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Our Troop took two Treks (18 people) to Philmont in late June 1998.  These three web pages are sort of a "best-of" excerpt of our Collective Troop 674 CD, which has pictures from 9 different crew members.   Each of these pictures are "thumb-nails", click on them for full size versions of the pictures.

On the way to Philmont, we stopped at Independence Missouri, Harry S Truman's home town.  We stopped to visit a reconstructed fort: "Bent's Old Fort", just 8 miles east of La Junta, Colorado.  In La Junta Colorado, we stayed in the Koshare Indian Kiva.  The Koshare Indian dancers are nationally renown for their dance and costumes.  We were treated to a private tour of their costuming area, as well as the Kiva itself; we shared the Kiva that night with another Troop also on the way to Philmont.

After leaving La Junta, we stopped at a military firing range where there was a tank for the boys to clamber on.  The temperature here must have dropped 30 degrees - which felt pretty good after the 90+ the day before.

Arriving at Philmont basecamp, we were assigned equipment, and prepared to hit the trail the next day.  Brian Williams was the L1 crew Ranger, John Campbell was the L2 crew Ranger.  These young men were to be our mentors for the next 3 days, as they prepared us for the rigors of life on the Philmont trails.  We were lucky to have these men as our Rangers, each did a wonderful job.

First night on the trail we spent at Bent Camp, where we learned how to cook the Philmont way, and to hang our Bear Bags.  Next night we spent a Dan Beard the northern most camp in Philmont, the next five days we would spend in the Valle Vidal, National Forest land - we would have to find our own bear bag trees - no permanent bear lines in the Valle.  We also left the luxury of the "Red Roof Inns" behind, and learned how to dig Cat holes.

This would be our last night with our Rangers, they'd be heading back to base camp in the morning;  many in our crews were sad to lose their new friends.   We exchanged E-Mail addresses, and our Thanks, and we gave each of our Rangers a Troop 674 crew T-Shirt to remember us by.

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