Philmont - Day 9 - Lamberts Mine

As the sky was beautiful the night before, we were told that it is a beautiful view in the morning as well. In the morning I declined to go look at the view. However, there was one that went down to the porch of the staff cabin and took a few pictures as most of us slept.



Of course, here is the picture from the night before.



Soon enough we were on our way. However, Mother Nature provided a little moisture over night in the form of dew. Hence, the clothing did not dry our and it needed to be attached to the pack so that it could dry. Damp clothing his heavier than dry clothing, so come on sun, come out where ever you are.



The climb up and out of Sawmill was a gentle climb with some switchbacks. It also offered a couple of good view points. Mt Baldy and a few of the other peaks can be seen behind us as the view is in a northerly direction.



As we continued hiking up and around on our way to Cyphers Mine the views were great. There were lots of pine and fir trees. Of course we were at about 10,400 feet elevation.



Soon enough we were starting to descend towards Cyphers Mine. We were happy that is was getting closer.



As we crossed the North Fork of the Cimmarroncito Creek, we passed the old Cypher cabin and were greeted by banjo music. As we made our way to the staff cabin of Cyphers Mine, we noticed that everyone looked like they were stuck in early 1910’s mining camp clothing.



We sat down on the front porch and had our porch talk. We would quickly eat lunch and make our way to the forge. Upon arrival at the forge, they needed two helpers. Two crew members were chosen to help demonstrate the tools of the trade. First, one of them had to look a little manlier and that could only come with a reasonable facsimile of facial hair. After that, we started with hammers.



After completing all the hammers, we then learned about tongs. There are a few different types of tongs as being demonstrated on Jacob’s arms.



Of course, we needed to learn about other tools like the file, but there was no place to hang that.



By then the real work started. The forge was heated up and the selected crew member began his work. He was pounding on a piece of metal. He had been warned that the anvil, affectionately named Amy Georgia had its consequences if you hit it on its face, or should I say, if you wacked Amy Georgia on the face. You would have to say something like, “Miss Amy Georgia, I am so sorry for whacking you on your beautiful, luscious, gorgeous, attractive, stunning, scrum-delicious face. I promise not to do it again. I will kiss you on the face and do so long enough for these gentlemen to get a picture.” Of course everyone was laughing extremely hard by this point and then the crew member kissed the anvil, I mean, Miss Amy Georgia.



Once the kiss was over, the young lady wiped the anvil off and stated, “This must be one of your first kisses. You drooled all over Miss Amy Georgia’s face.” That was also another great laugh. As it turned out there was more than one young man that had to kiss Miss Amy Georgia on the beautiful, luscious, gorgeous, attractive, stunning, scrum-delicious face. Most all of them drooled as well; at least that is what we were told.



During the fun times, a dear wandered by. Then the baby deer, which was hungry wandered up to her. I have got to tell you, that was the roughest thing I have ever seen. That baby walked up, grabbed her mom by the teat and yanked mom around like there was no tomorrow. If that was not bad enough, up walked baby deer number two. It then seemed like mom had a tug-o-war going on below her and she was the rope. Ouch.



Then it was off to Contentions Mine. We had a little geology talk before going into the mine.



Then we were off into the mine. It was not a place for tall people.



As we walked we went to close to the back of the mine. Our guide told us some stories. One was about the ghost of Cyper, how he had been seen now and then. He then had us turn off our lights.



I have to tell you, it was dark, very dark. He then asked us to follow our crew leader out. We each put a hand on the shoulder of the person in front of us and walked out of the mine. Of course there was a big crashing sound when we were in the mine as we were walking out. The reason for the helmets is there are several low places. It is not the place a tall person wants to work.

We made it out and went back to where our packs were. We got our pack on and headed out of Cyphers Mine.



Of course we passed the staff red roof in on the way out of town.



Soon enough we made our way down and around from the North Fork of the Cimmarroncito Creek to the Middle Fork of the Cimmarroncito Creek and to Lamberts Mine. The campsites were not large and it was a fairly damp place. We all sat around and relaxed while dinner was being made.



There was one first for us at Lamberts Mine, the white plastic “Pilot to Bombardier” latrine. One of the crew members thought it looked heavenly in its setting, a pure white glowing in the forest. You did have to walk between two Colorado blue spruces that stood about 15 feet tall to enter the forested area where the latrine sat.



