I finished journaling at 10:40pm last night and climbed into bed. I was violently attacked by the pillow and sleep hit me like a ton of bricks

Robert’s alarm woke me at 4:45am. I got up, got dressed, and did my little final packing – I must note here that I did not pack my pillow and it was lost forever here – and then went to the front desk to check for any additional charges. We woke the crew and I loaded everything – except my pillow – into the van. The group got around on time and we pulled out of Taos at 5:15am.

A slow, safe drive got us to Philmont at 6:40am. Crew Leaders checked us in at the Welcome Center, then we went to the dining hall for breakfast at 7am. After breakfast, we unloaded the trailers and made pack lines at the Welcome Center.

Our ranger, Timothy “Tim” Aaron Wood, met us at 8:15am. He is a junior at Texas Tech in Lubbock.

Tim took us straight to logistics and I went into administration for the required paperwork for all of the crews – crew rosters, crew talent releases, first aid/CPR certifications, photo orders, and any final payments. I had all of the paperwork ready and organized and Jo was very impressed that the process went so quickly. I finished in administration before Travis and Elmer finished in logistics. (Crew 2 was awarded a ribbon – “La Docena Adventurado” or “the adventurous dozen” – for having a full crew. Extra photos, crew or contingent, were only $5 each, and they DO NOT take credit cards). Tim covered map and compass basics and began covering first aid with the crew while waiting for Travis and Elmer to finish in logistics.

After logistics, Tim took us over to the med shack for medical rechecks. This process went much faster than anticipated. The only person in our crew they weighed was Travis. I never even saw the scales. My blood pressure was borderline high, but I passed without question. Tim finished up covering first aid while the crew completed medical rechecks.

After rechecks, Tim took us back to the Welcome Center to get us checked into tent city (no tents were available when we arrived earlier this morning). From there, Tim took us up to our tents to drop our packs, then he took us up to the services building to check out crew gear (we only checked out the sump Frisbee and spatula, Micro Pure tablets, and the two bear ropes forced on us by Tim) and pick up our first four days of food. The crew was introduced to “Scott,” our newest friend. No longer will toilet paper be known as “AP.” Scott will stick with you through thick and thin, and will always be behind you no matter the trouble. The commissary guy was very funny and very informative. Lunch time was quickly approaching so Elmer, Robert, & I quickly lugged our food-laden bear bags out to the van and met the crew in front of the dining hall for the rangers’ pre-meal show just before 11:30am.

We smoked through the base camp marathon, with only our shakedown and photos to go. Shakedown would be immediately after lunch and photos would be at 7:15am in the morning before our 8am bus to Zastrow Turnaround.

After lunch, the crew met out under the cottonwoods behind services for the required gear shakedown. This took about one-half hour (I think Tim was beginning to understand that the crew was already very well prepared).

After the shakedown, the crew had free time until dinner at 5pm. Sarah and I searched out a working pay phone and called Pamela. I talked for a few minutes, then gave the phone to Sarah and went over to the trading post. A yellow plaid Columbia shirt was calling my name. I grabbed an ice cream after making my purchase and joined Robin on the patio for some journaling. While I was writing, clouds were building back over Urraca and Tooth ridge and a storm gust came through base camp causing a mini dust bowl for about 20 minutes. The dust stayed up by the dining hall and admin building for the most part, but could be seen from our vantage point on the patio. Before the wind, base camp was very hot and dry. Even though it didn’t rain in base camp, the temperature cooled nicely after the wind. Later, Elmer, Robert, & I walked over to logistics to give them a crew t-shirt for their wall and to copy down the water board – all running or ample. The guys in there were great, and let us look over the “Big Board” at our camps to see how crowded they would be. For the most part, we would be nearly alone at our camps. When we finished in logistics, I walked back to the snack bar and gave them one of our custom CSPs to put on their wall map.

The crew met over at our tents at 4:15pm to discuss tomorrow morning’s plans and I went an grabbed our Class A shirts for dinner and chapel. Another bad dining hall meal was had at 5:00pm, then all of the advisors went to the advisors’ meeting at 5:45pm. Philmont now provides coffee singles to advisors – they are kept in the advisors meeting room and are available all of the time.

Chapel began at 7pm. By then it was mostly clear and very pleasant. The views from the protestant chapel were still beautiful. After chapel, we returned to our tents to shed the uniforms and grab something warm to wear to opening campfire. All trail bound crews met at the Welcome Center at 8:15pm and had a roll call before walking over to the opening campfire area. The campfire was unchanged from the other four times I’d seen it, but seemed to go much faster than previous renditions.

After the campfire, the crew had a meeting with Tim over at the snack bar patio. After he had covered his information, we had our TB&R, then presented Tim with a crew t-shirt & CSP, and a tie-dyed hat like the crew wore. The crew was dismissed, and Elmer & I talked with Tim about some concerns (our way vs. his preferred way and bear ropes were the major issues). We came to a compromise that we all liked.

We finished our little meeting at 10:30pm, then I went over to the advisors’ lounge for a shower. I had no towel (left it in the van) and had to use a bandana which worked just as well. After the shower I got all of my gear ready for the 5am alarm. Once that task was completed, I journaled until 11:45pm. A very good, busy first day.

The crew was awesome. They stayed focused and on time all day. Day 1 went as smoothly and quickly as possible.

(journal of Shane Hoffman)