Non-Profit Organization U.S. POSTAGE PAID CIMARRON NM Permit 8 17 DEER RUN ROAD CIMARRON NM 87714 Mission The Philmont Staff Association (PSA) unites the Philmont staff—past and present— for the purpose of serving the adventure, heritage and experience of Philmont Scout Ranch and the Boy Scouts of America. Our Mission check us out! www.philstaff.com HIGH COUNTRY JUNE 2015 VOLUME 38, NUMBER 3 T HE MAGAZINE OF THE P HILMONT S TAFF A SSOCIATION ® ® Chope Phillips, son of Waite and Genevieve Phillips, dies at 97. See story on page 20.
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m high countrYJune 2015 Volume 38, number 3
Th e ma g a z i n e o f T h e Ph i l m o n T STa f f aS S o c i aT i o n ®
®
Chope Phillips, son of Waite and Genevieve Phillips, dies at 97. See story on page 20.
Volume 38, Number 3— JuNe 2015 from the prez 3 Volume 38, Number 3— JuNe 2015
memberS only acceSS
uSer name: flumecanyon
PaSSword: ponilcamp
Philmont Staff aSSociation®
Board of directorS
John murPhy, PreSidentcolleen nutter, Vice PreSident, memBerShiP
tim roSSeiSen, Vice PreSident, SerViceWarren Smith, Vice PreSident, deVeloPment
adam fromm, Secretarymatt lindSey, treaSurer
national directorS: amy Boyle, Ken daViS, Bryan delaney, catherine huBBard, lee hucKSteP, dr.
dan miller, SteVe ricKregional directorS: northeaSt - Kathleen Seitz,
ricK touchettecentral - mitch Standard, Phil Winegardner
Southern - anne marie PinKenBurg, doug WahlWeStern - nancy SticKelman, michael Waggoner
Jim lynch, immediate PaSt PreSidentmarK anderSon, Philmont Staff adViSor
ex officio memBerS: emery corley, legal adViSor, douglaS faSching, technology manager
randy SaunderS, executiVe directordollie o’niell, office manager
HigH CouNtry®—Volume 38, numBer 3June 2015
ed PeaSe, editormarK dierKer, layout editor
randy SaunderS, aSSociate editor
Bill caSS, coPy editor
daVe KenneKe, Staff contriButor
KeVin “leVi” thomaS, cartooniSt
conTribuTing ediTorS: roBert BirKBy, daVid caffey, Bill caSS, gregory hoBBS, Warren Smith , marK
Stinnett, mary StueVer, StePhen zimmer
conTribuTing wriTerS: cathy huBBard lee hucKSteP colleen leSter JaSon maScitti dan miller
The year moves on and sometimes we (I am guilty, too!) take for granted all the preparation and hard work by Ranch Management and Staff to get ready for the 23,000 Scouts and Scout-ers who will pass through the gates and head for the trails this summer. Making sure the Philmont Training Center, Base Camp and all the Backcountry camps are cleaned, stocked, staffed and ready is a huge undertaking. The complex year-round operation of the Ranch re-quires hours of planning, training and execution. As current and former staffers, we have each played an important role in building Philmont to be the best place it can be. Making a difference! Leaving your mark! It is fun to look back and reflect on our times there, but it is just as important to look to the future. I had the pleasure of being at the Ranch in April to see Kevin Dowling announced as the new General Manager. Let me tell you, Philmont is in great hands. Of course, it was bittersweet as we had to wish John and Janice Clark well as they move on. We definitely will miss them, but know both they and Philmont have great times ahead. Speaking of the future, while I was there in April, Mark Anderson showed our Board of Directors the new staked location for the Seton Museum and Library expansion which includes a new location for the PSA. YES! We will be moving our office to become part of the expanded Philmont Educational Center!! Moving here will increase our visibility and put us in a better posi-tion to support the Ranch. I could not be more excited as we look forward to
from the president
continuing the great traditions of high adventure found at Philmont. Here is how you can step up your support for the PSA as we point to the future:
StAY ActiVE - Renew your mem-bership and encourage others to do the same. Recruit your friends to join. gEt inVoLVED - Join in on PSA Reunions and Regional Events. Become part of a PSA committee. SuPPort PhiLMont - The Santa Fe Trail Campaign, one of the most important expansions ever at the Ranch is under way. Philmont has asked the PSA to join them and help raise funds for this project.
The Santa Fe Trail Campaign will include expansion for the Philmont Museum and Seton Memorial Library building, new parking, the PSA Service Center, and the Waite Phillips Service Station replica and historic vehicle col-lection. This project will create an Edu-cational Center and new arrival point for visitors to the Ranch. More impor-tantly, it will highlight the location of one of the most important collections of books, documents, artifacts and re-search of Northern New Mexico culture and history. As we move forward with our portion of the campaign in the com-ing months, be thinking about how you can join in with the PSA and continue being a significant part of the future of Philmont.
John MurphyPSA President
Cover art by Alan Polt
2
bulletin board 5 4 from the editor Volume 38, Number 3— JuNe 2015 Volume 38, Number 3— JuNe 2015
BULLETIn BOARd Upcoming PSA® Events
PSA Weekend at the Summit – June 19-20, 2015Summit Bechtel Reserve, Beckley, WV
For the great majority of our members, High Country magazine is the Philmont Staff Association. While the PSA has dramatically broadened its reach and the scope of its service through the years, most of us maintain our primary contact with the Ranch by way of the little magazine that has over time be-come central to Philmont communica-tion and the PSA brand. So, those of us who make up the PSA’s Publications Committee are very careful whenever we consider changes in the magazine. We survey our read-ers (and occasionally our non-readers) about the content, the format, the “look and feel” of High Country. We consider new content ideas, add new writ-ers, shift some columns and/or other material from the magazine to the PSA website, and all very carefully. Our surveys show broad support for both the content and the layout of the magazine – and while the commit-tee takes satisfaction in the approval, the very satisfaction causes us to be perhaps even more cautious in consid-ering modifications. About the only message for change that we received consistently was that our readers wanted more of what we were already
providing. Our response has been to increase the number of pages per issue (from 32 to 40 over the last five years), to add limited special edition online-only issues (covering writing and photography by the seasonal staff), and to add occasional single-issue special editions which allow us to address a particular subject in much greater depth. With this issue, you will note design changes which have been on the discus-sion table for some time. Their intent is twofold: to give High Country a fresh look without substantially changing its distinctive feel, and to “buy” ourselves another page for content by condensing much of the material formerly found in the masthead and on the Table of Contents page. We think we held on to our tradi-tion and moved us forward at the same time. We hope that you agree. Please let us know, and please continue send-ing us your ideas for the future. Many of you will already have recognized ideas you sent us through the years incorporated into the pages of our favorite little magazine. Thank you for your continuing help and support.
Phil-trivia correction
In our last issue, we reported that Dave Kenneke, Philmont’s new Facilities Super-intendent, is the third person to rise from the ranks of the seasonal staff to one of the top four ranch management positions reporting to the general manager. He’s actually the sixth. Former PSA president Don Wilson, after serving on the seasonal staff and then becoming a professional Scouter, joined the Philmont permanent staff in 1967 and became its Business Services Manager (then one of the top positions) in 1968. After he left that post in 1971, former seasonal staffer Jimmie Goldstein filled the
*thE SuMMEr oF ’65*request for Articles
The August 2015 issue of High Country will focus on Philmont’s “Summer of ‘65.” And while that season is most remembered for the flooding
at Fish Camp, the impact was felt throughout the Ranch. If you have a story – flood-related or otherwise – about the “Summer of ’65,” we’d like to see it. If
you don’t yet have it written, but would like to submit a concept for consideration, we’d welcome that also. And if you don’t have either, but have
a high quality, interesting photo, we’ll give it a look, too!
Please send articles/proposals to Randy Saunders [email protected]. Thank you!
same position for several years. But the earliest seasonal staffer to eventually in-vade the ranks of management was Bob Knox, who worked summers at Philmont in the late 1940s. After various stints back at the ranch, he eventually served as Ranch Superintendent in the 1970s. Philmont is a better place because of the service each provided.
