Philmont - An Outdoor School of Leadership

My youngest son and I recently had the opportunity to backpack 110 miles in the Sangre de Cristo range of the Rocky Mountains at Philmont Scout Ranch in northern New Mexico. It was an incredible experience. It was also nostalgic as it allowed me to relive personal Philmont experiences from many decades ago. Philmont is a very special place where everyone is challenged physically and mentally over 12 days on high altitude trails with heavy packs. The Lord’s beautiful creation was our classroom and valuable lessons are taught along the narrow path. These lessons certainly have application throughout life and in our careers.

Advance Preparation: Training & Team Building: Many months in advance of the trek, our crew began physical conditioning. We started by walking and then running high school stadium stairs without packs a few times per week. We progressed to carrying heavily weighted packs. The heat and humidity of Alabama did not make our training easy. Our crew also trained together as a team to practice the use of equipment and carefully eliminate unnecessary gear and weight. Every item we carried in our packs was scrutinized again and again. We made detailed check lists. Adult leaders received training certifications in wilderness first aid, weather contingencies, and youth protection. The Scouts were also highly trained. Everyone in our crew was an experienced backpacker with knowledge of map reading, navigation skills, equipment use, and wilderness water purification, etc. Months before the trip, the Scouts elected a crew leader and other leadership positions, and gear responsibilities and daily task responsibilities for cooking, cleaning, and hanging bear bags were established. The Scout Motto is “Be Prepared”. We were prepared.

Challenges Along the Path: We live in Alabama at a few hundred feet above sea level. At Philmont’s base camp in Cimarron, N.M. we were at more than 6,500 feet elevation and once we hit the trail we were often hiking at elevations between 8,500 and 10,000 or more feet in elevation. It took several days for our Alabama bodies to acclimate to breathing air with less oxygen. The first few days were exhausting, but everyone pushed on and encouraged one another. Black bears are not a significant concern in Alabama; however, Philmont has a healthy population of black bears and great care is taken to ensure than any and all items with a scent or smell are raised far off the ground each night out of a bear’s reach. In the event of a bear encounter we were trained to make noise and group together to appear large to the bear. We had the opportunity to practice that one evening just after cooking a tasty smelling dinner. The bear approached our campsite and did not display an appropriate fear of humans. We followed the protocol until the bear departed. It was a long night as we heard other crews in the distance do the same. Another occasional challenge was navigation. Whenever we encountered a challenging trail intersection or something not as it appears on the map, we had crew discussions to determine the path forward. While the Lord blessed us with excellent health on our trek, minor medical issues like foot blisters were treated along the way. We addressed the challenges we faced as a team.

Leadership: Philmont assigns a Ranger to accompany each crew for the first two days of their trek. Rangers are typically in college and often Eagle Scouts with extensive Philmont backcountry experience. They are chosen for their leadership skills. Our assigned Ranger was outstanding. His job was to ensure that our crew understood the procedures to follow in the backcountry. Our youth Crew Leader was expected to lead and we had nightly analysis to discuss and evaluate crew performance. We had meetings of the entire crew and discussions with the elected leaders alone to encourage everyone and continuously improve performance. Adults were to remain in the background as much as possible and allow the Scouts to lead. Our crew also had an opportunity to spend an afternoon helping construct a new trail – service is a part of leadership.

Logistics: Philmont has about 22,000 visitors per year with several thousand in the backcountry at any given time. Philmont has over 1,000 on staff. It is also a working cattle and horse ranch. The logistics and contingency planning are incredible. It is a very well-run organization. When new crews arrive in base camp they are assigned tents in tent city, and efficiently guided through orientation, equipment outfitting, route planning, etc. Certain backcountry camps are staffed with highly talented individuals who dress and act in accordance with a historical period associated with the particular camp. We visited camps tied to a historic gold rush on Baldy Mountain, timbering operations, fur trading, a COPE course, a high ropes course, etc. At these camps we had opportunities to climb spar poles, throw tomahawks, shoot 50 caliber black powder Hawkins rifles, rock climb, etc. At campfires we were entertained with great musical talent. We had food pick ups about every 3-4 days that were highly organized to provide each crew member with about 3,000 calories per day. The daily progress of every crew is radioed from staff camps to base camp where they are tracked by computer and on a large basecamp wall map. While each crew experiences solitude and wilderness challenges alone, there is an amazing logistical support network in the background. Most all of these functions are carried out by young men and women that are college aged. These are the men and women you need to hire!

Spiritual Development: Our crew had an elected Chaplain’s Aid. We had many discussions about life along the trail and reflected on the Lord’s incredible creation we were observing along the way. We had many opportunities to pray and thank Him for our safety and for His protection along the path ahead.

I cannot say enough good things about the Philmont experience. The leadership lessons learned could not have been gleaned from a management book or a seminar – Philmont is one of the top leadership opportunities our nation has to offer.