It’s been a few weeks since we last posted a recipe, and there’s some good reason behind that! My son and I went with a crew of ten people from his troop to Philmont Scout Ranch to do a twelve day backpacking trek in the New Mexican wilderness of the Sangre de Cristo mountains.
This trip was an incredible experience. I did a twelve day trek at Philmont when I was 15 years old, and now as an adult, I was able to share this adventure with my son. The first time around, I was a crew member responsible for helping with the crew work…”cooking,” cleaning, putting up and taking down the bear bags, etc. This time, I wore a vastly different hat, with just two responsibilities:
- Make sure all the scouts came home in one piece
- Stay in the background and allow the boys to make mistakes…then help them learn and grow from them.
Given my new responsibilities for this trek, my experience over the twelve days was very different…but the sense of accomplishment after we arrived at base camp was equally overwhelming. As with all Philmont treks, there were highs and the lows of the trip. There was intense physical, emotional, and mental grind. There were amazing views and once in a lifetime memories. And, through it all, a piece of Philmont permanently implanted itself in my soul again. Below are some of those moments. We’ll be back with more recipes in short order!
First, the views:
The “Food”…aka my most intense moments of existential crisis:
The Backcountry Experience:
The Finale:
