Larry Goldsmith's 1998 Philmont Journal

Prologue: Be Prepared

It is hard to know where to start the story of the 1998 Philmont trek. In some ways it should start on the next to last day of the 1996 trek when we asked the 1996 crew to critique the trek and our preparations so that we could make things better for the 1998 crews. Or maybe it starts in March 1997 with the first Philmont Committee meeting. Or is it the September 1997 Open House.

The real preparation with the Crew started at the September 1997 Contingent Meeting and escalated with the October 1997 Shakedown hike. From there, there were monthly crew meetings and training. Another Shakedown hike in April of 1998 leading up to final preparations.

The whole goal of all of this was to make sure that the individual Scouts and the Crew was prepared for the Philmont experience.