Narrative
One of my most adventurous summers was in 2009 when my dad and I went to Philmont Scout Ranch, a high adventure camp, with my Boy Scout troop. It all started at 7:00 am on a Saturday morning when we loaded up the truck and met with the rest of the crew and headed for Cimarron, New Mexico. The four hour drive seemed to take forever to us boys because we were so excited to be getting out in the wilderness. Philmont Scout Ranch is made up of thousands of untamed acres. While at Philmont some of the most memorable adventures we experienced were hiking 92 miles, having a close encounter with a bear and participating in a burro race.
Our first memorable adventure was hiking through the San Del Christos Mountains in Northern New México. The terrain was very mountainous and we walked for miles in blistering hot conditions. Mr. Bumgardner, a 30 year Marine, learned the importance of proper footwear for hiking when he discovered serious blisters on his feet. We hiked an average of nine miles a day for ten days. Hiking 92 miles was a challenge and I’m glad I could share this adventure with my dad.
Our second memorable adventure was when we had a close encounter with a big bear. Early one morning I woke to the sound of heavy breathing. I thought it was my tent partner, Maverick, however when I woke him up the breathing continued. The sound was coming from outside the tent. We followed proper bear procedures by repeating “bear, Bear, BEAR” until the other campers were alerted. We stayed in our tents until the bear wondered off. That was defiantly our scariest adventure.
Finally, our most fun memorable adventure was racing burros in the mud. It all started when we arrived at the Harleen Outpost where they raised livestock. Boy, that smell was bad! It had been raining and the mud was very slippery. There were several donkeys wondering around, so we asked if we could race them. We lined them up and had them ready to go. All they needed was a...