By Jonathan Stevens
Scouts BSA
A crew of 15 teenage scouts and 8 adult leaders are training to go on a life-changing trek this summer through the Sangre de Cristo Mountains at Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico. The scouts are from the Northside of Madison, Sun Prairie, DeForest, McFarland and Beloit.
Philmont covers 214 square miles of vast wilderness with trails that climb from 6,500 feet to as high as 12,441 feet. The group, Crew #616-M, consists of girls and boys mainly from Northside Troops 127 and 7127 and McFarland Troop 53. They plan to depart Wisconsin June 15 and travel by bus and train to New Mexico, where they will hike over 60 miles in 12 days.
The scouts and their advisors will carry everything they need to survive during the trek on their backs while hiking from camp to camp. They will participate in backcountry programs along the way, including rock climbing, rappelling, blacksmithing and gold prospecting.
The trek includes a conservation project where scouts will learn and participate in the upkeep of Philmont’s ecosystem. Along the trek, scouts will endure tough challenges, including backpacking in bear and mountain lion territory, steep climbs, and inclement weather.
To prepare, crew members are training to improve their physical preparedness and learning backcountry survival skills. The crew recently spent a weekend at Devils Lake State Park where they hiked over 15 miles while carrying all their equipment.
“They may meet only one other group of scouts on the trail in an entire day of hiking,” according to Backpacker Magazine. “Even in the most crowded destinations, each scout group camps in isolation, out of sight and sound of all other groups.”
The crew is making what amounts to a scouting pilgrimage with their trip. Philmont Scout Ranch is the Boy Scouts of America’s premier high adventure camp and the largest youth camp in the world, serving nearly one million participants since 1938.
To learn more about Northside BSA Troops 127 and 7127, visit www.troop127.
