second trek

today i'll get my second trek. my first trek went very well. i really enjoyed meeting and hanging out with the scouts. they were all pretty tight. i learned alot on how i could teach the skills better and how to relate with all the members of the crew better. i hope i can use all of what i learned from my first crew with my new crew. i'm pretty pumped for them to get here. they are supposed to arrive around 11. i will be heading out to zastro turnaround and from there to rimrock park. then on the second day we will head to uraca mesa. thomas has 3 days off so he is going to come out with me. it should be alot of fun with thomas there. i'm looking forward to our hike in on the third day. it's alot more fun to hike with people you know well.

first trek

today i found out that my first group of scouts comes through tomorrow. they are from longhorn tx. luckily alex and i have treks with the exact itinerary, so we will be able to hike back to base camp together. im pretty excited to get back on the trail, but pretty nervous about taking care of all the base camp procedures. i didn't really pay much attention about how all the base camp stuff really works. im starting to think that that was a pretty bad idea. but other than that, it should be a pretty fun and eventful experience. it will be nice to get my first crew out of the way and get into an actual routine.

taos and beyond

yesterday all the rangers had the day off, so we all drove to taos to explore the city. we left around 10 that morning and arrived just in time for lunch. we went to eat at a local gourmet pizza restaraunt called taos pizza outback. the pizza there was amazing. you ordered it by the slice, which were almost a fourth of the original pizza itself. i ordered pizza with pepperoni and black olives. it definitely hit the spot. after we ate we went to the main plaza. in the plaza, there were tons of different local shops and cafes. i met up with my parents and sam there and we went looking all around the plaza. sam wanted to find a ring made out of tourquois. we went around and finally found a pretty sweet one. after that sam and i went over to a bicycle shop where i bought a few cycling caps to wear on the trail. i found a green tour de france one and a teal lazer brand one. they are both pretty fly and im pretty excited to sport them on the trail. after we looked around some more and bought some more item, my family met up with thomas and jack and went to a local mexican restaraunt someone recommended to my mom to eat. the food was very good, i ordered a beef burrito covered with red chili. it was a very nice change from what i had grown used too. from there my family and i parted ways and thomas, jack, and i headed to a mountaineering shop that was offering philmont rangers a 15% discount. i didn't buy anything, but it was nice looking at all the high tech gear. from there we headed back to the ranch and listened to music until about 11 then everyone went to bed. after everyone left my tent, i stayed up until about 12:30 talking on the phone.
the next morning i was awoken around 7:20 by my ranger trainer telling me the morning ranger training session had been moved from 8 a.m. to 7:30. i scrambled to get ready and it wasn't a very good way to wake up. for the most part of the morning we went through the different parts of base camp and we given different presentations on how to take care of all the base camp procedures with our trek. the presentations were very boring and repetitive. after lunch we toured waite phillips home on the ranch. the actual house was pretty cool, but the tour guide was really annoying. after we finished the tour i had the rest of the day off. alex and i cleaned out our tent and listened to music. tonight we heard about some party in cimarron where there will be a live dj. i bet it will be pretty crazy.
my first trek i think will be either monday or tuesday. it depends on how many rangers are ahead of me in seniority. im pretty pumped to get back on the trail. i hope i can remember all the skills and information i was taught last week. if i don't, i'll just lie about it and try to sound like i know what im talking about. we'll see.