6 psa news psa news 7 Volume 38, Number 3— JuNe 2015 Volume 38, Number 3— JuNe 2015
psa® news
rayado Scholarships
Chuck Morales Memorial ScholarshipJenna Trione, Burlington, WIThree Harbors Council, WI$600
Chuck Morales Memorial ScholarshipJustyn Beckham, El Cajon, CASan Diego Imperial Council, CA $625
David Terrey Memorial ScholarshipArizona Duff, Oregon City, ORCascade Pacific Council, OR $675
John Vogt Memorial ScholarshipKathleen Blanch, Kansas City, MOHeart of America Council, MO$425
Kelly Reese Memorial ScholarshipDakota Fugate, Beecher, ILRainbow Council, IL$450
Nick Pisor Memorial ScholarshipMason Massey, Lucas, TXCircle Ten Council, TX$100
rayado & rocS Scholarships Awarded by PSACongratulations to the following outstanding young people who have been se-lected as the 2015 recipients of the PSA’s Rayado and ROCS scholarships
Joe Davis ScholarshipBrady Mullis, Charlotte, NCMecklenburg County Council, NC$500
John Sanders Memorial ScholarshipMarie Montague, Pittsburg, KSOzark Trails Council, MO$500
Ross Stillwell Memorial ScholarshipRuben Tang, Houston, TXSam Houston Area Council, TX$450
Paisley Memorial ScholarshipSkyler Zunk, Moseley, VAHeart of Virginia Council, VA$575
Paisley Memorial ScholarshipAustin Preiss, Lubbock, TXSouth Plains Council, TX$100
Walter Hudson Memorial ScholarshipStephen Johnson, Fairfax, VANational Capital Area Council, MD$350
Philmont Service ScholarshipMargaret McCulloch, Trophy Club, TXCircle Ten Council, TX$400
rocS Scholarships:
Trey Jones Memorial ScholarshipEvan Wilson, Tallahassee, FLSuwannee River Council, FL $525
Philmont Service ScholarshipNicholas Kishaga, San Diego, CASan Diego Imperial Council, CA$400
PSA ROCS ScholarshipGarnie Bolling, Austin, TXCapitol Area Council, TX$275
StEM trek Scholarships:
Philmont Service ScholarshipZachary Nylin, Rogers, MNMid-America Council, NE$425
Editor’s note: Rayado and ROCS schol-arships are awarded annually by the Philmont Staff Association on recommen-dation of the PSA Scholarship Committee to deserving young people with financial need. The PSA has an endowed fund set aside to pay for these scholarships, which are paid each year from the interest on the endowment only, never invading the endowment corpus. If you are interested in supporting this program, please contact Executive Director Randy Saunders at [email protected] for further information.
The theme for this year’s buckle is the 100th anniversary of the Order of the Arrow. All proceeds from sales go to the PSA Staff Scholarship Fund.
Crafted by a local artist, buckles will be available in the following metals:
Order online at philstaff.com or by calling the PSA office at 575-376-1138.
psa news 98 psa news Volume 38, Number 3— JuNe 2015 Volume 38, Number 3— JuNe 2015
PSA Weekend at the Summit
Dear PSA member:
Summer is fast approaching, and with it comes the PSA Weekend at the Summit, June 19-20, near Beckley, West Virginia. This event is open not only to PSA members but their family and friends as well. BSA membership is not required, and the only medical docu-ment required is a short form you fill out yourself. The only age requirement is that you be at least 11 years old for Summit activities and 12 years old for whitewater rafting. This is your best opportunity to in-troduce your non-Scouting friends and family members to BSA High Adven-ture. Pricing depends upon the activities in which you want to participate: On Friday, June 19, you will have a choice of two whitewater rafting op-tions:
• Rafting full day, $85. This includes lunch on river.
• Rafting half day, $65.
You purchase your rafting from the PSA. See below. On Saturday, June 20, at the Scott Sum-mit Center, you have a choice of two options:
Visitors Pass, $25, offers the follow-ing:
• Sustainability Treehouse – a five story treehouse highlighting the principles of living a sustainable lifestyle • John Gottschalk Boardwalk and Go-odrich Lake Wetlands • Scott Visitors Center – home of the Summit Trading Post and Guest Ser-vices.
• CONSOL Energy Bridge – check out the dramatic bridge with observation decks above and below deck.
• Action Point Hiking Trail – take a walk through the scenic forest sur-rounding Action Point. This trail also provides a close-up view of the Jared Harvey Mountain Bike Trails, the Ac-tion Point Canopy Tours and a great view of CONSOL Energy Bridge from below.
--Action Pass, $55, offers everything included in the Visitor’s pass, and much more:
• Summit Center Ziplines (our favorite)
Save the Date
PSA Fall Phestival-Des Moines 2015When: October 2-4, 2015
Where: Sheraton West Des Moines, Des Moines, Iowa
Visit the birthplace of Waite and Genevieve Phillips. See the Phillips family towns of Creston, Bedford and Conway, Iowa, in
their fall splendor.
Friday night-reminiscing, local dining, spend time in the hotel lounge.
Saturday-breakfast buffet, bus tour to southern Iowa to visit various Phillips fam-ily homesteads and cemetery and other
historic sites, cocktail hour, dinner, evening
concert.
Contact: Randy Saun-ders at the PSA office (575) 376-1138 or psa-
10 psa news psa news 11 Volume 38, Number 3— JuNe 2015 Volume 38, Number 3— JuNe 2015
• Canopy Tours – series of ziplines through tree canopy (another favorite)
• Challenge Courses – a series of high ropes challenges to solve
• BMX Race Tracks –two BMX race tracks
• Skateboard Plaza
• Archery Range
• Tomahawk Throw • Sporting arrows – trap shooting with bow and arrow
• Powder ball challenge – paint ball guns with powder in pellets shooting flying discs
• Harvey Mountain Bike Trails – short trails to introduce the sport of moun-tain biking • Climbing • Rappelling • Bouldering
You purchase your Summit pass at the Summit, so you don’t need to decide now.
As for meals…
Saturday lunch at the Summit will be provided by your PSA, and the dinner meals available for your purchase are as follows:
--Friday night, barbecue dinner at Buf-flers, $26 for adults, $13 for kids under 14. This is all you can eat. Beer and wine available for additional charge. --Saturday night, gourmet dinner at Smokey’s, $36 for adults, $18 for kids under 14. This is all you can eat, with a million dollar view of the river thrown in for free. (See attached photo.) Full bar service is available for additional charge. You purchase your meals from the PSA. (See paragraph below) The cut-off date for purchasing rafting and meals is June 13. To reg-ister, go to www.philstaff.com Under “Announcements” in the center of the website, click on “PSA Weekend at Summit”. Down near the end of the article you will be able to purchase the activities and meals you want. On the other hand, you can send a check to the PSA office at 17 Deer Run Road, Cimar-ron, NM 87714. A hotel block with preferred pricing is available. Details are included in the website article described above. If you’ve read all this, you’ve done the hard part. Simply make your pur-chases and join us in West Virginia. For further information, contact:
The summer of 1965 was one that left its mark on Philmont history. The June flood washed away Fish Camp and wrecked the Rayado Canyon. There are many heroic tales as a result of this natural disaster. Come to the Philmont Training Center for the PSA’s summer reunion to meet some of the 1965 staff and hear their stories as we commemo-rate 50 years since that epic summer. The Philmont Staff Association’s 2015 Summer Reunion will be held on the weekend of July 10-12 at the Philmont Training Center (PTC). You and your family are invited to partici-pate in a weekend of activities, service, fellowship, and sharing memories. The Philmont Training Center is the perfect venue for our reunion. The facilities at PTC are first class. Tents are large two-person wall canvas on wooden or concrete floors with electricity, light-ing, a wardrobe, and two twin beds. Each tent city has restrooms and family shower houses with hot water. There is also a Laundromat on the PTC campus. So, bring the family to the reunion as part of your summer vacation. Some of the activities for the week-end include: day hikes (including the Tooth of Time), a conservation service project, campfire programs, tours of the Villa Philmonte, talks from members of the 1965 staff about the flood, and the Silent Auction. The Philmont Museum will be open and a “must see” on your weekend agenda. There will also be a reception for 1965 Rangers, hosted by
Denny Dubois. The Rabbi Zeke Palnick Porch Talk and ice cream social will be on Friday evening. The PSA’s Annual Busi-ness Meeting will be on the Saturday schedule. The Philmont Training Center staff will offer programs for children as part of the reunion. There will be pony rides, shooting sports, crafts, games, and more for our future Philstaffers to do while adults participate in other activities. Registration fees for the reunion are: $100 per adult and youth ages 12 and older, and $30 per child up to age 12. This is the best value available to expe-rience Philmont, our HOmE. Check-in will begin on Friday at 1:00pm. There will be activities available to partici-pants on Friday afternoon. So, plan to arrive Friday early afternoon. Registration for the Summer Re-union is now available on our website, www.philstaff.com.
