50 ITAs! In honor of the big round number, I want to make a special post.
I remember that day on October 4th, 2008, when I heard cheering from my living room. General Conference had obviously started but no one had told me. When I heard cheering I knew that could mean only one thing. I ran out to the living room and sure enough, we were getting a temple in KC.
On May 8th, 2010, ground was broken for the Kansas City Missouri Temple. May 5th, 2012, I participated in the cultural celebration the day before the temple was dedicated. I made plenty of posts about the temple open house and celebration (see them all here and here) but I want to highlight some of my favorite pictures.
The struggle of taking family pictures is real. Back in the day, we took pictures on the video camera and it would video the whole process. Here's a minute of trying to get a cute picture with the three Webster stooges.
I've had this one friend who has been near and dear to me since we were about 6. As young kids, we spent a lot of time together (I can guarantee there will be plenty more posts about her). Some of my treasured memories are the handful of times when I went with her and her family to visit their grandparents farm.
They were always busy and fun days with tractor rides, feeding the cows, driving the riding lawn mowers and harvesting veggies like big sweet potatoes from the garden.
We would almost always stay the night so we had plenty of time for fun. When we got tired of being outside, we would play in the basement where there were lots of toys. Once we made a carnival with games and even a ride (aka, a mattress down the stairs).
Unfortunately, I don't remember quite as many details as I'd like. Just wispy memories. Take note children, write in your journal.
I've never had a spontaneous bloody nose...until Philmont. Sorry in advance for this TMI post.
My crew had gone to sleep and I was sitting in my tent, dutifully reading my ranger handbook. Out of nowhere, there was a plop. A large splatter of blood had landed on my book and the crew checklist card that I would have to turn in at the ranger office when I got back to base. "That'll be awkward to explain", I thought to myself.
My hand shot to my nose where blood was beginning to pour out. My palm was filling with blood at an alarming speed. Thankfully I had some TP with me in case I needed to blow my nose in the night (which was a regular occurrence while in NM). After stuffing a bunch of TP around my nose and wiping up the majority of the mess, I continued to ponder on what I should do now. Considering that blood is a bear attractor, I should probably figure this out sooner than later. I kept adding backup as my nose continued to flow. The rules say you're supposed to take a bearbag down and put any bloody material in it. I really did not want to do that by myself at this time of night. Plan B.
When the flow finally stopped (and it took what felt like ages), I put my shoes and headlamp on, and quietly slid outside. I went over to the fire pit where the water bottles are kept at night to grab one of mine. Then I ventured away from camp. When I had gone as far as I felt safe, I grabbed a stick, knelt down and dug a small hole in which I buried my used TP. Then I washed my hands and face as best I could.
I put my bottle away and went back to my tent. I didn't know what to do about the damaged book and card. Guess technically they should go up in the bear bag too... Ha.
Pretty sure I just broke a bunch of bear procedure rules. Whoops, so much for being dutiful. #BadRanger
I haven't done an ITA since 2012 but I think I'm ready to start the "second season", if you will. So here it goes...
Today I'd like to show you a video of one of my very first track meets. In 2009, I was invited to join a team at a nearby Catholic school team and said why not. I pretty much had no idea what I was doing back then. But that foundational year was the start of something that has become very important to me. This year marks my last year of track in grade school for me so what better way to commemorate these years than to see where it all began.
I carry this nalgene with me a lot of places and I'm sure some people wonder why the handle thing is broken. Just kidding, I doubt anyone cares. But I'll tell you the story anyway.
I was done with my very first crew and now it was time for me to find out how hard it was to catch a bus back to base. My plan was to hike from Crags to Zastrow turn around. A pretty straightforward hike, really. The catch was that the two buses scheduled to come that day were both pretty early in the day. I had passed through Zastrow and Carson Meadows a day earlier and both camps had said they'd let me know of the official bus schedule as I passed back through. Carson Meadows had even invited me to lunch.
