Larry Goldsmith's 1998 Philmont Journal
July 12, 1998: Day 9 - Sawmill to Cimmaroncito
| We were going to bet up and get out of camp before sunrise but Nathan and Black woke at 4:00 and it was cloudy. They went back to sleep and woke us at 5:30. We hustled and dressed and went to see the sun rise. We arrived just as the first sliver peeked over the horizon at 5:50. We got back to camp and finished breaking camp and ate breakfast. |
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We were on the trail to Cito at 7:15. The crew set off at a blistering pace down Sawmill Canyon -- until they hit a trail junction and then it took 10 minutes to figure out which way to go. We arrived at Cite at 9:15. When we checked in we were surprised to be able to get in the 10:00AM rock climbing program. We went to Campsite 4 and quickly hung our bear bags and headed off to program.
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On the way down to program we met up with Sandy ___? who is with Monmouth County Park System and was an advisor for a crew of 6 girls from Morris-Sussex Council. Her crew was heading to program also. The rock climbing program went wll. All the Scouts enjoyed the climb -- and Denis and I enjoyed watching. It was enough for us just trying to get up to the program area! After program we returned to camp setup and had lunch. |
| At 1:00 Dave, Dave, Nathan, and Blake headed out to Ute Gulch Commisary to pick up our food for the remainder of the trek. Denis and I took showers and did laundry. Today may have finally been the day to break Denis' laundry jinx -- as it did not cause it to rain! After showers, it was ANT - Advisors' Nap Time! Denis also worked on getting the MSR water filter to work. |
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After the food run was done at 3:20, they brought back oranges and we got onto Adam when he started putting the peels on the logs around the fire pit -- and then on his clothes! We had been told that there was a bear that travels between Ute Gulch and the Hunting Lodge right through the camp sites so it is extremely important to be careful here. There was also crew tension over duties at dinner time. After dinner several of the Scouts wanted to stay in camp instead of going down to the traverse wall, volleyball, etc. while we went to Advisors' Coffee. Someone finally said that they should go down as a crew -- and they did. At Advisors' Coffee there were nine Advisors from Monmouth Council there representing Crews 4,5,6 and 10.
When we returned to camp, the Thorns and Roses sessions showed that the tensions and dissent of the afternoon had disappeared. No one brought it up as their thorn; I used that fact as my Rose.