2015 PSA Summer reunion
12 psa news ranch roundup 13 Volume 38, Number 3— JuNe 2015 Volume 38, Number 3— JuNe 2015
AUCTION! AUCTION!
Support Seasonal Staff Scholarships!
Saturday, July 11, 2015 At the PSA reunion, we hold a silent auc4on to raise money in support of Seasonal Staff Scholarships. It’s a lot of fun and we get to send you home with some wonderful mementos of your 4me spent at Philmont.
We’re asking each PSA reunion and trek parFcipant (or family) to bring something for the aucFon. In fact, all members are invited to donate something to our auc4on even if you are not a@ending the summer ac4vi4es at Philmont. It doesn’t have to be anything big. Just bring something if you can! Below are some general guidelines, but don’t let these s4fle your crea4vity.
1) It can be new or used, as long as it’s in good condiFon. For example, if your “friend” doesn’t ever get around to using that perfectly good backpack he has, donate it! Or, if you’re s4ll a gear geek who has to have the newest stuff, even though the old stuff it s4ll perfectly usable, donate the old stuff and you’ll finally be able to ra4onalize buying the new.
2) It can be worth 50 cents, $5.00 or $500.00, and anything over, under and in-‐between.
3) You can ask for donaFons from area merchants and organizaFons. Please feel free to show them this le@er and have the merchant or organiza4on contact Randy Saunders at 575-‐376-‐1138 if they want more informa4on about the organiza4on. Also, have them call Randy if they want the PSA’s charitable organiza4on tax ID number or a copy of the le@er.
4) Many people have the best luck asking for donaFons from their place of employment. Many of you probably work for companies that produce some sort of product. Employers are o[en willing to make dona4ons to organiza4ons close to the hearts of their employees.
5) Show us your talent! If you’re an ar4st, bring or send a piece of your work. Few things are as special as something you’ve created. It’s wonderful to see how talented our Philmont alumni are!
If you have an item to donate, please send it as soon as possible to:
Philmont Staff Associa4on17 Deer Run RoadCimarron NM 87714
It would be great to have it ahead of 4me so we can prepare a silent auc4on bid sheet for the item, but if you can’t please bring it with you when you check in for the reunion.
The Silent Auc4on will take place on Saturday, July 11th.
ranch roundup
The national council of the Boy Scouts of America has announced the selection of Kevin Dowling as the new General Manager of Philmont Scout Ranch ef-fective June 1, 2015. Kevin served as a camp ranger before he began his professional career in 1981 as an Associate District Execu-tive in the Baltimore Area Council. He continued in that Council as a District Executive and Senior District Executive. He left the BSA in 1986 to work in the personnel and safety management field. In 1989 Kevin returned to the BSA and
joined the staff of the Morris-Sussex Area Council in Denville, New Jersey as a camp ranger. In 1997 he re-entered his professional career as the Camp-ing/Property Director. He continued in this position through the council consolidation that formed the Patriot’s Path Council in Mountainside, New Jersey. Kevin then transferred to the Greater Pittsburgh Council, serving as the Director of Support Services, where his responsibilities included managing six camping operations, 11 full-time employees and 130 seasonal staff who
Kevin Dowling Selected as new general Manager of Philmont Scout ranch
New Philmont General Manager Kevin Dowling with his wife Carol.
ranch roundup 1514 ranch roundup Volume 38, Number 3— JuNe 2015 Volume 38, Number 3— JuNe 2015
served over 33,000 participants annu-ally. In 2008 Kevin was selected to serve as the General Manger/Team Leader for the Northern Tier High Adventure programs in Ely, Minnesota. This operation provides winter and summer high-adventure experience for over 6,000 annual participants. Northern Tier consists of the Charles L. Sommers Canoe Base in Ely, Minnesota; Don-ald Rogert Canoe Base in Atitkokan, Ontario and Northern Expeditions in Bissett, Manitoba. He has a special con-
nection to Philmont made possible by the Philmont Staff Association, a story which we will tell in the August issue of High Country. Kevin received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from Towson University in Maryland. He is an Eagle Scout, Vigil Honor member and Founder’s Award recipient in the Order of the Arrow. He and his wife, Carol, have four children including two Eagle Scout sons.
heirloom orchard updateThe long-range plan to restore the many heirloom varieties of fruit trees (primarily apple, peach, and plum) at Philmont is picking up its pace. Philmont veterans will remember the few (usually dying and deformed) re-maining trees from the Phillips era (and before) scattered around the ranch, primarily at PTC and Rayado. DNA analysis of the approximately twenty remaining (from the hundreds at the turn of the 19th/20th century) trees show that there are several varieties at Philmont which exist in only one or two other locations in the world, and some which exist only at Philmont. A concerted effort by ranch manage-ment, with the invaluable assistance of former Philmont Staffer Gordon Tooley and direction of current staffer Dave Kenneke, has taken grafts from the remaining heirloom trees, engrafting them to current hardy stock, and plant-ing dozens of trees over the last three
years. Pictured here is one of the last of Mr. Phillips’ trees in full bloom this spring, and pictures of current Philmont staff planting the latest graftings at Rayado and the Chase Ranch (now managed in a long-term partnership by Philmont). You can help support this program by purchasing Chase Ranch Apple Butter from the Tooth of Time Traders.
Philmont ranger hat
The Philmont Ranger hats are back! Based on two Ranger hats from the past, you may choose from a green cap with gold lettering or a tan cap with green lettering. Both have the words “Philmont Ranger” embroi-dered on the front and “Humble Pride” on the back. $20. Order online at philstaff.com or by calling the PSA office at 575-376-1138.
The 2015 National Order of the Ar-row Conference will be August 3-8 at Michigan State University – and Philmont will be front and center, high-lighting the long relationship between these two premier programs of the BSA. Philmont will have a permanent presence in its own large tent and will feature information about treks
Philmont at noAcand individual programs, working at Philmont, the Philmont Staff Associa-tion, the Philmont Training Center and much more. If you are already attend-ing NOAC (there is no more room for additional registrants) and would like to volunteer some time to help staff the tent, please contact Randy Saunders for further information.
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Editor’s Note. The many individual programs offered at Philmont are some of the best-kept secrets of the ranch – ways for adventurous young people to participate in especially challenging programs “on their own.” There is no need to be part of a unit or council contingent. It is not too late to register for individual programs this summer and though there are a few slots available in every program offered (check out the Philmont website for more details), there are several each week in Roving Outdoor Conservation School (ROCS) and Trail Crew Trek (TCT). If you know of an ap-propriate candidate who could benefit from such programs (and who wouldn’t?!), get them online to the Ranch pronto. And in special cases, even though we’ve an-nounced our scholar-ship recipients for this summer, the PSA might still be able to rustle up some scholarship funds to help young people with financial needs. For fur-ther information, contact Randy Saunders.
roving outdoor conservation School (rocS)
Who: male and female Scouts, ages 16-20; crews will be separated by gender and led by two Philmont Conservation
Staff members What/Why: The Roving Outdoor Conserva-tion School (ROCS) is an experience for individuals to explore natural resource manage-ment and conser-vation practices through hands-on environmental science lessons and work projects. The crew will have the opportunity to in-teract with resource manager profes-sionals from pri-vate lands, federal and state agencies. Botany, aquatic insects, mammals, forestry and habitat management are several topics in-cluded on this trek.
During the 3 weeks, ROCS crews will practice “Leave No Trace” techniques while experiencing unique vistas and
camping locations rarely visited by other crews at Philmont. Throughout the 3 weeks, a ROCS crew will complete many conservation projects in many places; one day might be spent clipping back young trees en-croaching on a meadow and stopping to study insects living in that meadow. An-other day you may join two sessions of Conservation work going on at a perma-nent work site, working alongside other crews and with trained staff members who will teach you exciting techniques for designing and maintaining trails. When: All sessions are open!
• June 16 - July 7• June 23 - July 14• June 30 - July 21 (Female Session)• July 7 - 28• July 14 - Aug 4
Fee: $525 and scholarship assistance is still available; see application form.
Quotes from former rocS participants:
“ROCS was the single-most im-
portance experience of my youth that fueled my interest in natural resource management. Now I am pursuing a higher degree in conservation biology and I still think of my ROCS trek daily when I am in lecture or in the field.”
“ROCS was an awesome time with awe-some people. I got to learn a lot about sub-jects like ecol-ogy and wildlife biology and do alongside 5 new friends and 2 encouraging and knowledge-able instruc-
tors.”