I packed up and hiked back up to the main trail from Crags camp with my crew that morning. I said good bye as they went one way and I went back the way we had come the day before. I set off at a clip towards Carson Meadows to hopefully go relax for a couple hours. I got there in just under an hour and dropped my pack under a tree near the cabin. I went up to the porch, poked my head in the cabin and asked if anyone knew the bus times. One of the people in the kitchen pointed to a white board on the wall with times scribbled on it. I had already missed the first bus and the second one was scheduled to arrive in about an hour. I definitely didn't have time to stay for lunch. I thanked them for their help and ran back to my pack.
I arrived at Abreu 20 minutes later and scrambled up to the cabin to ask which way would be the quickest way to Zastrow. They told me which path to take and I continued to hurry in that direction. Now, if you aren't used to Abreu's camping area, its quite easy to get lost. It took me awhile to find my way though and get to the path. Once I had, I began running.
Unfortunately, I wasn't completely accustomed to the altitude or the extra weight of my pack yet so I couldn't run for long before I had to walk. I went back and forth between walking and running until I got to Zastrow. When I was just a few minutes out, I came upon a gate. I struggled to open it but to no avail. I didn't have time to get it open let alone figure out how to close it (which was always harder). I was going to have to jump the fence. I took my pack off and tossed it over. And that's when it happened. My nalgene, which was hanging off the side of my pack by a carabiner, got caught on the fence. My pack hung there for a split second before the handle of the bottle snapped. I was pretty frustrated by now but I didn't have time to do much but continue to run.
I made it to Zastrow with about 5 minutes until the bus was scheduled to arrive. I asked the staff member sitting on the porch if it was worth trying to get to the turn around. He delivered the bad news that the bus had gotten there almost an hour early. I had missed it by a long shot.
I plopped down on a bench and stared at my map. There was only one thing I could do that might get me back to base by lunch. Hike to Rayado. Another several miles but this time on a hard dirt road with no shade. Thankfully there were buses in and out of Rayado on a regular basis so it was pretty safe. I sat there for several minutes, dismayed. I really didn't want to do this but I didn't have much of a choice unless I wanted to hike to Lovers Leap turnaroud which was even farther and over a mountain range. Yeah, I didn't want to do that either.
Finally, I got up, lugged my pack back on and trudged off. I was in absolutely no hurry now. Hurrying didn't seem to assure a bus ride anyway. I shuffled along, inwardly moaning and complaining the entire way. The road never seemed to end with just horses and cows for company. Yep, this was a desert ranch alright. I would look up at the power lines running above and mutter, "freaking ranger ziplines", referring to the joke that rangers tell campers; power lines are actually ziplines for rangers so they can get back to base camp faster. The joke was on me now and I definitely wasn't amused.
After almost two hours I made it to Rayado. I had spent so much time moping and dragging my feet that it had taken nearly twice as long as it should have. As I approached the last fence, I could see a bus parked on the other side of the camp unloading a couple crews. I was back to frantically trying to open the gate. I ripped that thing open but I still had to close it. Seriously, why do they make them so hard to close? Nearby, a ranger and his crew were eating lunch at a picnic table. I went over to ask if he'd close the gate for me and then ran off as the bus driver was getting out of the bus to close the back hatch. I composed myself and asked the driver if I could catch a ride to which she kindly replied "of course!"
I climbed onto the bus and slumped down into a seat. That was too much excitement for one day. And on top of that, one of my nalgenes was broken. Oh well, I just wanted a shower and lunch...
Moral of the story: just slow down and enjoy the hike. If you miss the bus, it's really not a big deal. There are plenty of backup options.
P.S. That was the worst bus story of the summer. I had a much easier time getting back to base after that.
Almost daily, I continue to remember little moments from my summer at Philmont. The fun, the hard, the disappointing and the hilarious moments. I want to share some of them. In no particular order. Just as they come to me.
The first story is about a cat. Little Grim, the quickly growing kitten of Harlan. I met him when I passed through Harlan with my 3rd crew in early June. The staff warned everyone of his unpredictable and usually aggressive behavior. I really didn't understand what they were talking about as the cute little puffball fell asleep in my arms. Maybe I was just a cat whisperer.
Fast forward two months.
