We’re slowly catching up with photo uploads: watch Philmont gradually appear in the Gimlet Gallery.
After spending a night in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, we were up early so we could check in to Philmont by 2:00 pm. Most of the drive was through winding, mountainous terrain. We stopped at the visitor’s center in Chama to get our bearings (and make a souvenir penny), but after that we didn’t stop until Taos. As we approached the Rio Grande Bridge we were stopped by a police roadblock. The officer was friendly and we soon realized that a movie shoot was taking place: a large, old, boxy RV drove back and forth over the bridge, swerving in and out of its lane, as a helicopter equipped with a movie camera swooped and dove around it to capture the shot. After a few back-and-forth passes with the RV and helicopter, we were permitted to drive over the bridge ourselves; the bridge was scenic, but our passage over it was nowhere as exciting as the RV.
After a quick stop for gasoline the Gimletmobile crawled along the very picturesque (but very narrow and congested) road through Taos to begin a corkscrew journey of about fifty miles along the Enchanted Circle to Cimarron. The narrow, winding road was beautiful, but not very forgiving to the easily motion-sick. Luckily Thing Two slept through most of the drive. At 1:30 pm, a woozy Team Gimlet pulled in to Philmont Scout Ranch and the fun of settling in began.
How do you tell the story of a week at Philmont? We’ll try to give you an idea by giving each Team Gimlet member’s perspective on the week. First, The Gimlet will share his Strictly For Scoutmasters program, followed by Thing Two and Your Humble Narrator’s experiences. Thing One’s Mountain Trek will finish out the Philmont blog posts. After that, it’s time to get back on the road again and turn west to Santa Fe and Albuquerque, the Grand Canyon, and points beyond.
Related posts:
Our summer just got more exciting: The Gimlet has been invited by our local scout council to attend a conference at the