good Mexican Dinner that night along with the oranges they gave us at the commissary. We had a late night meeting with the director of Miranda to discuss the day's events. 

Day 11 We hiked to the corral for instructions on loading the burro. We picked out the largest donkey for the last two days of the trek. His name was Goliath and he took an instant liking to Graham. We backed tracked through Baldy Skyline to Pueblano Staff camp and set up camp at Flume Canyon. It was the first time we had level ground to sleep on. The loggers' version of baseball was similar to that of the Mountain Men's; they never lost. The decision was made to wake up at 3:30 the next morning to allow plenty of time for getting Goliath from the corral and hiking the road to Ponil for our 8:30 conservation project. 

Day 12 The alarm did go off at 3:30 as planned and we were on our way in less than two hours. Instead of saddling the burro and packing the saddles, in order to save time, we all just carried the gear that would have gone on Goliath. We made it to Ponil an hour early. Our three hour conservation program was to build a rock wall along the trail that had been damaged by the horses. The conservation staffer gave each of the tools a power rating based on its man rating. We considered this dangerous work; having to watch out for rocks tumbling down the slope, keeping your balance, and making sure you didn't get your fingers stuck under a rock. Getting our boots branded with the Philmont brands was something we all thought was special. The cantina served root beer and this time Trevor did not get sick. Michael P. had a reunion with his brother, John, a staffer at Ponil. The last two mile hike to the turnaround was done in the rain. Most of us fell asleep on the bus ride back to base camp. We checked into tent city, took long hot showers, emptied our lockers, returned gear and visited the trading post. Instead of eating in the dining hall, we took the shuttle bus into Cimarron and ate the best pizza on the planet at Simple Simon's. After eating two weeks of high carbohydrate, bland, dehydrated food we savored every bite of pizza. Audley H. tried to play with the owner's yapping dogs but was warned off instead. The evening campfire's skits were funny and the old movies of Philmont were uplifting. All the crew leaders were recognized, including Graham W., for their crew's successful completion of their trek. 

Day 13 Breakfast at base camp, souvenir buying at Tooth of Time Traders, loading our gear, and doing final checkouts at the HQ were done prior to the 9:00 a.m. shuttle bus to Raton. We did look back at the Tooth of Time as the bus pulled away from the welcome center. We had plenty of time to relax, eat, play games and sleep before our 3:30 p.m. Greyhound bus departure. We weren't sure if the bus would make its scheduled stop and if it did, we weren't sure if there would be enough empty seats for all of us. However, the bus did show up on time, with seats to spare, and a driver who knew the way. We arrived back in Houston on time the next day at 1:30 p.m. and said goodbye to each other and wished everyone a good summer. 

Thoughts Philmont is indeed the "Mecca" of boy scouting. All the months of preparation and planning really helped condition us for the strenuous trek we had chosen to undertake. We received the Arrowhead Award, the "We all Made It" award and will receive the 50-miler award from the council. Coming together as a crew, enjoying the beauty of Philmont Ranch, hiking at elevations between seven and twelve thousand feet, collecting "smell-ables" for the bear bags, cooking with turkey bags, duct-taping blisters, doing programs, meeting other scouts, staff and leaders, watching the parachuting squirrels at closing campfire, and getting into the routine of everyday life at Philmont are the things I will remember most about the two weeks we spent at Philmont Scout Ranch.

The Spartan patrol members Reed W., William M., Christopher S. and Eric B. competed in the beginner division. Juan and Gator A., Gabriel S., David R., Trevor L., and Andy H. formed the Phoenix patrol that competed in the intermediate division. There were ten events: Knot Tying, Orienteering, First Aid, Flag Etiquette, Leadership, Tent Pitching, Lashings, Fire Building, Height & Distance, and a nature scavenger hunt. After the long and tiring events were over, everyone had free time until the 5:30 P.M. Retirement of the Colors. During that time we made apple cobbler and chocolate cherry cobbler for the dessert contest, played football, got ready for campsite inspection, and played the card games B.S. and E.R.S. 

The campfire had many funny skits. The "Is that you Hans?" skit was done well but the funniest was the "28 days" skit. The Folts brothers led the flag retirement ceremony. We retired the huge flag from atop the Arena Towers building in Sharpstown. We then walked in silence to the Order of the Arrow campfire for the tapping out ceremony and Brotherhood callout. Andy H. jumped about 3 feet in the air when the ceremony team picked him out and shouted, "Him!" David R., standing next to Andy, jumped even higher.

It was hard to stand at attention at the call-out for so long because we had a lot of chili with beans for dinner earlier. Mr. Lauten, Trevor L. and Juan A. took part in the Brotherhood ceremony. Afterward we went back to camp and ate our cobblers around our own troop campfire. We used the big, heavy metal disk from the scout house for our fires. 

The next morning we were all tired from losing an hour sleep because of the start of Daylight Saving Time but we were still able to have all our gear loaded and the campsite inspected for Leave No Trace before 10:30 A.M. At the awards presentation led by twins Andrew and Anthony M., Troop 505 Phoenix patrol earned a first or second place award in five events: Knot Tying, Leadership, Tent Pitching, Overall and dessert contest. The Spartans gained a lot of experience, had good team spirit and had a great time at the camporee. Mr. Bailey and Mr. Williford were a big help to new scouts. Mr. Holm and Mr. Simpson helped judge the tent pitching contest. This was a fun weekend and showed that our troop was one of the best in the district.

The Phoenix patrol had pop tarts and the Dutch oven patrol cooked up some good pancakes and sausage and brewed coffee as always. After breakfast, we had a flag ceremony that led into one of the four "retro" parts of campout. First, Mr. Wolz passed out copies of requirements from a 1960's BSA Scout Handbook. We compared those requirements for tenderfoot, second class, and first class with the current requirements in David R.'s modern day handbook. Many requirements were different: you could not earn merit badges until Star rank, no tenderfoot or second class scoutmaster conference requirement, and stalking and tracking as well signaling were required for first class. The second event was splitting a match with an axe. Gabe S. actually did this, and he split most of the logs for the campfire. At about 11:00 A.M., the scouts and the adults packed up their lunches and headed out for the dinosaur hike. The hike was very enjoyable for everyone. We all saw dinosaur tracks along the river bed. We made our way to the gift shop and the two dinosaur models, which was the stopping point of the hiking trail. 

After lunch, we did part three of the retro campout which was called stalking the prey. Gabriel was the prey the scouts had to find.

We attached a bottle of baby powder to his pants leg and gave him a 15 minute head start into the woods, leaving a small trail of the powder when he stepped. We were able to follow his trail until the powder steps disappeared. At one point we tracked him to the road and thought he might have gotten a ride with someone! We picked up his trail and found him when Mr. Holm asked, "Why is there a footprint in this ant pile?" and followed the direction of his shoe print to his hiding place in the woods. The fourth retro activity was a patrol lashings competition. The scouts made a trebuchet and bombarded the adult tent with tennis balls. The adults lashed a table for the stove. The competition was a tie: the scouts' project was the most fun while the adults' table was the most useful. Mr. Wolz showed us how to backsplice the end of ropes to keep them from fraying. We camped next to a girl's volleyball team and their volleyball often found its way into our camp site during their practices. The Dutch oven patrol made enough OWL stew and apple cobbler to feed not only their own members, but the rest of the troop as well. 

On Sunday, we all packed up and headed home at 8:00 A.M. Reveille was at 6 A.M.