I was with my last scheduled crew of the season. The night before, I had talked so my sister crew ranger, Parker, and we had agreed to hike back to the bus turn around together. We said goodbye to our crews and left Lost Gap camp. We tumbled and slid back down the incredibly steep road that we had hiked up the evening before. As we neared the bottom, we came upon a crew who was huffing their way up. They stopped and called to us, asking if we'd return a certain cat who had been following them since they had left Harlan that morning. There, sitting behind one of the adviser's legs, was Grim who was now grooming himself. I looked at Parker, not sure of what to do. We had been planning on hiking straight to Cito turnaround and going to Harlan would be a slight detour, making it more difficult to catch the first, and possibly only, morning bus.
The reliability of the bus system was about as good as telling a three year old to clean their room and expecting them to actually pick up more than 5 things before you have to tell them again. So, the earlier you got there, the better. Being stranded for hours wasn't unusual at all so getting there as soon as possible was in our best interest.
But, we couldn't just leave the cat with this crew, who didn't seem too keen on turning around. We agreed to take him back to his rightful home. He protested as I picked him up. We finished descending and turned towards Harlan. Grims struggling became more and more violent as we went and I nearly lost my grip on him a few times, knowing full well that if he made it out of my arms, we'd have a heck of a time getting him back. I assured the cat that we'd be home soon and that I'd put him down there. Several times he threatened to bite and scratch me so I'd hold him by the scruff and let him hang until he calmed down. This battle went on all the way to Harlan as I began to regret ever agreeing to this task. The cat obviously didn't want to go back right now.
We were on the outskirts of the camp when he seemed to calm down. I held him closer and, unwisely, near my face. Big mistake. He lashed out and I felt his teeth hit my chin. There was hardly any blood but thank heavens we were there because I was done with this cat! He definitely wasn't the sweet kitty I had met weeks earlier. We arrived at the cabin and I set him down on the porch. A staff member came out and we explained what had happened. He just shrugged and said that it happened all the time. I was a little hurt that I didn't even get a "thank you" but it was early so he had probably just woken up and wasn't fully awake. I, on the other hand, was definitely awake. And we still had a bus to catch...
P.S. We missed the bus. We saw it's dust trail as we neared the bottom of the mountain. Thankfully, an unscheduled bus arrived as we made it to the turn around. All in a days work.
That's what I had to tell myself all season. I came back from Philmont thinking I was in decent shape. Physically, yes, I was. Mentally, something had broken. I'll break the news now: I never came within a minute of my PR. Each race I started with a new hope only to be crushed by disappointment as I crossed the finish line. But I did start making progress half way through the season. It was probably when my coach confirmed my suspicion. My body wasn't the problem. It was my mind that had given up. Before this one particular race, he came up to me, tapped my head and said, "Its all up here. Quit telling yourself that you're not fast and just go for it." Although I never fully recovered from my "mental breakdown", I had better races from then on.
I was asked to be the team captain this season which mostly involved me making sure all the girls knew the course and were warmed up before races which I wasn't great at because I always seemed to forget the stretches.
Oh, but we all had fun nonetheless.
At one of the first meets, the boys placed 1st and the girls placed 2nd. Cool plaques are cool, right?
I suppose you don't need a meet-to-meet report. Running is just running to people who aren't into that kind of thing. So here are pictures that I actually look good in for the most part.
One meet was cold and rainy. I was freezing up until I went up to the finish line. At that point, I guess I was past the point of freezing and went numb. The beginning of the race was straight into the wind and rain so I could hardly see but as I settled into my pace, I zoned everything out. I just had to finish this one. Cold water drenched me and mud seeped into my shoes. It was the worst time I had got since my first cross country season but you don't feel like a hardcore runner until you've raced in pouring rain.
Medals aren't everything but it's still something to work towards. There were many races where my goal was simply to finish in a metaling position and that's the only thing that kept me going.
The last meet was spent in Springfield as usual and this year it was over Halloween. I didn't mind tho because we all spent the evening in a hotel lobby as a team which is better than trick-or-treating in my opinion. That night I got pretty sick and didn't want to run the next day. I don't know what it is about feeling crappy but I had a pretty good race. It wiped me out tho and I was lethargic the rest of the day.
