Local Boy Scouts Complete Arduous Trek

Simpsonville Boy Scouts from Troops 158 and 159, both sponsored by Simpsonville United Methodist Church, recently returned from a 73-mile backpacking trek at the 225-square mile Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, N.M.

During the ten-day trek, the scouts put into practice their skills in wilderness water management, personal hygiene, overland navigation via map and compass, Leave-No-Trace camping, First Aid, and severe weather survival. 

Animals encountered included: turkeys, grouse, peregrine falcons, deer, rattle snakes, western hummingbirds, and mountain goats. 

Special precautions were taken to minimize the risks of encountering predators in this home to one black bear per square mile, and in one of the most populous areas of mountain lions in the country. 

In the course of the trek, the scouts climbed the 12,241-foot Mt. Baldy, the highest peak in Philmont, and also the Tooth-of-Time, an iconiclandmark anchoring the Sante-Fe Trail. 

The scouts also learned about pioneering, timbering, and gold-mining in this part of the country during the late 19th and early 20th centuries via stays at interpretive staff camps along the trek. They further completed a conservation project in the form of helping to build a new hiking trail. 

En-route to Philmont, the scouts visited the Great Sand Dunes National Park, Capulin Volcano National Monument, the USAF Academy, the U.S.Olympic Training Complex, Palo Duro Canyon, and the Oklahoma National Memorial. 

Part of the trek was through areas of the ranch still bearing scars from a 2002 wildfire; the contemporary Waldo Canyon fire in Colorado Springs precluded a planned visit to Pike’s Peak. 

"Overall, a great and memorable trip was enjoyed by all," according to a release.