I bought a used Nemo Hornet 2p for our trek, the old kind, not the OSMO. I’m going as the only woman in our Troop so I need my own tent and need to go lightweight since I’m not sharing. Did I make a good choice? Does anybody have experience with this tent in the Philmont rain and terrain? I’d love some feedback.

I know they provide crews small 16x16x24 lockers and possibly 2 of them but in terms of flying out, potentially doing some rafting etc afterward that seems pretty small for a group of 11 folks. Does philmont offer any paid for lockers people can also utilize or anything like that?

Our troop had two crews go this summer (boys and girls) and I went along as one of the advisors with my son. I make a bunch of videos for my hikes and climbs in WA state so also made a video of our trip to share with our entire troop and thought you guys might enjoy it as well.

Philmont Trek 2024

Trip report for those interested in the details:

The scouts picked a pretty aggressive trek (12-25), with 75 miles and a climb of Little Costilla. We had 7 scouts and 3 advisors. Several of our scouts were very experienced hikers, and we had a few that really hustled to get ready on our prep hikes. One of my concerns going into the trip was whether everyone would be able to carry their + group gear but that ended up not being a major issue as the more fit scouts competed on how much weight they could carry. We did end up with several scouts with pretty bad blisters on a couple of days.

The biggest challenge ended up being team cohesion and morale. There were several challenging evenings when it took us a long time to get everything done so we were going to bed late. A part of this was that we only had 3 prep hikes and never really had the whole group together, another big part was scouts finishing their part and then giving up instead of helping out and making sure everything was done.

Weather was also a bigger factor than expected. We had to go into lighting positions a few times. Once right when we got to camp (Pueblano) before we setup. Rangers ended up calling a bunch of us over to the porch where we waited out a lot of the storm, then ended up setting up our tents in a dry spot under a tree before moving them out. Second time was in the middle of our hike to Middle Ponil, didn't last long and the rest of the hike was dry. Then we got major hail right during dinner at Chase Cow, luckily everyone got under the dining fly (except the cook who used my umbrella). That ended in time for us to go play cowball. Finally, we got more rain and hail on our hike out.

We almost ended up losing gear to a major windstorm at Ring Place right as we got there and were trying to set up camp. It got bad enough that we abandoned the setup, put all the loose tents under a tree under our heavy packs and had to wait for the wind to die down before we could resume.

We brought our own tents: 2 REI Halfdome SL2+, and one SL3+ for the scouts. Adults had solo tents (Tarptent moment and 2x Big Agnes Copper Spurs) which worked out great. For our dining fly, I brought a Warbonnet Thunderfly, which was a little smaller than the dining fly that Philmont provides but significantly lighter, and it worked out great, we fit everyone under it a couple of times, raising up the corners with hiking poles really helped to increase the area under it.

We did bring a water filter but never ended up using it. Most of the camps had water buffaloes and some had potable water. Our first dry camp was supposed to be Beatty Lakes but we camped right by a water wheel and it was windy so fresh pumped water. Second dry camp was Rabbit Ear, but that was just up the hill from Dan Beard so we carried extra water from there. One mistake we made was throwing away the used tablet pouches, keep those and then trade them in for fresh ones. Worst looking water was the creek at Middle Ponil: slightly green, and there were tons of cows around. Worst tasting was Indian Writings.

For coffee, I brought a Jetboil, a bunch of instant options (REI has Verve which has several good flavors, and Alpine Start), and some pouches from a local coffee roaster for lazier mornings.

The food wasn't as bad as I expected and the whole cooking process ended up working out great. We got the Fozzils folding bowls, our scouts always ate all the food, scraped the pot really well and licked the bowls clean so cleanup was usually easy. A lot of the peanut and cheese options were traded in. The spam was pretty bad until we started cooking it in a Jetboil, then it was a hit.

The programs ended up being the best part. Chickens at Rich Cabins were a surprising hit. All the climbing flavors: bouldering, spar-pole climbing, and top roping, were a lot of fun. Mountain biking at Ring place got rained out right as we started in the evening so we did it in the morning. Railroading and blacksmithing at Metcalf station went too fast. The Petroglyph tour at Indian Writings was also great, not something I expected, but the rangers there were hilarious characters (taught our scouts to act like chimpanzees any time they saw the Ranch pickups and they did that for the rest of the trip). The 3 campfires on the trail were a definite highlight, my favorite was the porch program at Rich Cabins.