I did the CCCNYC nationals again this year. This time it was in Nashville. The trip felt a lot longer and more tiring than last year. I didn't know how well I'd fare in the race. Well, I didn't PR this year but I still had a strong race despite the course being long (this was confirmed by multiple GPS watches). *grumbles about people being sloppy when measuring the course*
The interesting thing about it was that the course was around a horse track and the surrounding land. Pretty flat with some sharp hills here and there.
The race finished with a steep down hill and then a gradual uphill. I tore down that hill while passing several people. Then on the uphill I gave it all I got and passed a couple more. I stumbled over the finish line and immediately felt like I was going to puke. I continued to gag for a few more minutes as I caught my breath. This was new. I'd never run hard enough to do that. Nothing came up but I was pretty proud of myself for pushing myself that hard. Still, no PRing time.
And finally, even tho it's not officially part of the season, the Thanksgiving 5k has become a fun way to end the year. Each year we've had cross country friends come join us in running this fun race. I was happy to have my teammate, Emily, run with me the whole way even tho she beat me by a couple seconds at the end. Last year I placed third in my age group but the competition was upped this year so I placed tenth despite cutting a couple seconds off my 2013 time.
That's all folks. This concludes my high school cross country career. It was short and had a lot of ups and downs. But it was a great experience with great people. Road races will probably be something I'll be doing until the day that I can't walk. There still is one more season of high school track so I'm hoping for the best there. And maybe, just maybe, I'll run in college.
We last left off when I met my first crew. I wanted to post stories and stuff from my summer but after weeks of trying to come up with something--anything, I have failed miserably at this attempt. So, I've decided to take this post in another direction which will hopefully pull something interesting out of my vast archives of memories from these quick, action packed 3 months.
I will sort of be addressing this post towards those who are thinking about applying to work at Philmont, particularly for a ranger position. There are many things I wish I had known ahead of time that I will talk about. It hardly scratches everything that I could talk about so I'm sure there will be future posts after this one.
So first and foremost as a ranger (and if you work there at all), you have to be willing to be adventurous. You have about 137,500 plus acres to explore, so do it! Don't stay in base camp all the time because you'll find way more adventure and make double the friends in the back country. It took awhile for me to get comfortable with the idea of hiking alone when I wasn't just hurrying back to the nearest bus back to base, but once I did, it was very freeing and that's when I had some real fun.
One of my favorite camps was Indian Writings. Not because the scenery was the prettiest or the activities were the most fun. No, it was the staff there. They were a hoot. I didn't go hungry or bored for a second while visiting them. As one of the staff members said, "Rangers are like the orphans of Philmont. They don't really have a real home since they're in base and back country just about equally. That's why we always welcome the rangers in." I certainly felt the love so I never hesitated to visit them when I had the chance.
This year the newest camp, Metcalf Station, opened. It was set up like a train station and the big activity was helping to build the track. All of the guys there were seasoned Philmonters and they were super friendly and welcoming so I kept going back. One cold and rainy night when I had a few days off, I decided to stop there for the night rather than continue to where I was planning on going. They fed me a wonderful warm dinner, I enjoyed their evening campfire show and then we all stayed up late playing dominoes. To top it off, I was allowed to sleep in the cabin rather than porch crash like most rangers (when they are without a crew) are expected to do if they don't sleep in their own tent. I fell asleep warm, dry and happy that night rather than soaked and miserable like I thought might happen. And because of this, Metcalf Station became one of my favorite places to go.
That being said, make friends in base camp too. The activities staff are really fun because, well, that's their job.
Learn to love opening campfire. You can either think it's boring because you have to watch the same show every week or you can have fun with it. Make your crew excited for it and you'll be excited too. I told almost every crew to try to get front row seats. It only happened about 3 times but it's way more fun up there.
Bear bags: an evil necessity. Your crew will get sick of you ragging on them about how important it is but let's be real here, no one wants to be mauled by a bear. At the very least you want to keep all of your food. I could also go into the reasoning why it's bad for bears to eat human food but I don't want to bore you so I'll move on.
