Philmont all began when Waite Phillips and his brother, White
Phillips, moved out west in search of unchartered land to suit their
need for adventure. Then they stumbled upon these rugged mountains in
Northeastern New Mexico. Waite fell in love with this land and the
magic that had captured him has also captivated over 670,000
Scouts/Explorers over the past six decades!
Waite eventually got into the oil business in Oklahoma and at the
same time, began interested in developing a ranch out of the old land
grant of 1922. He eventually amassed over 300,000 acres. He built a
Spanish-Mediterranean home, decked out with gold, silver, and gems,
and he also had maid-service. Waite set up an immense Hereford
cow/Corriedale sheep ranch, and built trails and hunting lodges
throughout the area.
Toward his later years, he started searching for an organization that
was worthy of receiving this precious gift. In 1938, he chose the
Boyscouts of America and donated about 35,800 acres. Used as a
national wilderness camping area, it was named "Philturn
Rockymountain Scoutcamp"(after Waite's and the B.S.A. slogan, "Do a
Good Turn Daily").After operating it for a few years, the Boyscouts
found it too expensive to maintain, so they wanted to give it back.
To their surprise, Waite was so impressed with their efforts that he
donated a second gift of about 90,000 acres, his prime camping land,
and his 23-story Philtower Building in Tulsa, Oklahoma to provide the
B.S.A. with its profits. As part of the agreement, the B.S.A. would
have to keep it a working cattle ranch as was. Presently, Philmont
has about 250 head of Hereford cows and 100 Bison roaming it's
plains. Phillips house, which he named Villa Philmonte(House of the
Phillips in the Mountains), is used for staff training and daily
tours.
In 1963, Vice-president of the B.S.A. Council, Norton Clapp,
generously secured 10,098 acres of the Baldy Mountain mining area
from the Maxwell Land Grant. This brought the new land mass to
137,493 acres, and would eventually pave the way for Philmont to
become the largest and most popular Boyscout camp in the world.
There are many interesting things to do while at Philmont. For example, you can take a tour of the very interesting Villa Philmonte, be taken back to the 1850's when Kit Carson and Lucien Maxwell were organizing the first settlement from the Beaubien and Miranda Land Grant. Located seven miles south of Base Camp, their hacienda is now the "Kit Carson Museum." The tour includes stories of the early blacksmith, the three defense systems of the hacienda, and tours of each of the rooms. The rooms range from the stable, hunter's quarters, rec room and kitchen, to the bedroom, dance hall, and the backyard. Back in the mid 1800's, this settlement was the only such one along the Sante Fe Trail, the other two were at the terminals(Sante Fe and Taos).
Because virtually every pioneer of this time needed either wagon repairs, food, or other items, Maxwell and Carson charged the services/goods at about a 400% mark-up from the towns of Sante Fe and Taos. When I had my tour of this section, the staffer commented that this mark-up is still used at Philmont, and he is absolutely correct. For example, I bought a single role of film for $6, but you can usually get 4 roles for that price!During my 12-day trek, we found out that there were endless options while backpacking. Some of these include the daily camp activities, campfire, leisure side hikes or fishing opportunities. Each camp that you stay at has an unique activity. For example, Lover's Leap is a Conservation Site, Uracca Mesa has a campfire and challenge course, Bear Caves has spar pole climbing, Beaubien includes a Cons. Site and campfire, and Cypher's Mine has mining, blacksmithing, and "The Stomp." Each of these activities are interesting and this is just the beginning. These camps are all in the South country of Philmont and these are only half of the camps that I stayed at while on my trek. A few sidehikes and activities that I thouroughly enjoyed was the hike up the Tooth of Time, an hour stop for trout fishing(I caught one), a half hour hike to see the sunrise from Uracca, and fishing while at Clear Creek. Between backpacking an average of seven miles per day and all of these activities, my day was fun-filled and interesting.
If you hike quietly, you can often see many trout in the clear creeks, but they spook easily. Don't forget to watch the vast array of wildlife at Philmont. It is home to the elk, deer, mountain lion, bear, bobcat, buffalo, antelope, and many types of small game. Walking back to our campsite at Bear Caves from spar-pole climbing at Crater Lake, I came across a cinnamon-colored black bear in a little clearing. Only a few other members saw it as it scurried down the hill out of sight. During our train and bus ride to/from Philmont, we saw many antelope and buffalo, along with five elk. Throughout our trek we saw deer, turkey, lizards, a bear, ground squirrels and rabbits.