The hardest part of the hiking was our day hike up Little Costilla. We had a long hike the day before and it took us a while to find a good site at Middle Ponil: all the flat areas are pretty rough so we ended up going pretty high on the hillside where there's what looked like an old road-bed, but that meant that getting water required a steep hike back up from the creek. On our way in, we also chatted with another crew who had attempted Little Costilla that day (first day it was open) and had turned around because of the weather.

We woke up early and started moving right at first light (5:15am) since we had a hard turn-around time of noon. Instead of going back down to the trail we went cross country up to a higher road which worked out great since we could stop at a campground for a bathroom break. We followed roads to the trailhead where we had breakfast at 7:20am, then followed the barbed wire (which is a real hazard in places, we had an advisor trip and get a nasty scratch) up. There are some really steep sections at the start, but then it levels out more. We hit the saddle around 10:30am, it was super windy here but we could see the summit (or what we thought was the summit). Staying lower down to the right kept us out of the worst of the wind. There are several false summits here so the last part felt like it took forever but we ended up all making it up just before the cutoff. Downhill from the summit there's a little rock wall where we had a snack (with hot coffee for the adults :D) and then headed down just as there were some scary clouds blowing in. This was a real achievement for several of our crew as they kept going despite their obvious exhaustion. Beef stroganoff around a campfire back at camp never tasted so good.

One big lowlight was the trails: a lot of the hiking, especially in the Valle, is on active or former roads which is not really exciting as it's not really wild. Also, lots of fences and cows to deal with, so feels like you're hiking in someone's backyard. There were some pretty views but not compared to WA. Some of our training trips a couple of hours from Seattle were much grander vistas, especially next to the Enchantments.

I brought a bunch of gear to document the trip and most of it did not survive. Since a lot of our trip was in the Valle Vidal (national forest), I brought a drone after emailing Philmont rangers and calling the Valle office. It was a DJI Mini 3 Pro so small, light, and not very loud once it's up in the air. It managed to barely handle the winds on top of Little Castilla so I got some cool footage there. On the hike back, one of our scouts raised his pole as I was doing a flyover and the drone crashed into that and broke a couple of the propeller blades. Then I crashed it into a bush doing a spin around a tree and busted the gimbal. The main video device was an Osmo Pocket 3, a small gimballed video camera. I managed to drop this at the start of the trip and bent the head a little but it kept working until I dropped it in a creek on the second to last day and didn't realize it until 10 mins later. The backup device was a GoPro 11 which I used during rainy weather and for the last couple of days. Ended up with 200 GBs of files. (The drone and Pocket 3 both had accident coverage through DJI so got replaced through that once I got home.) For batteries, I had the 3 drone batteries, then a 20 Ah and 10 Ah power banks. I charged using the drone batteries at the start (since I couldn't fly the drone on Philmont property and the batteries automatically discharge a small amount anyways), then the power banks at the end. Ended with 30% on my 20Ah bank. I left a bunch of gear under my tent fly and the hail on the last night at Chase Cow splashed up a ton of wet sand all over it so the 20Ah bank died several days later as well.

Has anyone purchased this before? Are the monthly pictures from different parts of Philmont?

https://www.philstaffstore.org/store/misc/calendars/2025-psa-scholarship-calendar/

As my title says I’m wanting to go and do Rayado this summer. I have already been to Philmont twice, once in 2021 and again this past summer.

This summer will be my last chance to do Rayado and I’m right on the line of wanting to go and I just want to hear y’all’s experiences and stories to push me over the line. I’d also like if you could share what your favorite part of your hike was.

For me my favorite experience was this past year we stopped at Abreu on our way to old Abreu and at the cantina me and a few other scouts pitched in to by 30 something root beer for our ranger. We got him to drink a dozen or so and the rest we split between a couple of the scouts in our group and gave the rest to the other scout group in the cantina. My favorite hike was the section between Philips junction up to wild horse. For me that was the most beautiful part of the ranch I had ever seen and what made it better was how the last few miles to wild horse it felt as if nobody had ever stepped of the trail and everything was left the exact way mother nature left it there.