ranger training

alot has happened since my last post. first of all i was assigned to a "training crew" consisting of 7 other guys from all over the u.s. and a ranger trainer. prior to this, i had never met any of the guys in my group and didn't know what to expect. we left last saturday for a 6 day ranger trek. during this trek, we were going to be taught all the knowledge and skills needed to lead scout trek later on this summer. we left base camp around 2:30 saturday and headed towards lover's leap turn around to begin our adventure. the first day was pretty slow for the most part. everyone was pretty reserved and didn't talk much. we hiked around 5 or 6 miles to a small camp called north fork euraka. this was a pretty small camp and was in a valley. we arrived at camp around night fall, so we didn't have much time to set up camp and eat dinner before dark. we woke up around 8 that next morning and headed on towards the phillips family private hunting camp. while on the trail, we went through a few large climbs that definitely tested our fitness, but i felt pretty good through the hike. we hiked around 7 miles and made it to hunting camp around 4 in the afternoon. once we arrived, my tent partner and i started making dinner for the crew while everyone else began purifying water and hanging the bear bag. we cooked dehydrated macaroni and cheese and green beans. no one really liked our meal and they all teased the cooks for his bad cooking skills. we went to bed around 10 and woke up the next morning and began our journey to cypher's mine. while on the way to cypher's mine, we had a total 53 river crossings and by the end, we were all soaked. this was my favorite hike so far. the trail was beautiful and i kept seeing sites that took my breath away. when we arrived at cypher's mine, we ate lunch on the front porch and made snow cones out of a patch of snow and gatorade mix. these snow cones were the best i have ever had. im not sure how of that was due to the fact i had not eaten a real meal since saturday, but i was very impressed. that night we slept on the front porch and woke up around 8 to head to black mountain. the trip to black mountain was a climb in the beginning, but the last half was almost completely down hill so we made it to camp in no time. while at camp, we found an old black smith's forge and messed around in it. i found a few muzzle loader bullets and smashed them down on the anvil to make 3 coins. i made one for myself, one for my brother sam, and one for one of my friends sophie. i intially smashed the bullets down to the size of quarters then used a drill bit to make different designs in them. after that we headed to bed and woke up that next morning to 35 degree weather. it was very cold and all i had was a fleece pullover and shorts. it was shivering until we started hiking. we headed to a cattle camp called baubine where there was a ranger challenge. we competed against all the other ranger training crews in different competitions. my crew did okay, for the most part, we didn't really care that much about winning, the prize really wasn't worth it. after the games were over, they served us steak and corn salad. this steak was the first meal that i had eaten in 5 days that didn't involve adding boiling water to dehydrated powder. after we finished eating, we decided to hike another 9 miles so that our last day would be an easy hike in. while on the hike, about 6 miles into it, we came across a bear in the middle of a meadow. we watched it for a while then decided to chase it and see where it would go. as soon as we ran towards it, it ran up the side of the mountain where we couldn't climb. after we got to our designated camp, the stockcade, we decided to sleep on the roof of this fort. the roof was made out of tin and during various parts of the night i would begin to slide a few feet until i would wake up and climb back to my original spot. i did this few times until around 3 a.m. i decided to climb into the main cabin of the fort. my decision to climb into the cabin turned out to be a smart one, because around 5:30 a sudden shower of rain soaked everyone sleeping outside on the roof. the rain continued throughout the morning and sometimes turned to sleet. there was up to 3 inched of snow in places of the ranch. we hung out in the cabin for a few hours until it was time for us all to take the RAT (ranger apptitude test). the test for the most part was pretty easy and i think i passed it pretty handily. after the test, we headed back to base camp and took showers and we to cimarron to eat lunch and a hamburger diner. the food tasted amazing and i every bit of my cheeseburger and onion rings. after we got back from cimarron, my family came to visit. they were on their way to a family reunion in red river. i was so nice to see them. they brought some clothes and gear that i left in tulsa. after they left i cleaned my clothes and took a nap. tomorrow is the official ranger day off, so im going to drive to toas and look around. we might go to this bridge and jump off into a river if it's not too cold. and for dinner, my parents and sam are going to drive to toas and take me somewhere to eat. im pretty excited about tom. it should be fun.

Day 2

yesterday after we ate dinner, we all went to the trading post to pick up our ranger shirts and buy our philmont shorts. overall the philmont uniform is pretty fly. we look like legit rangers in our uniforms. after we bought our clothes, we walked over to the phillips family villa to a country western dance for all the staff members. it was pretty crazy. after that we just hung out then went to our tents to sleep. in the middle of the night, the craziest storm i had ever witnessed came through. we are staying in these large canvas tents that seem pretty sturdy, but the winds were so strong that i was pretty sure my tent was coming down. today will be pretty relaxed, we don't have any real responsibilties so i think we will just go to town or something. tomorrow is when the real work starts. i think we will head out on our ranger trek in two days. i've heard the rangers trek is alot of fun so i'm really looking forward to it. we were told, all we will be doing is backpacking alot and hanging out with the other rangers.

Day 1

today alex and i left for cimarron nm. we left tulsa around 5 am and arrived at philmont around 3 pm. we checked in and set up our tent. other than that it was pretty uneventful. the day after tomorrow is when the actual ranger training starts, so im looking forward to then. the mountains are beautiful. and i am very excited to be spending the rest of my summer here.