“ROCS really does ROCK! I had so much fun on the trail, I never wanted to leave the Backcountry or the company of my crew when it was over. I will definitely be back for staff!”
trail crew trek (tct)
Who: a co-ed adventure for male and female Scouts and Venturers, ages 16-20; crews will be led by two Philmont Conservation staff members. What/Why: Trail Crew Trek is a 14-day educational program focused on conservation and leadership develop-ment. TCT involves 7 days of building trail followed by a 7-day trek through
openings for rocS and tct
A ROCS crew examines aquatic invertebrates swooped into their nets during a lunchtime lesson on the stream.
TCT crew members find conservation projects wherever they go and always have a tool at the ready. Photo by Carrie Anderson.
had at least one in our own files. Here you see Ryan Corley, son of former Philmont Ranger Emery Corley, on a family cam-pout along the Rayado at New Abreu, when he was five years old. And you also see, from the April 2015 issue of High Country, Ranger Ryan Corley, in a photo taken in the summer of 2014. High Country invites other former Philstaff to send us “then and now” photos of their Philkids who became Philstaff. We will publish them with pride.
next generation 1918 rocs and tct Volume 38, Number 3— JuNe 2015 Volume 38, Number 3— JuNe 2015
The April 2015 issue of High Country carried a brief story about Philkids becoming Philstaff and included “then and now” photos of Michelle Stinnett. The first was Michelle at the PSA reunion at PTC in 2005; the second was Michelle at the same location in 2014, her second year on Philmont staff. We invited others to send us photos and stories, and then realized we already
next generation at HOmEPhilmont with your crew and fore-men. Throughout both weeks there are incredible opportunities for hands-on experience in a variety of conservation project techniques and uses of tools as well as guest speakers involved in professional conservation and resource management fields. TCT provides a strong foundation for participants to become involved in service through conservation with the William T. Hor-naday Award. This award was initiated in 1914 to inspire Scouts to work proactively for the conservation of natural resources. The TCT Program emphasizes service through conservation in conjunction with the William T. Hornaday Award. This award was initiated in 1914 to inspire Scouts to work proactively for the conservation of natural resources. Trail Crew Trek empowers participants to develop a plan for attaining the Wil-liam T. Hornaday Silver Award upon returning home. This multi-year path will include advancement require-ments and planning, leading, and carrying out four significant projects that contribute to sound conservation and environmental improvements in local ecosytems and communities. Only about 1,100 individuals have achieved the William T. Hornaday Silver Award since its inception. By participating in the Philmont Trail Crew Trek, partici-pants develop the necessary education, skills and leadership abilities to begin working towards the oldest conserva-tion award in America. In addition to creating a plan for attaining the William
T. Hornaday Award, Trail Crew Trek participants will develop valuable con-servation skills, hone their leadership abilities, and expand their Backcountry knowledge: When:
• Session 1 - June 14- 28; • Session 2 - July 26-August 9
Fee: $345 and scholarship assistance is still available; see application form.
Quotes from former tct participants:
“Going on TCT helped me learn how to be a project manager for my troop at home. Now I can lead them in executing conserva-tion work in our local parks.”
“TCT was very fun for me because I got to spend 2 weeks in the Backcountry mak-ing new friends, learning lots and picking up some new skills using tools to maintain awesome mountain biking trail.” As with other individual treks, the Philmont fee will cover all crew gear, food and participants will be covered by campers’ insurance. Include with your application form a $50 deposit as well as a letter of recommendation that attests to the participant’s ability to travel and live in remote and primi-tive conditions. Grab your application package for ROCS & TCT here: http://www.philmontscoutranch.org/Camp-ing/IndividualPrograms.aspx
chope phillips 2120 chope phillips Volume 38, Number 3— JuNe 2015 Volume 38, Number 3— JuNe 2015
by Mark Stinnett
Elliot Waite “Chope” Phillips, whose love of Philmont as a boy inspired his father, Waite, to donate it to the Boy Scouts of America, passed away April 26 at his home in Amarillo. He was 97. A lifelong friend and benefactor of Philmont, Chope fell in love with the mountains and the cowboy way of life on multiple family trips to the ranch as a youth. After college and service in the U.S. Army during World War II, he spurned the family oil business, mar-ried his sweetheart, Virginia, bought his own ranch in New Mexico, and spent the next sixty years living his childhood dream of being a cowboy and rancher. Throughout that time, he and Virginia remained involved with and connected to Philmont. Chope served on the Philmont Ranch Committee for years and frequently visited, as his father had, to see firsthand how the Philmont experience affected countless young people, just as it had with him. To honor his memory and his legacy, High Country presents this story of Chope’s life in his own words, taken from his interview in May 2009 with the “Voices of Oklahoma” oral history project, now archived at the University of Tulsa.
on the name chope:
“My Dad had that ranch [Philmont] and I had some cousins that were considerably older than I that worked there as college kids. And they were working on the ranch, and they had cowboy-ed there for several years, and I was considerably younger than they. When they’d come down, and I’d kid with them, why they started calling me “Chopo” which is a Spanish word. It’s kind of a slang word for “Shorty” in Spanish. We just shortened it to Chope. As far as I’m concerned, I am the only one in the world who has that name, but it doesn’t mean much.”
on living at Philbrook in tulsa:
“I didn’t stay in the house any more than I had to. The house was just a place for me to sleep and I wasn’t crazy about it. The house didn’t intrigue me very much. I’d have been just as happy living in a log cabin, or happier prob-ably. “I would roller skate on the third floor of the big house in Tulsa, at Philbrook. Up there on the third floor there was kind of an attic up there, and it was sort of a paved place, and I roller skated up there some.”
on his boyhood at Philmont:
“Philmont. That was a place I liked the most. He [Waite] kept adding to that and he ended up with 300,000 acres on that ranch and he kept buying stuff that adjoined it. We ran quite a few cattle and I went out on that ranch and when school was out I’d stay at the cow camp with the cowboys for at least a month or two. We’d be moving the cattle from down below up to the high country for summer pasture. I got in on a lot of that. I loved horses and the cowboys. Cowboys were my heroes.”
on the Philmont camel:
“My father’s older brother Frank
had this little ranch out in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. He had some exotic animals on it and I was up there one time and he had several camels and I said, “I wish we had one of those.” I didn’t really mean it, I was just talking. And dang if he didn’t send one out to the ranch. So we put it in the game pasture. Dad had a game pasture there at the ranch, down there by the headquarters with a big fence around it. There was probably 700 or 800 acres in it. This camel was in there with some elk and some other animals. We never did any-thing with it, but it was just an oddity.”
on his higher education:
“I went to Culver, Indiana to mili-tary school. I graduated from Culver and then I went from there to Califor-nia. I was not ever a very good student. I had some friends at Culver that were better students than I and a couple of them were California boys that went to Stanford. Well, I didn’t even try to get into Stanford, cause I knew I didn’t have good enough grades to get in there. So I heard about, there was a little junior college called Menlo that was near Stanford, and I went there for two years, took certain courses and made a certain grade point average and transferred into Stanford.”
on his try at the family oil business:
“I always wanted to get into the ranching business and my father really kind of wanted me to get into the oil
My heroes have Always Been cowboys…Elliot W. “Chope” Phillips, 1918-2015
Chope in 2006.photo by Phil Romans
22 chope phillips chope phillips 23 Volume 38, Number 3— JuNe 2015 Volume 38, Number 3— JuNe 2015
business. I had worked in the oil patch in Kansas for about two or three years. He {Waite] and a partner had some properties up there around Winfield, Kansas. And I worked up there for them for about two or three years as a roustabout. And it was all right. I didn’t mind it. It was kind of interest-ing and I made some good friends up there. But you know I just wasn’t interested in drilling a lot of wells and making a lot of money. That wasn’t the thing I wanted to do, I wanted to be ranching. And I knew there wasn’t anything like the amount of money in it but it wasn’t that I was interested in.”
on Waite wanting him to be an oilman:
“He always wanted that. He had one son and he was pretty proud of what he had done and he had a right to be. And obviously he would like to have his son follow in his footsteps. There’s not a thing too unusual about that. And I had already been exposed to this cowboy stuff and that’s what I was interested in, was ranching.”
