In late July, Nicholas joined 5 other boys and 3 dads from his Boy Scout Troop 1134 on an epic high adventure at Philmont! This trip was the absolute epitome of Scouting! Philmont Scout Ranch, founded in 1938, is a 140,177 acre rugged mountainous ranch in northern New Mexico, that ranges in elevation from 6500 to 12,441 feet. Nicholas' group hiked 45 miles over the course of 6 days and 5 nights, while camping and living out of their backpacks. Each day included varied landscape, but all with challenging terrain to scale, while carrying packs that averaged about 50lbs each. They tent camped, cooked their meals, hung bear bags, and withstood significant lighting/rain storms every day. They also toured old gold mines and went rifle shooting and blacksmithing. Unfortunately, the shotgun shooting and horseback riding that were planned got canceled due to rainstorms. But Nicholas had such an amazing fun trip! He came back saying it was super challenging, but he felt such a sense of accomplishment. He absolutely loved the time away from the modern world, seeing only the wilderness for a week. We are so proud of him for taking on and conquering this challenge!
The flew into Albuquerque (after a very last minute cancellation of their Denver flight)
Checking out the near by town of Cimarron
Wide open spaces
gearing up
Pre trail education
spooky hotel tour
Their quarters at the ranch - they stayed her 2 nights before and 2 nights after their time on the trail.
Mapping out their planned itinerary
Mass and send off blessings
A little ranch entertainment
And here they go - off onto the trail for the week.....
Rifle shooting
Hiking through the burn scar
Trail conservation work
Learning to lasso
They made it back safely!
Tooth of Time
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