Day 5
During the night we had
a wind storm
blow through our camp, the gusts were so strong
that I knew the next one would be trouble of
some kind. Our tent would lay over on top of
us with each wave. Somehow all the tents held
during the storm but come morning we did
find the dining fly did stay where we put it.
This seems like little
damage and it was but
the strength of the winds were very alarming. There is
a lot of dead timber in this camp site that could
have caused us big problems. We had breakfast and
prepared to hit the trail.
All of the Philmont
Rangers we meet were
very impressive young people but we were glad
we had Blake. We knew that if we came under attack
from the dark side that we had the right man
for the job. As you can see below our
little Jedi Knight came prepared!!
Ranger Blake impresses
the crew with
his light saber skills.
The trail from Devil's
Wash Basin to our
next camp, Aspen Springs was very scenic.
Next up in our adventure
was our first
food pick up at Ute Gulch Commissary. We had not been
able to eat all the food we lift base camp
with and it was already time to get more. Conversations
with other treks confirmed they had the same
problem. We decided to go through our new
rations as well as the food we still had and turn some
back in to help reduce our pack weights.
This was also the point
in our journey that we said
good bye to our Ranger. Blake wished us well and took
off back to base camp for a shower, hot
meal and a new trek. We had learned a lot from him.
Blake, may the force be with you!!
Where do you like fat girls from???
This decision turned out
to be a good one. We still
had more food than we could eat and the
weight we did not carry really helped some of us.
The bear precautions
started to mean more after
seeing the wire and electric fences on the
buildings. Was Blake for real on this bear stuff??
After we ate lunch we
pack up, checked the map
and took off to Aspen Springs.
Aspen Springs was our
rock climbing activity but no
one was up for it. Several of us took a side
hike to tour Wade Phillip's hunting lodge while
the others rested in camp.
The lodge was
beautifully restored with many
artifacts from the time Mr. Phillips used the
cabin. Our tour guide told how Mr. Phillips would
let the mountain lion hunters stay at the cabin and
how he loved to spend time with them.
This was a very pretty part of Philmont.
Back at camp in Aspen
Springs we had some
rest and supper. We were ready for both.
Everyone was excited
that Reid volunteered to
sumped our dishes for us!
Yes, we even had ice
cream in the back country
and it wasn't too bad.
Time for some sleep, we
had a long big
climb in front of us tomorrow.