Our Crew, veterans of a Philmont Expedition in July 2008, have just been notified that we've been selected to return to Philmont in 2010.  Each year, a lottery is held to select those Scouting units across the nation who will be allowed to go.  News will follow once the paperwork arrives, but start clearing your calendar for late June/early July 2010 for our Trek.   Go to the Photo Album and see what it was like in 2008.

Philmont Scout Ranch is a large, rugged, mountainous ranch located near the town of Cimarron in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of the Rocky Mountains of northern New Mexico.  The ranch, formerly the property of oil baron Waite Phillips and now that of the Boy Scouts of America, is currently in use as a National High Adventure Base in which crews of Scouts and Venturers take part in backpacking expeditions and other outdoor activities.  It is the largest youth camp in the world by size and number of participants.  Phillips sometimes allowed others to visit his ranch, including a few Boy Scout troops.  He was so impressed with the Scouts that in 1938, he donated 35,857 acres to the Boy Scouts of America.  In giving it to the Scouts, he included 3 provisions: that his horse Gus could stay there until his death, that his family could come and visit the ranch, and that it remain a working cattle ranch.  They initially named it the "Philturn Rockymountain Scoutcamp"  The word 'Philturn' comes from Waite Phillips's name, together with the "Good Turn" he did by donating the property.  In 1941, Phillips added more Philmont property, including the Villa Philmonte, bringing the total to 127,395 acres.