“I never told him I was leaving. I didn’t tell him that. But he said something like, ‘What do you think about the oil business?’ And I said, ‘Well, it’s all right, but it doesn’t compare with the ranching.’ If he would have said anything, I would have kept on work-ing up there in the oil patch. He was discouraged when he thought that maybe working up there in the oil
patch that I’d get the fever to come down and want to get into the oil busi-ness like he did. But our courses were altogether different. I wasn’t trying to make a lot of money. I just wanted to do what I wanted to do. And in his case it was a little bit different. It might have been different with me if I hadn’t had opportunities to do some of the things I was doing, like go out on the ranch and work cattle, which is what I really liked.”
on Waite’s donation of Philmont to the BSA:
“That was all right. I thought that was a great thing to do with it. By that time it was a 300,000-acre ranch. He didn’t give them the whole 300,000 acres, he gave them 90-some thousand acres. And the part that he gave them was just right. That was the part where the house was and the fish camp was and a lot of beautiful scenery. I lived that and I loved it. I grew up in it and all that. “But the part of the ranch that I would have liked was maybe further on south and in some country that he wasn’t particularly interested in [present-day UU Bar Ranch], but he ended up selling that to somebody else, many years ago, for really pretty cheap. I wasn’t really happy when he sold that. You know I had always hoped that I could end up with a little piece of that somewhere, sometime but I think he really thought he was doing me a favor by getting rid of that, I think he really
did. “He felt that I’d probably, if he’d have given me a part of that ranch he figured I’d probably stay there the rest of my life, and that’s all I would ever want to do. And that’s exactly what I would have done. And he didn’t want me to do that.” Chope returned to Philmont in 1940 and assumed full charge of the acreage north of Cimarron. The onset of World War II and the donation to the BSA changed his plans. on his military service during World
War ii:
“I thought well, if I can’t do what I want to do I’ll go into the service, which is what I did. And I went in as a buck private. I was a private and for about a year, I was doing the same kind of work that sergeants do because they were so desperate for drill instructors and stuff. And having gone to a mili-tary school I became a drill instructor. I was just a buck private but I was doing the same work as sergeants were do-ing.” Chope was later selected for officer candidate school and graduated April 1, 1944. After receiving his commission as a second lieutenant, he returned to Amarillo to lead training at the Bivouac Camp north of town.
on meeting Virginia:
“I was out on that Bivouac and living in a tent, which suited me just
fine. I didn’t care about staying in the BOQ [Bachelor Officer Quarters] at the base very much. I had to come in there every once in a while and take a shower, that’s all I needed it for. But this Bivouac, it happened to be pretty close to this Pantex where Virginia was working.” Chope had met his soul mate – a woman who shared his love of the land and the ranching way of life. He and Virginia were married in 1947.
on becoming a rancher in 1945:
“I was still thinking of owning a ranch all the time in my life, ‘cause I grew up working on my dad’s ranch and my heroes were cowboys and I had been a cowboy since I was 8 or 9 years old, making a pretty good hand by that time. My father had given the ranch [Philmont] away and didn’t have any. But he finally realized that that’s what I really wanted to do and he said, ‘Well, I’ll help you get a ranch.’ So he bought me a ranch at that time and I’d found one out there in Las Vegas, New Mexico and it was about 18,000 acres. I think we paid six and a half an acre for it. That’s what my dad paid for it. It was a good little ranch and when I married Virginia it was on that.” In 1958, Chope and Virginia pur-chased their second ranch located in San Miguel and Mora Counties in New Mexico. “I made a three-way trade and sold the present ranch that was 18,000 acres and got this other ranch that was 35,000
24 chope phillips Volume 38, Number 3— JuNe 2015 staff amigos 25 Volume 38, Number 3— JuNe 2015
acres, and that’s where we stayed and ranched for about 60 years. We had about 1500 yearlings on it. We made a good living. We didn’t get rich but we made a good living on it.”
on life as a rancher:
“I was a cowboy and a rancher, and a pretty good one. I did a pretty good job of ranching and did a pretty good job of running it. A lot of people have ranches, but they just hire somebody to run it for them. And they really don’t know a damn thing about some of the work that goes on on the ranches. But I was hands-on rancher and I did any-thing that was to be done, I was in on. And that’s the way I wanted to do it.” In 2005, Chope was named a recipi-ent of the Foy Proctor Memorial Cow-man’s Award of Honor. The program’s director noted at the time that those honored “best exemplify the hard work, honesty, integrity and spirit of a true cowman.”
on inheriting money from his father, Waite:
“He was pretty wealthy man. He didn’t leave a lot of money to me and I told him I didn’t want him to. He would’ve, yes. But he didn’t believe in – he thought that money should be used as a tool to help people, help society, help something. And if you aren’t going to put it to good use, then you shouldn’t have it. And I agreed with him 100 percent. You only need
so much money, as long as you got plenty to eat, just a few things like that. I never was one that was hungry to get any more money or anything. [His gift of that first ranch] – that was what I wanted. That suited me fine. That was it. That was plenty.” After his mother, Genevieve, died, Chope and Virginia used funds from her estate to establish the Waite and Genevieve Phillips Foundation, now managed by Chope’s daughter, Julie. The foundation has made several gen-erous gifts to Philmont over the years.
on his life:
“Some people say, God, I wish I hadn’t of done this or hadn’t have done that. I can’t say that too much. Most of my life I’ve pretty much done what I was interested in, and I can’t say that I’d do it too much differently. I’m not trying to brag on myself, what a hell of a good job I did, but as far as I’m concerned it suited me pretty well.” In 1998, Chope Phillips received the BSA’s highest honor for service to youth, the Silver Buffalo Award. In 2005, he and Virginia were recognized for their decades of service to Philmont as the first recipients of the PSA’s Silver Sage Award.
Sign up for Staff Amigos
Summer’s here! Over 1,000 people as serving on staff at Philmont this year. As PSA members, we can connect with them to brighten their staff experience. This connection is called Staff Amigos. How can you participate as a Staff Amigo? Here is what you have to do: • Pick an identifiable part of the Philmont Seasonal Staff - a ranger training crew, Conservation Crew, Backcountry camp, etc • Think about ways that you can make the lives of these folks a bit more pleasant and productive • Send these items to your group a few times over the course of the sum-mer • Enclose a note, telling them why you have chosen them, perhaps sharing
some stories about your summers at the Ranch, and letting them know that the PSA appreciates and supports their ser-vice. Encourage them to join the PSA. • Ask them to drop you a note describing how their summer is going. It can be quite delightful to hear their stories. In order to participate, please con-tact me via email at [email protected] will have a list of staff groups that are available updated regularly on the PSA website, so check there first, and please give a first and a second choice. Thank you very much for remaining a part of Philmont Scout Ranch Stay connected!
Cathy Hubbard
Where are YOU showing your 87714 Pride?
OK, it’s not “87714” merchandise, but…It was too entirely cool for us not to share. Mitch Standard, a Central Region Director on the PSA Board, was on his way to the spring meeting of the PSA Board and com-mittees when he realized his odom-eter was about to make an appro-priate rollover. How cool is this?!
Share your 87714 sightings with us for future use on the website, in High Country or both ! E-mail [email protected] with your sight-
ings, and if for some inexplicable rea-son you don't have your 87714 sticker yet, contact the PSA to purchase some at eminently reasonable prices. Shop for T-Shirts (and other cool 87714
gear) at www.philstaff.com.
Mitch Standard’s odometer on a recent trip HOmE to the Ranch.
26 morts gorp Volume 38, Number 3— JuNe 2015 morts gorp 27 Volume 38, Number 3— JuNe 2015
As part of the next High Country conservation special issue, we’re seeking brief personal essays on how Philmont has shaped people’s lives and connections to the land. We’re especially interested in essays of approximately 750 words that respond to either of these prompts: How has Philmont shaped your connection to the world around you? We hope that these essays collectively reveal how the magic of Philmont tran-scends the ranch and influences our connections to the land, as well as to each other. What role did Philmont play in guiding you to a career in a conservation-related profession? We hope that these essays illuminate the diverse impacts Philmont has had on people’s life and career choices—be they rooted in natu-ral resource management, environmental education, firefighting, etc. Through these essays, we also want to expose the Philmont community to the range of conservation activities that people with a connection to the ranch are engaged in throughout the world. We’d love to hear from you. If you’re interested in sharing your story, please email Mike Sudmeier at [email protected] for additional details.
hc conservation issue Seeks Submissions
mort’s gorp
When I think about my favorite times learning how to cook, I often reflect back to my Philmont Ranger days when I was introduced to the Dutch oven. While I had seen and heard about Dutch ovens as a younger scout, I don’t recall being exposed to them much until I came to Philmont as a Scout and experienced “Ranger Cobbler.” I later served as a ranger in 1975 and 1976 and it was then that I began to learn and appreciate the skill of Dutch oven cooking. Of course we all have our ownspecial recipe for Phil-Cobbler. We’ll save that discussion for another issue of HC. This short missive is about cast iron cookware and what a wonderfulthing some of this fine iron can be in your home kitchen or camp cabin. Cast iron is by far the most versa-tile, easy to use, easy to clean cookware ever invented. With the proper care, a cast iron skillet will last several life-times and will keep on giving. While it’s not difficult to care for, it does require some specific care with each use to keep the performance at a maxi-mum, i.e. no bad tastes, no rust and things like that.