Hi. I was on a trek this year, part of group 7037A2. This story takes place after the hike. Me and a few friends of mine were sitting outside, after just getting stuff from the Trading Post, when I took this huge stick that I found that kinda looked like Gandalf's staff, raise it over my head, and said "I summon thee: Hailstorm!". We were laughing for a bit after that, but I noticed that the sky started to get dark. Not even five minutes later, the biggest hailstorm I had ever seen comes rolling through, and it was chaos. This hailstorm went on for a solid 10-15 minutes, and then it stopped. When I went out from the cover, the sky right above us was a light blue, but with a very big dark gray circle surrounding it. This happened in July, and I don't even think Hurricane Helene was as crazy as this.

I'm working on getting a trek set up for 2026. While my previous troop had a strong tradition of high adventure, my current troop does not. So basically, we'll be starting from scratch. Does anyone have a presentation that they've used for scouts and/or parents to "sell" them on Philmont and build excitement and buy-in?

We in this sub know that it's so much more than traditional summer camp, but I do know there will be some folks who will need more than "trust me bro" when it comes to spending 5x more.

Hi all! I am a young musician and singer songwriter. I went to philmont a year ago and wrote a song about it. I'm now recording it and working on a music video. Does anyone have high quality video footage from their trip to philmont that they would be willing to let me use? I would really appreciate it!

For those who have done it, what are the pros/cons of arriving to Philmont a day early (Day 0) and staying in tent city? What is there for Crews to do that first night without any scheduled programming?

Also, the guide states that scheduled expeditions will have priority, when it comes to Base Camp accommodations, over groups arriving early or departing late and might not receive a tent. Has anyone here ever not gotten a tent on Day 0?

I'm interested in trying to organize an advanced trip for next year's fall trek. This would not be for beginners - adults or hard-core youth only. This would be south-country exclusively, and aim at hitting all the major peaks, including some that we'd have to go off trail for. This would be a bragging-rights style trip, beyond the typical "super strenuous" itinerary.

If you're interested, DM me. I'd like to organize a group where we can cuss and discuss via Zoom, investigate, and see if we could make something like this happen.

This summer, our crew received the standard orange plastic “wilderness pledge” cards to hang from our packs.

However, looking online I can see that there are other colors of these cards (blue, white, other?).

Do the other colors have significance?

Hi there! Most of you might have saw my other post about how my troop is putting on our version of a staff campfire/stomp/ union meeting. But my fellow scouts and I would like to perform songs that were sang at philmont.

But I just can’t find the sheet music for them. we are trying to perform “Union man”( from Cypher Mines, also on the Creatures of the Lake spotify) so if you have an idea of where I can find the sheet music that would be great! thanks!

Me and my troop did a trek at Philmont in 2013. We stopped at a camp somewhere in the southern portion of the ranch. I don’t remember the name but it was lower elevation and backed up to a meadow. The staff put on a campfire and started telling ghost stories.

At one point, an older gentlemen got up and told a story about how his son had gone missing there decades ago and that they had let him come back every summer until they found him. It was insinuated that a mountain lion might’ve gotten him. At first, we all thought it was a regular ghost story but it got more and more serious until he started crying. You could hear a pin drop at the end.

At the time, we all assumed it real. I forgot about it until recently and now I’m skeptical. Did this actually happen? Do any staffers on here know this gentleman?

Is Philmont worth the extra $$ versus self planned backpacking trip which we can do for about half the money? If so, why?

I staffed again this year and thanks to lots of other miscellaneous adventures only managed to make it out to one campfire show- Ponil. Was wondering if anyone has a list of the songs- especially the last one... great song, but I completely forget the words. Anyone know any of the setlist? Thanks!

I've visited Philmont many times throughout my life, especially when I was younger. My dad did teaching at the Training Center and brought my mom, my brother, and me with him many times. It’s given me opportunities to experience the various youth programs and do the micro treks that Philmont offered in them. I still remember the times times looking up at the tooth of time and thinking, “One day, I’ll climb that.” 

