Philmont Scout Ranch + Mesa Verde!

July 28 - August 4, 2012. Philmont is home to the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), located in Cimarron, New Mexico! Where is that you might be asking?! Yes, New Mexico, not a typpo! Philmont has 137,500 acres of wilderness that was donated in 1938 to the BSA. The ranch, formerly the property of oil baron Waite Phillips and now that of the Boy Scouts of America, is a National High Adventure Base in which crews of Scouts and Venturers take part in backpacking expeditions and other outdoor activities. It is the largest youth camp in the world by size and number of participants. It's also a dream of my dad's, he always wanted to take us there when we were young and he finally got his invitation, just a few years too late. I was the only "kid" able to go, so I kept mom company and had a great time enjoying the outdoors.

The Villa, originally built and lived in by Waite Phillips and his family, but when the land was donated to the BSA, the home went with it too. The villa was beautiful!

My home for the next 5 nights...ugh!

Inside my lovely tent! It was so stuffy during the day you could barely stand to be in there, good thing I didn't want to be. And at night it was relatively cool and a nice temp, but that invited all sorts of insects to venture in. I never knew what I'd wake up with! Let's just say we didn't look forward to going to bed! My dad's mattress was so squeaky it was painful to hear. Luckily I thought I'd be on the floor in their tent so I brought my camping pad, but since I was assigned my own tent, I put my pad on the mattress and never had to feel the coils.

My mom and dad at Philmont!

My mom and I were labled "Silverados". A Silverado does whatever they please while their father or husband is off in classes. We signed up for pretty much every hike they had to offer. However, I haven't been able to hike much this summer and my muscles were feeling it but it was great! We hiked about 25 miles total, took a dutch oven cooking class, and went horseback riding! Here my mom and I are at Cathedral Rock, on our way to Window Rock.

It's a passion of mine! I love photography! Beautiful wildflowers right!?!

One of our many hikes was a 4:30am hike to Lover's Leap. Crazy, I know!!! I wanted to sleep but the parentals were going so I pulled myself out of bed, plus it was the last night and the less time in the tent the better! We were able to watch the sunrise and had a great time. Here are 3 Philmont employees watching the sunrise.

My mom and I horseback riding! We were told to tuck in our shirts, which we thought was dumb, but whatever! So we look nerdy but the horses were great.

My horse...Pretty Boy!

We had a great ride, I just wished it was longer and I had hoped to try a few things like trotting, but all we did was walk. It was kind of boring but the chance to ride a horse was great and I took it!

Mesa Verde National Park was on the drive home and so we stopped by. It turned into a 6 hour stop but I enjoyed it! A crazy storm was blowing in when we were starting our tour of Balcony House but luckily I never felt one rain drop. I love this picture, the clouds are so cool!

Cliff Palace, thought to be the largest cliff dwelling in North America. The Anasazi inhabited Mesa Verde between AD 600 to 1300, though there is evidence they left before the turn of the century. They were mainly subsistence farmers, growing crops on nearby mesas. Their primary crop was corn, the major part of their diet. Men were also hunters, which further increased their food supply. The women of the Anasazi are famous for their elegant basket weaving. Anasazi pottery is as famous as their baskets; their artifacts are highly prized. The Anasazi kept no written records.

If you look close, under the wooden beam running left to right is a painting from the Anasazi. Really cool!

The only one we saw, awesome that it still is there.

The perilous ladders to get to Balcony House. There were quite a few people going so sloooowwww! Scared, ok, but once it was my turn, I flew!

I had a riot capturing the beauty of Mesa Verde, Cliff Palace.

 

Stopping to say "cheese" on the ladder!

Mesa Verde, I last came here when I was 12. I had vague memories about climbing ladders and going down in a Kiva. This side trip was awesome, I was able to fully enjoy the experience and capture it with my camera!