Multiple uses
One of the best parts of using cast iron is its “multiple use” approach. For example, a good quality (I reallyprefer the Lodge Brand) 12 inch skillet may be used for frying eggs, baking corn bread or pizza, veggie or meat stir
fry, baked desserts, and much more. One time while venturing deep into the Boundary Waters in Northern Min-nesota, I used my skillet for an anchor while fishing from our canoe. Later that night of course, we fried freshly caught northern pike in the skillet. And of course there is nothing like a fish fry over an open fire in a cast iron pan.
care
Another plus to cast iron is its “no stick” easy-to-clean feature. After each use, you’ll want to scrub your skillet with one of those “ Phil-type issue” green scrungies if needed or just a dish rag. You may use soap if you want to. I prefer very hot water and the scrubbing minus the soap. Most foods will come off easily if the pan is cured properly.Make sure you dry the pan or piece of cast iron over a warm flame or heated surface. Then as my good compadre Steve Zimmer tells me, “Give it a spray of cooking oil, like PAM, before stor-ing.” Occasionally, cast iron cookware needs to be seasoned, especially if you purchase a pan from a used source.
Start by thoroughly scouring the pan. I recommend a fine steel wool. Then wash in soap and water. Dry thorough-ly before you coat the pan with some cooking oil, Crisco, or bacon fat. Wipe the residue out and bake in your oven (the pan should be upside down on the rack) at 400 degrees for about one hour. Put a piece of tin foil or a baking sheet to catch any drips. Take the pan out; wipe any remaining oil and let cool. Your pan should be cured for many wonderful meals!
Selection
Cast iron cookware of course is available through many sources. Myfavorites are yard sales, thrift stores, eBay, or if you want new, many old-
fashioned hardware stores sell cast iron. The variety in what can you find is astounding. If you have already used cast iron to cook with, you are probablycraving a dish to cook right now. Go do it! If you are new to this idea, give it a try. I doubt you will be anything but delighted.
Mort
Jason (“Mort”) Mascitti was a Philmont staffer from (1975-1981) He is married to Julie Huiras, also a Philmont staffer (80-82). They reside and work in Madi-son, WI. He learned his cooking from his Italian mother and in the Backcountry at the ranch. Oh - and his youngest son is a BEAR RESEARCHER at Philmont this summer.
28 psa merchandise Volume 38, Number 3— JuNe 2015 psa merchandise 29 Volume 38, Number 3— JuNe 2015
Philmont ranger hat
The Philmont Ranger hats are back! Based on two Ranger hats from the past, you may choose from a green cap with gold lettering or a tan cap with green lettering. Both have the words “Philmont Ranger” embroidered on the front and “Humble Pride” on the back. $20.
PSA oA 100th Anniversary Belt Buckle
taking pre-orders
Crafted by a local artisan, this 2015 buckle commemorates the 100th An-niversary of the Order of the Arrow. Proceeds benefit the PSA’s Seasonal
new Merchandise at the PSA Store!
Staff Scholarship Fund. Three buck-les are available: $25 Pewter Buckle, $30 Bronze Buckle, and $65 Two-Tone Buckle.
PSA Pullovertaking pre-orders
This pullover is a high quality, rugged, functional piece of technical layer-ware. Perfect for runs, biking, climbing, or any other outdoor activity, the dual-layer design gives a great warmth-to-weight ratio. Handy accessible pocket for keys, gels, or phone, and a PSA logo that tells the story. Pre-orders received by June 30 will be shipped by Au-gust 1. Available in Men’s Sizes: Small, Medium, Large, XLarge and 2XLarge. Sizes seem to run small. $75.
87714 Performance t-Shirts
This performance, wicking t-shirt
features the 87714 logo on the upper left chest. Graphite color. Available in Men’s sizes: Small, Medium, Large, X-Large, and 2X-Large. $16.
“Future Philmont Staff” Stuffed Animals
We have the perfect gift for the Future Philmont Staff member in your life! Each PSA stuffed animal has a remov-able hoodie with “Future Philmont Staff” embroidered on the front. Avail-able in five 7”-8” animals: Phil Bear, Jurassic Jim, Ed the Eagle, Blanca the Wolf and Miranda the Horse. The wolf and horse have purple hoodies and the others have red hoodies. Buy one for $13 or two for $24.
Also Available at the PSA Store:
Flip-top nalgene water bottle in new colors $12
Best-selling PSA golf cap $25
green PSA polo shirts $30
PSA map stationary set $12
Order online at philstaff.com or by calling the PSA office at 575-376-1138. Shipping charges are $3 total per order, no matter how many items you buy.
30 philmont history Volume 38, Number 3— JuNe 2015philmont history 31 Volume 38, Number 3— JuNe 2015
Although a handful of American and French trappers already had reached Santa Fe, few non-Mexicans probed the Southwest before the United States acquired Louisiana in 1803. As long as enfeebled Spain controlled the vast area west of the Mississippi, President Thomas Jefferson, like his two prede-cessors, devoted little attention to it. But in 1800 France secured possession of Louisiana and threatened to close the Mississippi River to Americans. Then Jefferson acted. James Monroe and Robert Livingstone sailed to Paris ostensibly to purchase New Orleans,
philmont history
American Discovery of the Southwest
Excerpted from Out in God’s Country: A History of Colfax County, New Mexico By Larry Murphy. Foreword by Carlos Gutierrez Available at toothoftimetraders.com for $9.95
but they were able to buy not only the mouth of the Mississippi, but also the entire Louisiana Territory stretching westward to the Rocky Mountains. With the opportunity to nearly double the size of the country, Jefferson ap-proved the extensive acquisition. Plans immediately went ahead to explore the new territory. While the more famous trek of Lewis and Clark was occurring in the north, several smaller, less successful explorations were carried out in the south. To learn the vague boundaries of Louisiana and the nature of what he had acquired, Jef-ferson sent William Dunbar and George Hunter from Natchez, Mississippi up the Washita River through the present state of Arkansas in 1905. The follow-ing year Thomas Freeman led a second group 600 miles up the Red River until he met a contingent of Spanish soldiers and was forced to return. Even before Freeman had returned, a far more important party headed by Zebulon M. Pike had left the Missouri River. Successfully avoiding the Span-iards, he ventured up the Arkansas River, continuing westward to explore the “Mexican Mountains” in search of the Red River’s headwaters. Soon the Lieutenant began en-countering difficulties which plagued the remainder of the journey. Poorly prepared for winter, his men suffered from the extreme Colorado cold. Then
food supplies ran low. In desperation the party straggled across the Rockies into the San Luis Valley where they erected a stockade. But then the Span-iards appeared. Placed under arrest, the expedition marched to Santa Fe and eventually south to Chihuahua City before it was finally allowed to return. Although often described as a failure and its leader criticized for be-ing “lost,” the Pike Expedition opened up the entire southwest to the United States. His accurate reports of the San-gre de Cristos and the New Mexican settlements of the area, paved the way for many other American expeditions and the eventual opening of the Santa Fe Trail. A less successful expedition soon followed under Major Stephen H. Long. Departing Nebraska in 1820, he reached the Rockies via the Platte River, continuing southward until he reached Pueblo, Colorado. Crossing the Raton Pass, they finally reached the Canadian River in eastern Colfax County and crossed through Union County on their way toward Arkansas. Haphazardly organized and poorly directed, Long’s party accomplished little in the way of exploring or map-ping. Collecting a few botanical and geological specimens, they also climber Pike’s Peak for the first time. Long is best remembered for his description of the Great Plains; perhaps developed after wandering across eastern Col-fax County, he wrote that the “Great American Desert” was “wholly unfit for cultivation and of course uninhab-itable by a people depending upon
agriculture for their subsistence.” To his way of thinking, the region was valuable only a “range for buffaloes, wild goats, and other wild game.”
