Philmont Day 4 - July 20, 2014

‎Our ranger left us this morning. He was hiking back to the pick up point for a ride back to base camp to pickup his next crew. He was really good with our scouts so we were sorry to see him go. Had he remained with us any longer though he would have become a crutch for the scouts. Time to leave the nest. 

The day did not turn out exactly as planned. We were hiking from Metcalf Station Camp to Sealy Canyon camp. We got on the trail early but got lost (I mean temporarily disoriented) on two separate occasions. This extended the hike from what was supposed to be 7 or 8 miles to about 12 miles. We knew that water was going to be tight, so we all left with 4 + liters. We started running low after we got lost the second time. Fortunately, we found a creek (thanks Bradley) and were able to filter enough water to get us to our destination. When you are running low on water in a desert environment, you realize very quickly the number one priority is water, followed by shelter, followed by food. You get back to basics really quick.

This portion of the trek took us into an area called the Valle Vidal. This is not part of Philmont Scout Ranch proper, but rather an adjunct property that gave BSA a long-term lease to use the property. This area is truly remote wilderness, even more so than PSR. We weren't fully aware of this when we selected our trek as it requires a heavy reliance on map & compass skills as well as land navigation and orienteering. Most of PSR is hiking on well marked trails. Many parts of the Valle Vidal are going "bushwacking" from point A to point B. This was a lesson learned for us but we turned this challenge into an opportunity over the coming days. 

Once we arrived at camp the rest of the evening went fine. Everyone was tired and I ended up pretty dehydrated with some altitude sickness (splitting headache). Seally Canyon camp is at approx. 8,000 ft as compared to base camp at 6,000 ft‎.  I figured I consumed 8 or 9 liters of water that day, but still not enough. 

I was impressed‎ at how well the crew held together through the adversity of the day. Nothing sinks morale quicker than realizing you are lost and have to backtrack to your last known spot and start over. 

Tomorrow's hike should go much better. We are anticipating 5 - 6 miles to Whiteman Vega camp via our food pickup at Ring Place camp.