I’ve been all over Philmont and last year, I got to go on my first real trek. I'll never forget the emotions I felt standing on top of the tooth watching the sun rise. The clarity I felt after the completion of a goal I’d had for years. It was incredible, and probably a life changing experience. It meant so much to me for my dad and my brother to be there on that trek, and I’m pretty sure going on a trek with his sons was something my dad had always wanted to do

It’s been about a year since I was there, and I still feel the draw. It confuses me so much with how much I seem to want to go back. Even a year later, I still feel a deep pull to return. There’s something enchanting about those mountains that keeps calling me back

https://preview.redd.it/p8jzmlnlw8sd1.jpg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=83cc69842d0b6276c81d0dfdd8ba85c9c0f955ef

This is for any current or former staff members or anyone who might now this. After my trip to Philmont this summer (717-C-02), My whole troop was inspired to do an outing where we treat it like a staff camp. So a few scouts and I are going to be at our campsite ahead of everyone else and welcome them and have stations we would teach. But at night we would have our own union meeting/ stomp.

We have characters written but is there anything else we should know on how to set this up? like songs to perform, props, costumes, tips, and tricks to stay in character? If you have anything please let me know. Thanks!

We are planning on attending Family Adventure Camp with our large extended family next summer. I'm trying to work on a packing list for everyone.

What things were you absolutely glad you brought, what things did you wish you had brought? All suggestions welcome!

Not sure if anyone on here worked in costuming at the BCW but I was trying to remember the brand of a wool interp coat I had one summer and it's just escaped me. I swore I took a photo of it and google has been no help. I'm sure the ranch had a bunch of assorted stuff but any recommendations would be much appreciated.

We had our zero day there and got to see both versions of their campfire. My daughter has a song in her head that they played at the campfire, but for the life of us, we can't remember enough to figure out what the song was. Does anybody remember any songs that they played at their campfire this year? Thank you!

EDIT: Thank you u/sensitive-barber-598 and your awesome Backcountry staff daughter! It was Carolina Pines and my daughter just made me listen to it on repeat the whole way back from her Court of Honor.

https://open.spotify.com/track/32UyDTdaHL73jdBgpMo2XU?si=BoE58J9RSZOuH-1Xh3s6nA

What are the differences between the program and youth counselor positions at the PTC? The job descriptions appear very similar.

https://www.philmontscoutranch.org/jobs/jobdescriptions/

I have found past dates for the Philmont Advisor Skills School (PASS) but my search skills haven’t been up to finding them for fall 2024 or spring 2025. Can someone help me them if scheduled?

I just reached out to Tooth of Time Traders and they let me know there are unfortunately no trail meals for purchase this year to use in prep hikes. I'm the lead advisor for a crew going out in 2025, and this is a huge disappointment as we rely on these meals for our prep hikes so we are ready for trek. We now have to match, acquire and package our own food for our three prep hikes at what will be a significantly greater effort and likely at a much higher price than we budgeted based on the bulk discounts Philmont received and passed on in the past.

I'm posting this information here in case there are others who were looking for the surplus trail meals to drop in September as they usually do, so you can make other plans.

We have a crew of twelve, 8 scouts & 4 adults, going next year.

We are starting our training program and have one additional scout as an alternate.

Is it better to include the alternate in all of our training hikes and camping trips? Or should we limit that so the crew of twelve and create a bond?

I know there’s no right answer but curious what others have done.

I can’t believe I have already forgotten. Can someone tell me what the circles / squares and colors mean ? Thanks

Has anyone gone through group reservations for their trek for upcoming summer 2025? Working ahead and attempting to book our train tickets, but the price I'm getting from group sales is 2x higher than the normal list price for an individual. My understanding was it was a 10% discount off the list price. Tried this with two agents today and got some answer. Any guidance or direction is appreciated as my next idea is to just split the group up a bit to avoid group sales. Thanks.

For those that are interested, Philmont is selling their MSR 2 Man Thunder Ridge Tents for $90 (They're usually $5-600 at MSR). At the tooth of time traders.

I got one last year for cheaper. They reportedly sold out in 1 week.

They are pretty solid tents.

*Edit/Update: The overall condition of the tent is used. 2014 edition, with poles, rain fly, bag, bag for poles, and tent. The only discrepancy noted in the tent i received was the fact that on the rain fly, it had 2 patches to fix 2 small tears. Other than that its a great usable tent for all 4 known westher conditions.

*Edit: For those that want to see pictures, feel freto DM me and I'll show you what mine looks like.

https://store.philmontscoutranch.org/sale/used-gear/