Staff members of the late 1960s will remem-ber Larry Murphy as Philmont’s Assistant Program Director, working in tandem with longtime Program Director Jerry Traut. Murphy circulated in the Backcountry and coached staff members in “unnatu-ral” programs including burro racing and Indian ethnology, while Traut worked with program counselors responsible for “natural” programs like field biology and paleontology. Propelled by his Philmont ex-perience, Larry became a historian, writing his Master’s thesis on Baldy mining and earning a Ph.D. at Texas Christian Univer-sity. As a university professor, he special-ized in western American history and increasingly took on administrative roles. Larry held faculty appointments at several universities. He was Professor of History and Director of the Lifelong Learning at Wayne State University in Detroit at the time of his death in 1987. Murphy’s notable historical works include Philmont: A His-tory of New Mexico’s Cimarron Country (1972), and Lucien Bonaparte Maxwell: Napoleon of the Southwest (1983). Follow-ing the organization of the Philmont Staff Association, Murphy was an early editor of High Country, serving in that capacity for approximately five years.
32 time below tooth Volume 38, Number 3— JuNe 2015 time below tooth 33 Volume 38, Number 3— JuNe 2015
by Colleen Coleman Lester
I was bored blind. Hot, sweaty, tired. Another plodding trail ride around the bowled meadow below the Tooth of Time. The Sangre de Cristos encircled us and the view was breathtaking, but I was lost in “is this ever going to end?” Behind me was a string of wives and daughters who had accompanied their professional Scouts for a week of training. Most of them were “flatland-ers” and their inexperience accounted for the pace of the ride. I was certainly no equestrian, but this was awful. My thought? Back to the stables right now and shut this miserable day down. As they say, be careful what you wish for. Rain was predicted for mid-after-noon as it was most afternoons and one
A time Below the tooth
of the three wranglers had loaned me his duster. Kind of him and I thought it made me look quite cool, skimming my boots and the slit up the back, but it was probably unnecessary. A storm cell had already passed over us with scarcely a sprinkle on its way behind the Tooth. I was leading while the wranglers moved up and down our ragged line, making sure all was well. Charlie, a retired barrel racer and former New Mexico champion, was my mount for the day. Steady and always ready for anything I asked him to do. The sad part was there was nothing to do but keep walking the trail. I kept an eye on the wranglers. They were a fine lookin’ crew and the only thing easing my boredom. But at some point when I glanced over, I saw them
standing in a knot with one pointing to the Tooth. Hmmm. Charlie and I eased down the slope to investigate. “That storm has maybe turned,” one of them said. “Coming from the wrong direction now. When these storms switch up here, I’ve seen ‘em make hail the size of softballs.” He told us all to stay alert. Yup. Charlie and I went back up to lead. We plodded on. And then it got interesting. With no warning, Charlie stopped, seemed to bunch every muscle in his body and jumped backward six feet. I had no time to even be startled. A light-ening bolt connected with the ground in the exact place we’d been standing. Six inches wide and two inches thick. Beautiful. Deadly. In an instant, everything began to move at hyperspeed. The absent wind now slammed us from every direction. The wranglers yelled above it, “Come down! Get off the path!” They mo-tioned urgently to the lone mesquite at the bottom of the bowl. A lightning bolt incinerated a pine across the meadow, the sound more than the ears could bear as the thunder exploded. Another connected with a building we could just see down through the meadow pass behind us. Instant fire. Fear was its own fire now igniting us. Panic was close. “Get off your horses. Put ‘em butts to the wind,” a wrangler hollered as we huddled together. “We may have to get under ‘em. Hold those horses close. We’re all gonna walk outta here.” He was unflappable.
But I saw my fear reflected in the faces of the women. I’ve never seen faces like those. White and wide-eyed, they dismounted and got determined grips on reins. But there were no tears. No crowding the wranglers. No tumbling of questions. Frightened, but stoic, these flatlanders looked indomi-table. They humbled me. I so hoped my bearing was the same. Without warning, the rain came. A deluge. We couldn’t see our hands in front of faces. And the water began to pool and creep up our shins - a clear warning of flashflood. Walking slowed and became treacherous. We forged on. Then more lightning. Far enough away from us before. Now hammer-ing so close, we were knocked to the ground from one side, then knocked down again from the other. Terror. No way to know where the next bolt would strike. We forged on. Before or since, I have never been more afraid. There is absolutely noth-ing the mind can do with that kind of fear. So what did I do? Way past embarrassment, I began to pray aloud - The Lord’s Prayer - from my spiri-tual upbringing. Others joined in and after a tentative beginning, our voices swelled louder and louder. And even though we still couldn’t see each other, it was comfort. Someone started a hymn. We all sang. Then came “Jingle Bells” and more silly songs. Our hearts grew lighter. We were the tallest things in the meadow that day. Grace is amaz-ing. The shallow, little stream we’d blithely stepped through earlier on our
34 time below tooth Volume 38, Number 3— JuNe 2015 ptc news 35 Volume 38, Number 3— JuNe 2015
way into the bowl was now at least four feet deep and many yards wide. The rain was slowing, but the stream was quickly rising - muddy and angry and dangerous. It was obvious that some would not be able to cross. With almost eerie efficiency, a wran-gler again took calm control. “Mount up. Right now. You three!” He pointed at me and two other women, shouting above the noise of the raging water. “Y’all come with me.” I climbed back on Charlie. The wrangler led us a little way downstream. We plunged in and turned to face the roiling torrent side-by-side. “If the water takes anyone off their horse, we gotta catch ‘em. We got to. Can you do it?” We knew we had no choice. The water was well past our knees. The pressure was astounding. It would be waist high within moments. But one by one, they started to cross. Charlie never flinched. I found I was still praying. Silently now, but with no less urgency. What was important was that my prayer was no longer for me. I knew somehow that I was safe. I knew somehow they would be, too. And they were. The rain eased to nothing as we finally came into the stable. It was as if it all never happened. I gave each wrangler a hug of thanks. The looks that passed between us were eloquent in their silence. All that “fine lookin’ crew” stuff had been washed away in the rain. The tears finally came. I slipped my arms around Charlie’s neck and enfolded him. I rested my head and
breathed in his warmth as I whispered my thanks for his incredible “horse sense.” For his unwavering steadiness. For his saving of my life. A little later, sodden and bone-wea-ry, I trudged to the Training Center to report in. I found everyone under their desks. They came boiling out when they heard the door, astonishment etch-ing their faces. They gaped at me and then all started talking at once. “We were so worried! You were the only group unaccounted for! Is everyone okay?” I nodded. Kept nodding. Too tired to explain anything right then and knowing I just didn’t have it in me to rehearse the drama, I slipped back out and headed for my tent. I was smiling, though. Gratitude does that… Through it all, it was God at work caring for His children. I knew it then. I know it now. Something beyond words was in play that day. I think all that shared that “adventure of a lifetime” would agree. I took my lead from Charlie. He knew long before I did. So glad I trusted him.
Colleen Coleman Lester is a writer and lives with her husband in Green Valley, Arizona. She worked at the Philmont Training Center in 1972.
The Philmont Training Center is excited to offer exciting new conferences to volunteers from across the nation in 2016. The 2016 PTC schedule will be available online on June 1st and 2016 registrations will begin on July 1st 2015. Region weeks are back in 2016! Each region has selected a full spectrum of conferences to meet the needs of Scouts and Scouters in their area. In addition to yearly favorites such as “Putting More Outing in Scout-ing” and “District Key 3”, several new cutting edge conferences have been designed to help volunteers and profes-sionals from across the nation share ideas and best practices and keep pace with new developments in the BSA.
2016 Philmont training center registration Begins July 1st!
ptc news
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Attend the 2015 Philmont Leadership challenge!Hey, Wood Badgers! The BSA and Philmont Scout Ranch would like to offer you an opportunity to hone your Wood Badge skills, experience team formation and practice leadership by participating in the Philmont Leader-ship Challenge! What is the Philmont Leadership Challenge (PLC)? PLC is a weeklong conference that provides an op-portunity for you to use your Wood Badge leadership skills with a team of Scouters from around the nation while utilizing the setting and adventure that Philmont has to offer! Experience high adventure activities and an overnight hike into the Philmont Backcountry. Make new Scouting friends from around the country with whom you can share ideas and experiences. PLC reinforces the values of Scouting and teamwork and promotes the concepts of Wood Badge and servant leadership. Your overnight adventure will take you to Zastrow, the home of Wood Badge at Philmont since 1949 and the home of “Walking Wood Badge.” When you left your Wood Badge course after learning about “Leav-ing a Legacy,” did you ever imagine
that you could contribute to the Waite Phillips legacy that is Philmont? Well, here is your chance! PLC is available to all Scouters who have completed the Wood Badge course; you may at-tend even if you are still working on a ticket. PLC is held at Rayado Ridge Lead-ership Camp (RRLC), a brand new facility built specifically for advanced leadership training! It is located behind Rayado and the Kit Carson Museum at the site of prior youth leadership programs. PLC will be held September 13-19, 2015! Check it out! Visit www.philm-onttrainingcenter.org for more informa-tion and to register. Space is filling fast!