Learn to love the mornings. I have never been a morning person. Ever. But at Philmont, sleeping in was surprisingly hard especially considering that you're hiking all the time. Besides the fact that you have to be up by 6 or earlier every day, the sun wakes you up anyway.
Your Training Crew will be like your built in family. Training trek was one of the coolest experiences of the summer. The second year rangers and our ranger trainer helped us first years along by teaching us all their cool tricks. And we had a ton of fun together too.
You'll meet a lot of people with so many different backgrounds and they will be super cool and quirky. If you're lucky, they'll give you an orange peel with...a meatball in it...?
The PhilTan is real. You will eat, breath and sleep on/in dirt. As my wonderful tent mate once said, "Rangers eat dirt to stay healthy." Staying squeaky clean is near impossible and by no means expected. Yes, there is a way to remain professional while covered in dirt. But don't worry, there are showers. And you will be expected to use them when you get back to base camp.
Besides wild animals, you'll meet domestic animals too. Hope you like cats because they're everywhere in the back country guarding their camp from a mini bear attack. Well, some of them do their job better than others.
Probably one of my favorite cats was Thea at Miners Park. I stayed the night there after leaving a crew. In the morning, little Thea tried really hard to get a taste of the milk in my cereal bowl.
But as stated before, there are also wild animals. Some are more wild than others. Deer really aren't all that afraid of humans, hence their nick name: derps.
Then there are the bugs. The first half of the summer is decently bug free. The second half...well...you'll really start hating the fact that you live outside. Flies, mosquitoes and gnats... Will. Not. Leave. You. Alone. Ever had gnats swimming in your ear? Yeah, not fun. Even more annoying, bug spray doesn't seem to phase them. Pro tip: ear plugs help with the gnat-in-ear problem. And every once in awhile you'll find an interesting specimen like the gigantic grasshopper that seemed to be straight out of the movie Bugs Life.
Make sure everyone knows your summer address. Someone will love you enough to send you oreos and other stuff to make your day. Another cool feature of the Philmont post system: iCamps. You can send basically anything (legal and reasonably sized, of course) to any other staff member on the ranch for the sweet price of free. Watermelons are a popular item. It's probably also the best way to keep in contact with back country friends who you don't get to see very often.
Apply to be a special trek ranger. It's super fun, mixes up your routine and adds to your Arrowhead Patch collection. I mean, the Arrowhead Patch is the REAL reason you go to Philmont, right? And besides that, you'll be paired up with another ranger or two which will give you a chance to make some close friends.
I applied and was selected to be a Mountain Trek Ranger one week and that was probably my favorite week of the summer. I was with a super fun group of 12 girls and the 2 rangers that I worked with were true power rangers. The cool part was that it was LDS week so all the girls were LDS; something I wasn't used to. That extra connection was nice to have while getting to know them.
The little things along the way make the hike sparkle with magic. My favorite hike was when I was hiking in by myself from Miners Park. It was just me, the birds and the beautiful trail. I'm pretty sure I hiked the entire way back to Lovers Leap Turnaroud with my mouth wide open in awe. It was then that I realized how lucky I was. Completely isolated from any other human and so free!
Take the extra time and energy to climb to the top of the mountain to see the view. It'll be worth it. Some say, "once you see one view, you've seen them all." I completely disagree. It's just as magical as it was the first time.
---And now for a comedic intermission---
A list written over the course of two long car rides. By: Kyra (Ranger), Zack (Ranger), Colin (NPS), Rachel (Registration), Megan (Ranger) & Noah (Ranger)
In The World of Philmont
In a world where poop is a normal dinner table conversation.
In a world where you're thankful when squeeze cheese comes out...until it comes out the way it went in.
In a world where crews be crewin.
In a world where rest and half strength Gatorade is the cure for everything.
In a world where minibears are more dangerous than real bears.
In a world were bus tours are actually fun because 67.5 percent of the information is made up on the fly.
In a world where everyone is vain because of rule 1.
In a world where the only stripes you earn are salt lines.
In a world where all the food is fake.
In a world where just add water is how you cook everything.
In a world where good wifi is considered a luxury.
