Introduction Colorado Philmont Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Base Home Again
The Cover Why graphic distances are different from narrative distances

On The Trail: Philmont 1979

This site presents my journal of a 1979 trek through Philmont, written days after returning home. Parts of it have been added recently, 25 years after the trip, and these sections are labeled as such.

I have not attempted to gloss over my recollections, written when I was 16 years old. They are, for the most part, unedited (except where spelling and grammar are concerned), so any uncomplimentary descriptions of people or events are the opinions of a 16-year-old. If any of my crewmates read this and would like to provide a different perspective, I welcome it!

On each page describing our time on the trail is a topo map of that day's trek and a graph that shows the horizontal difference with the topography, giving an idea of the altitudes we traversed along the way. Rolling your mouse over the topo map will display a larger version of that map.

If you notice, the distances on the altitude graphics don't always mesh with the distances in the narrative. That can be explained geometrically. The greater the vertical change in a given day, the greater the total distance. The altitude graphics only display the horizontal distance. (See, I actually did remember some of that high school math!) In cases where the altitude graph is large, rollover the graph displayed to see the full-sized graph.

 

The Lead Up

In 1978, on the verge of completing the requirements for Eagle, my parents offered me the opportunity to go to Philmont as a reward for achieving Scouting's highest rank. Of course, I jumped at the chance, as any scout would.

Since no one else from my troop was going, I was put into a crew of other scouts whose troops didn't have enough interest to form a complete crew. I'll let the following pages present the details of these individuals.

We met together many times, both as a contingent (multiple crews) and as a crew. At the first contengent meeting they asked for neckerchief designs. Neckerchiefs were going to be made for the entire contingent, and they wanted a scout to design it. As soon as I got home I sketched out what I envisioned, polished it a bit, added color, and submitted it. My design was selected over about 20 other designs. The image above shows the neckerchief that I designed for our contingent. (Little did I know that I would eventually be involved in graphic design as part of my career.)

As a crew, we met to go over itineraries, select the crew chief and assistant crew chief, and go on "get acquainted" campouts. We trained on our own and as a crew in an attempt to do some team building. I spent the months leading up to the trip focusing on completing the Eagle requirements and training for Philmont, taking afternoon hikes with a pack full of rocks.

The Crew:

  • Lester Friedman – Adult Adviser
  • Scott Gordon, North Plainfield – Crew Chief
  • Greg Para, North Plainfield – Assistant Crew Chief
  • Greg Conover, Summit (me)
  • Drew Flohn, Warren
  • Mike Freedman
  • Frank Pirozzi
  • Mark Nevitt, Manville
  • Mark Kulick
  • Tom Strong
  • Jim Bowman

The Guides:

  • Peg Van Valen – Trail Guide for days 1 and 2
  • Jim “Friz” Ellis – Guide after Lester left on day 4

 

The photo to the left was taken before we left for the trail. Of course, I'm the one taking the photo so I'm not in it.

Back Row: Scott Gordon, Mark Kulick, Mark Nevitt, Drew Flohn, Tom Strong

Front Row: Peg Van Valen, Mike Freedman, Lester Friedman, Jim Bowman, Frank Pirozzi, Greg Para

So now that you've gotten the background and met the crew, let's get to it!

Arrival in Colorado