There will be twelve weeks of confer-ences to choose from in 2016, and the PTC Family Program is a fantastic way to introduce a younger generation to the magic of Philmont. As you make family vacation plans for next summer,
plan on bringing your family with you to PTC. Visit the Philmont Training Center website at philmonttrainingcenter.org for more details on the upcoming 2016 conference schedule.
trail talk
1960s
Ken Davis (60-63, 65-66, 80, 85 and 91) was recently presented by his council with the BSA 60-year Veteran Award. Ken joined a Scout troop in January, 1955. His OA Lodge, Amangamek-Wipit (National Capital Area Council) has chosen Ken and his son Jared as two of the 31 “Centurion” awards recognizing those who have made highly positive contributions to the lodge during its entire existence. Ken’s undergraduate school, Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, has announced his selection as a “Spirit of Oglethorpe Award” recipient for demonstrating in his life their motto of “Make a Life. Make a Living. Make a Difference.” Contact: 6320 Phyllis Lane, Alexandria, VA 22312. 703-941-9018. [email protected].
1970s
Steve rademaker (78-79), featured in the August 2014 issue of High Country, formerly a senior staffer in both the executive and legislative branches of the United States government, and now with a Washington public policy firm, was the principal witness before the US House of Representatives Com-mittee on Foreign Affairs during its April hearings on the emerging nuclear agreement between the United States and Iran. Contact: The Podesta Group, 1001 G Street NW, Suite 1000W, Wash-ington, DC 20001. 202-393-1010.
gary rose (76-80) after Philmont and degrees from Midland College and Southwest Texas has worked for 32 years as the Head Biologist at Double D Ranch – hunting and fishing all over the world. Contact: PO Box 237, Rosanky, TX 78953. 512-988-1293. [email protected].
rev. thomas Shanklin (71-72), an ordained retired United Methodist minister who coordinated Protestant Chaplains at Philmont in the 1970s, is a published author of mysteries and his-tory. Among his books: A Soul to Die For, and There’s a Hearse in my Park-ing Space. Contact: 16114 Pennington Road, Tampa, FL 33624. 603-477-5203. [email protected].
1990s
Brian Distlehorst (95-97, 99-00, 02) during the 2002 season was recruited by the BSA Great Southwest Council to serve as District Executive for all of northeast New Mexico, then taught for eight years in the Pecos schools and now teaches in Santa Fe. Contact: PO Box 1068, Pecos, NM 87552. 505-570-0308. [email protected].
ryan hawk (98-99, 01, 03-06) and Lisa Jones were married May 30 in Athens, Georgia. Contact: 305 Pinecrest Drive, Greeneville, TN 37743. [email protected].
38 trail talk Volume 38, Number 3— JuNe 2015 rangering 39 Volume 38, Number 3— JuNe 2015
2010s
Dr. James hoke (13) remains active in Scouting, currently serving as Coun-cil Commissioner for the Cornhusker Council. Contact: 6711 Summer St., Lincoln, NE 68506. [email protected].
John W. Lampley (13-15) is the Train-ing Chairman for his district in the Daniel Boone Council, where he also serves as an Assistant Scoutmaster,
in memoriam
…forever on the trail…
We are advised by Ken Davis and Mac Mclean of the passing of Tom Brisendine, a former Philmont Rang-er who remained active in Scouting throughout his life, on March 7, in Woodbridge, VA.
The National Court of Honor of the Boy Scouts of America presented thirteen Silver Buffaloes, the highest award given by the National Council for service to Scouting by adults, at the 2015 National Annual Meeting in Atlanta in May. Four of the thirteen are members of the Philmont Staff Association, another example of the extraordinary impact of Philmont and the PSA on Scouting today. Join us in congratulating the new Buffaloes among us: Rick Bragga, Dan Maxfield, Bob Sirhal, and Bruce Trefz.
PSA Members honored by BSA
adviser for his chapter and lodge cer-emonies in the Order of the Arrow, and was recognized with both the District Award of Merit and the Silver Bea-ver earlier this year. Contact: 622 4th Avenue W, Hendersonville, NC 28739. 828-243-9824. [email protected].
Macgillivray Awarded Silver Beaver
Jim MacGillivray, a member of the Philmont Ranch Committee, was awarded the Silver Beaver by the National Capital Area Council April 30. Pictured here with his daughter Laura, MacGillivray served as a Philmont Ranger in 1972 and 1973. Laura was a Ranger in 2001, and MacGillivray’s youngest daughter Holly, was a PC at Clark’s Fork in 2006 and Cypher’s Mine in 2007.
Your old editor was doing what we of the chronologically-gifted set often do this time of the year – thinking of years gone by when May was a month of proms, pale greens, graduations, and the almost impossible-to-contain-impatience to be on the road for a summer on the Philmont staff. This May, it seems, was instead to be filled with sorting and filing old scraps of writing and pictures and outlines for High Country – some among the many that just didn’t fit in the space available at the time, but which, as is our practice, are kept permanently in our archive at the Seton. Among them – this exhortation from Greg Hobbs as a new year, with all its promise and anticipation, was about to begin. It captured your old editor’s mood for May even more than, perhaps it did his in Janu-ary. In either case, it seems especially ap-propriate as the Ranch opens again and the latest generation of Philstaff depart for the magic mountains of Colfax County.
Philmont Rangering was barely five years old when I took my first Ranger step into the Backcountry nearly fifty years ago in 1962 at the age of sev-enteen just out of a south Texas high school. The country was fresh. Its spirit stirring. Young John Kennedy was President. We loaded up our packs with what we thought we needed. We led much older men, and not much younger boys, up trails we’d never been before. We’d each been mentored for a
Practice the Art of rangering
week by a Training Ranger whose job it was to instruct our ignorance. “Take only what you need and leave the rest!” As my birth father said when he put me on the bus to Raton, “Watch your step, son!” The Sangre de Cristo Range of the Rocky Mountains oversees the rest of our training. You can never know enough, but you can learn. Always anticipate. Be eager. Lace your boots up. Begin! Greg Hobbs12/31/2010
Ranger Greg Hobbs, Summer of ‘62.
Step up to the 19.73 Club and get this cool sticker!!I know a lot of members donate to the Annual Fund later in the year and we ap-preciate that. In order to have funds to operate year round, we created the 19.73 Club so small monthly amounts would help keep us going. It is painless and a great way to support the PSA!
Signing up is super easy! Set up a monthly donation of just $19.73.
• Donate via credit/debit card monthly: to register, use the following link: http://store.philstaff.com/1973club.html • Set up an automated check from your bank account for $19.73 monthly. Send checks to: PSA, 17 Deer Run Road, Cimarron, NM 87714 • Contact the PSA Office for assistance setting up monthly donation (575) 376-1138.
hErE iS A BonuS! this year we will have another giveaway to say thAnK You to all our 19.73 club members!!
The PSA will hold a drawing for a really nice Yeti ice chest. To be eligible for the drawing you must join or renew by December 30th, 2015. That’s all there is to it. We will draw one name from among our current and future Club members to receive the cooler. The drawing will be held at the Ranch on New Year’s Eve. You are welcome to join the celebration, but not required to be present to win.
So MAnY choicES on how to receive High Country.
ALL oF thEM gooD.
One of them green.
Print or digital? Color or black and white? Early or traditional delivery?
But instead of choosing, how about taking “all of the above”?
If you convert your paper subscription of High Country to digital, you will receive:
• Each issue via downloadable PDF email attachment a week before the release of the paper edition.• Each online issue is in full color (the paper edition is in black and white).• The opportunity to buy a bound (paper) annual edition (pictured above) for $5 (less than our cost). 2009 through 2014 are available. So – convert and you will receive the color online early version and every December you will be given the opportunity to purchase the paper edition
of all copies from the previous year bound into a book, for a total of $5. There you have it: Print and digital. Color and black and white. Early
and traditional delivery. For 5 bucks.
Convert now by contacting the PSA office at 575-376-1138 or [email protected].
