It seemed like I had waited my whole life for Philmont. I had heard about it when I had joined Boy Scouts, and had wanted ever so badly to go since. The memories I made there, I will remember for the rest of my life.
Before Philmont I was filled with anticipation (and maybe a little nervous, I did not want to be shown up by my friends!). I did want to go on one last camping trip with my friends that I had been on so many with before. I also wanted to go hiking, but not on Black Mountain, that did not look like much fun. The time came sooner than expected, and we got in the cars and started driving.
We stayed at base camp for a day and then got up early the next morning to leave. A bus dropped us off at our trail, and I turned around to see the last glimpse of civilization I would see for 10 days. We started to hike and didn’t turn back.
The first day was harder than I expected, and I probably heard two hundred “are we there yets”. The trail was steep and long, or at least it seemed like it. I was actually I shortest and flattest day. When we finally got to our first camp, it started pouring, and I thought, “what have I signed myself up for?”.
Soon we became more and more used to life on the trails. The hikes started to become easier, and we found new ways to entertain ourselves without cellphones or electricity (I didn’t think that was possible). On our third day, we actually got to take showers! (It’s amazing how much we take for granted). The days continued to move on until that one fateful day… Black Mountain.
When I woke up in the morning I thought to myself, “Only one mile to the top”, with some enthusiasm. (I was excluding the fact that it was only one mile with 2100 feet of elevation climb.) We packed up camp and started our long short hike. We soon realized that not only did we have to hike up 2100 feet, but we had to hike up 2100 feet straight up with almost no switchbacks. By the time I was half way up, I thought my legs were going to fall off. From then on I probably went twenty to thirty steps at a time. When I thought I couldn’t go any further, the three scouts in front of me yelled that they were at the top. What a relief, I was almost done and was about to see the rewarding view at the top. I finally got to the top to see that the rewarding view consisted of a circle with a diameter of about 20 feet surrounded with trees and a stone that said you had made it. How rewarding! But, I had made it - one of the hardest hikes in my life (or probably the hardest).
It was mostly downhill from there. We cruised through the rest of the days without many problems. On the last two days, we ate dinners that were cooked for us and a went to place to buy root beer which was nice. (It’s not that we didn’t like freeze dried eggs, they had just gotten a little old.) The next day we arrived at base camp. We refreshed ourselves with real food, flushing toilets, and showers. We were living in luxury.
I learned a lot from Philmont. Some were small things like, don’t burn the food because the cooks have to eat any food no one else wants. (Burnt chicken and rice tasted great.) The main I learned was, If I really apply myself, I can accomplish anything, no matter how impossible it looks. Hiking Black Mountain especially took a bunch of determination and endurance, but I got through it. Our troop had a lot of fun at Philmont, and I’ll remember it for the rest of my life.