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Last Day, From Philmont to Oregon
We are up early again. Mike passed out the group pictures that
had been taken on Day 1, our training day at base camp. We have
gathered all of our gear, backpacks, boxes, suitcases, duffels,
etc. in preparation for the departure for Albuquerque. Before
going to breakfast in the cafeteria, we must take all of the
luggage to the parking lot and make a packline. We have become
very good at making a packline. There is enough equipment that it
takes everyone several trips to get it all there. Where did all of
this stuff come from?
There is a little slack time for those of us that finished early.
The sun is warming the desert air and Stewart is playing his
harmonica. I think I recognize the tune.
Once everything is out of the tents we sweep them out and do a
final inspection to make certain nothing is left behind. The last
thing is to find a staffer to check us out. That goes smoothly and
all the luggage is at the parking lot waiting for the coach to
arrive. Time to go the cafeteria for breakfast.
After breakfast the gear was loaded into the coach and we drove
down the hill to the small town of Ciamarron for a brief visit
at the famous St. James Hotel. The St. James is famous for gun
fights and early old west history. Bullet holes can still be seen
in the ceiling. The hotel was opened by a Henry Lambert, who had
moved from a similar establishment in the Baldy Mountain gold
mining district in the north country of Philmont, to Cimarron in the
early 1870's. We had hiked past Lamberts Mine on the way to
Cyphers Mine on our trek. Lambert claimed to have been a cook for
General U.S. Grant during the battle of Vicksburg. If this is
true, he probably knew my Great Grandfather who was on Grant's
staff at that time.
After leaving the St. James we climbed back on the coach for the
drive to Albuquerque. Now that I could recognize the mountains of
Philmont I watched to see how long they could be seen from the
highway which follows the old Santa Fe trail. The Tooth of Time is
the easiest to recognize. From the south, it can be seen from a point
just north of Wagon Mound at the turn off to Fox Fire Ranch.
On the drive out we again saw antelope as well as coyote, bison,
roadrunner and tumble weeds. Our new driver was knowledgeable
about the area and pointed out landmarks as we drove along. His
home was in Colorado.
Not too far down the road a noise developed in the coach engine
that required us to stop five times to find and fix. A bolt on the
alternator had worked itself loose and had come into contact with
the engine fan. Each time it was tightened it would work itself
loose and we would have to stop again. Duck tape finally came to
the rescue and we were able to get to the airport with just a few
minutes to spare. We needed those minutes to repack and secure our
equipment for the flight back to Portland. I loaded my pack into
heavy plastic bags and then taped them tightly to discourage
pilfering. All of our equipment made it safely through with us
this time.
There was a 3 hour layover at the Denver airport. We had some
time to explore the airport concourse or sit and watch some TV.
The scouts found an ice cream shop where the prices were a little
high, but we really needed that ice cream.
Back on the plane we had a light dinner and after 13 days out we
arrived back in Portland where we were met by our families. I now
sported a 13 day beard and reportedly looked a lot slimmer after
after our adventure in the Rocky Mountains of New Mexico.
The only down side for me was that after I got my 6 roles of film
back from the photo processing I found that about half of the
slides were too dark. Since the camera is totally automatic and
has been checked out, I have to assume that the film which I picked
up at the trading post on the trek must have been outdated. That
means I will have to return to Philmont another time to take those
pictures over again.
The dream goes on.....
It should be noted that on our expedition only 1 of our 10 scouts was an Eagle scout. By their 18th birthday 9 or those 10 have become Eagles.
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