Reveille will come early after yesterday's hard trail and long day. some will climb the Tooth of Time and hopefully be there before sunrise. There isn't really a trail, just a hard climb over very large boulders. some of them larger than your own car. But the view from the top is spectacular and there is no better place to sit and watch the sun come up and think back over the last 2 weeks and reflect on our experiences.
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| Base camp from tooth of time |
Last trek, Charlie's crew climbed the Tooth for sunrise and my crew watched sunrise from the ridge next to camp, since we had climbed the Tooth the night before. The trail down to Base Camp is almost all downhill, but most of it is in the sun, and the trail switches back and forth at times going over the ridge away from base Camp. Until today we have traveled as separate crews, but today will we travel as Troop 50, all together. We will all wear our Troop 50 T-shirts today, and even through we've been 10 days on the trail we won't look quite so dirty.
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| Base Camp from Tooth of Time |
You can see Base Camp most of the way down, but at times it seems to be going away from us, rather than toward us. Because of no water sources along the way, it's a good idea to get an early start to beat the heat of the day. When we arrive at Base Camp, we will pass under a sign that says "Welcome Back You Made It".
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| The sign (not Michael's crew) |
Crew and individual pictures will be taken. We will then head into Base Camp to turn in our equipment we checked out when we went on the trail. We will see crews that have just arrived at Philmont, following their Rangers, and they will see us all dirty from being on the trail, we will look at them and all their clean gear and just smile.
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Tents at base camp
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Tent assignments will be given out and it will be time to hit the showers. We should be back in Base Camp and cleaned up in time for lunch in the dining hall. It is truly amazing after eating dehydrated food for 2 weeks just how truly wonderful a hot dog does taste. The rest of the afternoon is the boys' time to do as they want. hit the Trading Post for an ice cream cone, or to pick up a souvenir or two, and a phone call home to let oms know they are alright. The Advisory can lounge in their tents or hang out at the Adviser's lounge.
The Philmont Arrowheads will be handed out in the evening before the Chapel services at 7pm, a good time to thank God for allowing us the opportunity of enjoying his Creation. The closing campfire will be special, with everyone happy with a real sense of accomplishment. Then the camp staff will wow us with a great show of goofy songs, great skits, and a slide show. Last trek there was skit about a mini bear attack that had everyone in stitches. There will be questions like "How come when the Ranger was with us we only hiked 1 to 2 miles a day? But on the day the Ranger leaves, the crew hiked a dozen miles!!!!"
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Closing Campfire
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This is truly a great show and campfire, now I know why when we were at the opening campfire 2 weeks ago I could hear the closing campfire ceremony a half-mile away. The show ends with the passing out of the awards and finally the singing of the Philmont Hymn, sometimes emotion will flow and you finally realize what this song really does mean and now you know why those senior Scouters were standing at attention at opening campfire with tears in their eyes. Most of the gear will be packed tonite, as we will leave out early in the morning for the trip home. The stars at base Camp are once again excellent and you can hardly believe it is almost over for another trek. A thunderstorm in 2005 lit up the Tooth of Time for us as we prepared for bed, what a way to say goodnight.
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