In a world where "hitting the 'sssac'" means something completely different (and is spelled with three S's).
In a world where the ToTT is not a small child.
In a world where Wal-Mart is two hours away.
In a world where I love 3G more than I love you.
In a world where carabeeners are as useful as duct tape (if not more so).
In a world where rangers are made in redroofs.
In a world where sleeping in until 6 is a luxury.
In a world where the only thing that comes easy is sweat.
---Please resume---
Did I mention that you'll be living outside? Yeah, platform tents in base camp and backpacking tents in the the back country. I seriously only slept inside a building with 4 walls, a roof and a floor a total of 3 times during the summer. And even then, I was still in a sleeping bag on the floor. But you know what? You get used to it and it isn't all that bad. Staff are allowed to borrow a Thunder Ridge tent for the trail free of charge, which I did all summer. It worked but half way through the summer I was wishing I had a newer one-man tent rather than the 3 year old two-man that I was borrowing. So if you're stingy with your money, there are tents you can use but if you have a one-man definitely bring that.
As for just living in a tent with a tentmate, it's a bit smaller than an average college dorm room but it's not as bad as you might think. You are provided with a cot and a small, two part locker. Bring bedding, including a decent quilt because it gets pretty cool at night. As for your clothes, bring a heavy duty foot locker to put at the foot of your bed to keep most of your clothes in because the locker won't help much. It doubles as a nice seat when you get off the trail and you don't want to sit on your bed because you haven't taken a shower yet. The locker is to keep smellables and valuables (bring a padlock) in for the most part. I hung my class A uniform in there but that's about the only clothing. For your shoes, you can just keep them under your bed. The bed isn't too tall so you can't fit huge containers under there.
By chance, I found a small hanging closest organizer at the dollar store before I left and decided to buy it because it seemed useful. Probably one of the best decisions I made in preparation. There was a small hole in the side of the locker that I stuck the hanging hook in and so I had some compartments right next to my bed to put little nick-nacks in when I was emptying my pockets at night.
My plans to improve living if and when I go back include a rope to tie between the two poles holding the tent up. On it, I want to hang my wet laundry. There is little humidity in NM so hanging your laundry out to dry actually works. By the way, a batch of laundry is 75 cents and a 10min drying round is 25. You can also buy one-load boxes of detergent for 75 cents but I'd advise bringing a small bottle or box of detergent instead. I ended up spending more on soap than I needed to by using the one-load boxes.
Hammocks are allowed to be hung between base camp tents so I brought one. It was great for the total of 10 minutes that I actually sat in it. Unfortunately, when I actually had time to sit in it, it was too hot outside. So, I would only recommend bringing one if you're driving there or your have a looot of luggage space. And trust me, you need all the luggage space you can get because you'll be going home with more than you brought. The good news is, you can ship stuff home if you want to pay for it. And if your brother will be there on a trek, you can send a bunch of stuff home with him {my friend, Henry, would like me to add that he helped to carry stuff home too}. That's what I did. I don't think he appreciated it all that much.
The stuff I overpacked the most were clothes-civvies as they are called. You only need a couple outfits because you'll be in uniform at least 85% of the time. All you really need are about two street outfits, an outfit you're willing to paint and get dirty in (lots of painting fences on work days), a nicer one for special occasions (I used mine for church when I had the day off on Sunday and when I went on a temple trip), and a workout outfit if you think you'll use one.
And while I'm on the topic of clothes, I'll talk about uniform. The only parts of your uniform that comes with your job are 3 shirts, a hat and your name tag. You have to buy the pants but you're still required to wear uniform pants. Thankfully, if you already have BSA pants, those are acceptable. You can also buy Philmont pants for quite a bit of money (just have about $50 or so ready). You're required to wear your uniform at all times unless it's your day off. If you plan to hike in the back country on your day off, you also have to wear your uniform. And if you plan on eating in the dinning hall on your day off, you have to wear your uniform. So basically, even on your day off, wear your uniform. Oh, and when you're on Philmont property, you must wear your name tag. Yes, even on your day off.
