Philmont Expedition 727-E1-1994 – 28 July 1994: Friendly Fire / Day 1: Hitting the Ground

Friendly Fire

One of the final challenges of the Junior Leader Training program was a patrol campout away from camp. Patrol members, largely strangers at the start of the week, would have to work together in an unfamiliar setting to set up camp, cook dinner, and get through the night. While not especially challenging on the surface, group dynamics can lead to problems.

On one occasion, I went with one of the patrol councilors and one other JLT staff member to check up on a patrol to see how they were settling in to their campout. Their site was on the other side of the lake, just past Family Camp. When we arrived at Family Camp, we saw the patrol members gathered there with one of them receiving medical attention.

Assessing the situation, we found that everything was under control. One of the kids had fallen into the fire and burned his hands on the rocks. The burns weren’t severe and the kid would be fine. But we didn’t buy the story.

We had seen the kid in question being picked on earlier. Nothing serious, but enough to be worth keeping an eye on. It’s not hard to see some light teasing turning into pushing. And on uneven ground with a fire nearby? We had no proof that anything like that happened, but it didn’t matter at this point. Whatever the cause, the patrol took action to get help for their injured patrol member. They could have ignored it, tried to hide it, or sent him off on his own, but they didn’t.

We stuck around for a while to make sure everyone was okay and to check for signs of any lingering issues. While being berated by the adults there for letting kids camp without adult supervision. Can’t have kids learning to survive on their own… We left later than scheduled and took the long way around the lake on the way back, conveniently missing most of that night’s staff meeting. After an initial shock, all was well.

Day 1: Hitting the Ground

“Oh no!” -Mike, making cobbler

There was no turning back now. Gear and food were issued and packed. Packs were weighed. Mine was 55 pounds, others ranged from 50 to 65 pounds. Dan pulled the kids aside to point out that the adults were carrying the heaviest packs and we should try to lighten their loads over the course of the trek.

The bus dropped us off about a mile from camp, giving us a short hike to get used to our packs and the terrain. When we arrived at Rayado River trail camp, it was still fairly early in the day. But we had a lot left to do. More than we were expecting…

First, setting up camp. Our tents and the dining fly needed to go up. The ground was soft, making it hard to stake the tents out. Next, assessing the resources. The river nearby made a good source of water, but we could not dispose anything into it. Instead, each site was equipped with a screen-covered sump for waste water. A latrine was located back down the trail a ways; they came in many forms, but most lacked privacy. In the other direction, there was a bear bag line that we practiced using.

Most importantly, there was a staffed camp with a cantina less than a mile away.

Once camp was set, we made the trip to the cantina while there was still light. In addition to the cantina, Abreu has burros, so we spent some time just watching them for the novelty. After a few root beers, we stocked up on snacks for the next few days and went back to camp to work on dinner.

One final piece of instruction we needed was how to manage a campfire. We had the option of dealing with it now or waiting until tomorrow. As a bonus, a fire meant that Mike could whip up some peach cobbler in the cast iron dutch oven he carried in his pack in place of, well, practically everything else. He didn’t even have a change of clothes.

We set to work gathering firewood and preparing dinner. Mike got to work mixing up peach cobbler mix in a ziploc bag. That wasn’t fully closed. The bag opened and got peach cobbler all over his shirt. His only shirt. But that was a problem for another time.

The cobbler itself turned out fine. We had our dinner and got to work cleaning up, setting the dishes out to dry on a small pine tree as instructed. Everything, Mike’s shirt aside, was coming together.

Well, almost. After dinner, Billy wasn’t feeling well. We should probably take him to a staffed camp to get checked out… A few of us volunteered to escort Billy to Abreu and have a few more root beers. Billy was fine and we returned to camp ready to declare success and rest up for our first real day on the trail.

As for Mike, he took things in stride and improvised a solution to his bear bait wardrobe malfunction. In the cold night air, he opened his tent, took a few steps back and, in a smooth motion, pulled off his shirt, ran towards his tent, threw his shirt up in a tree, and dove into the tent. Probably a bit more theatric than necessary, but it got the job done. And he would have to repeat the performance every night until he could get the shirt cleaned.

In the middle of the night, Billy and Keith each threw up twice. First a cobbler spill, now this. The soiled soil had to be collected into a ziploc bag (carefully sealed) and would need to be packed out with us, spending its nights up in a bear bag. Things were starting to get complicated.

Next: 29 July 1994: March Madness / Day 2: Ashes to Ice