OK and then there's the food situation. Cafeteria food in base camp and the same 30 packaged meals in the back country. Over and over and over again. You'll get sick of it all. The good news is that the staff dinning hall (as opposed to the camper dinning hall) serves slightly better quality food with more variety and usually two options to choose from. But tough it out, your favorite meal comes back around eventually. Most people know I'm addicted to pasta so when fettuccine alfredo is served, you know I'll be going back for 5ths. I seriously made myself sick one day from eating so much of it. And then there was back country dinner #1. BEEF STROGANOFF WITH NOODLES! Yeah, that was my favorite freeze dried meal and everyone knew it. Speaking of back country food, you're just going to have to accept that you'll have a little Phil-Seasoning (dirt and wood chips) in your food every once in awhile. This is a frosted pound cake with wood chips and dirt if you can't tell.
Another note: make friends with people who give you ice as your main course because you hate hot dogs. Those people are the best.
And when you're truly sick of "fake" food, treat yourself to some Cimarron food. The Cimarron shuttle is free to employees (make sure you have your name tag) so just hop on and head to Cimarron. My personal favorite: The Cimarron Smokehouse. Oh and while you're there, go sit in the park across the street and use the wifi there. It's much better than base camps (don't get me started).
Next order of business: rainbows. No idea why but they're almost a daily event. Just kidding, I know why. It's because it rains almost every day. So go ahead and take a selfie in your dorky raincoat with a rainbow because whyyyyy not?
If you hate facial hair...well tooooo bad! I personally don't prefer it but somehow it looks good at Philmont. The guys are proud of their beards so just roll with it.
What you consider entertainment may be (and by that I mean it very much is) a biiiiit different from the outside world. Take this for example, a balancing act with random things just laying around. It kept us entertained for quite awhile. Your dinner table conversations there will not be appropriate at the dinner table when you go back to the real world. I didn't used to think poop jokes were funny, I promise...
Now for a word on workdays. Lest you think you get days off when they don't need you as a ranger yeah...you're more likely to find yourself digging through dumpsters for recycling. It's nothing personal, they just need help with odd jobs around the ranch. But never fear, some work days are fun. Like, riding ATVs fun. No catch to it. You get trained to and ride ATVs. And yes, you do get days off too.
Remember how I said you need to be a morning person? Well, it does have its perks. The sunrises are so worth it. If you get the chance, check out the Sawmill sunrise.
If you know a crew that is coming, don't be afraid to request them. Yes, you're allowed to do that. It can be interesting if your brother is the crew leader though... And when they are done, they'll tell you about all the rules they broke that you tried so hard to teach them. It's an interesting experience for sure.
You will quickly notice that many rangers have a strange contraption call a "Crazy Creek". My advice: buy one. It's worth every penny. Sitting on the ground all the time won't be much of a problem if you have one. Many people look at it and wonder how in the world is could be so comfortable but when they try it, they have a hard time getting out of it. I even used it as my sleeping pad for dual use.
When I first mentioned that I wanted to work at Philmont, my mom's first worry was church. Never fear, there is plenty of church opportunities. There is chapel every night at 7 for 4 religions. Protestant, Catholic, LDS and Jewish. I went to all of them multiple times which was really cool. I'm not sure what other resources the other religions have but being LDS, I had a lot of other spiritual opportunities. This year was the first summer that there was an official Philmont branch so there was all the basic branch opportunities. On Sunday morning, there was the full 3 block church with sacrament meeting, Sunday school and relief society. On Mondays there was family home evening and Wednesday was institute. There were also visiting teaching assignments and temple trips.
And now you may scroll through a few pictures of the ranch uninterrupted.
At the end of your summer, you'll find yourself crying as you look back at Arrowhead Rock for the last time. Only, it wont be the last time because of the magical powers that the rock possesses. And as you pack away your uniform that you were so eager to get out of, you find yourself wanting to put them back on just to feel like your back HOmE.
IWGBTP are letters of longing that bring back a summer of memories. You find yourself chanting the ranger bell chant around meal time. You sing Silver on the Sage as a lullaby to put yourself to sleep. Maybe that cafeteria food wasn't all that bad afterall...