We got our tents place for the evening. There were not enough places to put them all together so we had to spit things a little.



The final event of the evening was hanging the bear bags and doing thorn, roses and bud. The big rose for the day was the forge at Cyphers Mine.

Philmont - Day 8 - Sawmill

Today we started later than usual. I had a good night’s sleep and slept in to 5:30. Breakfast was a little slow as well as getting ready for breakfast.



However, soon enough we were policing the campsite for any trash or trace. Overall, it did take us 2 hours to eat breakfast, pack and strike camp. Not a record, but it is not our slowest.



Soon enough we got on the trail. We stopped for the obvious things to stop for, the signs. There were several trails going in different directions. After checking the map we were on our way.



We started up Grouse Canyon. It was different than the dry canyons up north that we went through. There was a small stream that had a little water flowing through it. There was also a lot more vegetation.



At times it was being in another place on the planet.



We soon enough came to another stop sign and started up Sawmill Canyon. This canyon was not as lush, but it had plenty of trees.



Along with trees or should I say flora it had fauna, four legged fauna, fauna with claws and teeth.



We looked at the bear, the bear looked at us and he meandered off. We continued our trek up Sawmill Canyon. We passed through Lower Sawmill Camp and headed up to Sawmill Camp. It was nice to leave the four legged fauna in a different camp.



For the day we were going to climb over 1000 feet to about 9200. The trees also changed as we climbed. We saw less aspen and as we came to Sawmill, it was mostly pine and fir that we were seeing. It was nice to get there.



As per usual protocol, we had our porch talk at the staffed camp. I found a nice rocking chair to sit in.



We received information on our program for the day. We would start at the reloading cabin for instruction.



After instructions, the crew leader reloaded three cartridges.



Then we all reloaded three cartridges. I wanted to reload a good fifty so I could shoot more, but there was not time.



We then took a hike to the Sawmill Rifle Range. It had a nice covered shooting area as it was threatening to rain. We had a safety briefing like we did at Harlan. It was explained to us that we could bring a target, underwear, hat, bandana or something that we wanted to shoot. Our crew did not bring anything. It was also explained that if you put something out to shoot at, everyone could shoot at it.



The boys had their chance to shoot. the had the opportunity to shoot the youth provided targets. A couple of crew members nailed some guys white hat a couple of times along with a few other things that had been put out.



I wanted to shoot my hat, but after eight years, it is like a good friend that has been several places with me. I chose to throw all nine rounds into the white hat.



As if shooting was great, I have to tell you there is something that I looked forward to more than shooting, cold showers. After being on the trail for several days without a shower, I wanted to clean myself up and do some laundry.



Soon enough it was back to camp. Dinner was being prepared and we could relax.



Well, we could relax after we hung our laundry out to dry. I was happy to see that there was a lot of laundry. Perhaps, the group would smell a little better.



I had a little time to write in my journal as dinner was being prepared. That was until it started sprinkling. Ink, paper and water do not seem to mix very well.



After dinner the adults left the youth in camp and went down to the staff cabin for the “coffee.” They were a little bit unorganized as they had a small grease fire in the kitchen. The cookies finally came out. We sat on the porch and enjoyed the view. As it is, Sawmill is one of the few places that you can receive a radio signal. Every Wednesday evening at 8:00 they have the hour of blues. The week had been silent of music and here we were listening to blues and watching the sky as the sun set behind us. At one time you could see three rainbows in the sky and it rained toward the east.



We climbed back up the hill to camp to find all well. We had our thorn, roses and bud as we reflected on the day. Overwhelmingly the rose of the day was the shower. We all needed a good night’s sleep because tomorrow would be uphill in the morning to about 10400 and then down to about 9000 feet in about 13 miles.

Philmont - Day 7 - Ute Springs

Today we needed to start early. I was up at 4:45 to start the water boiling for breakfast. At least this time we looked at what we needed to do before we went to bed. The boys started getting up just after 5:00. Our quickest time to strike camp has been 1.5 hours. That is all the time we have this morning because we need to be out of camp and on our way at 6:30. We were making our final preparations as the sun was coming up.



At just after 6:30 we were on our way up hill to Deer Lake for a conservation project. We were told that it would take an hour, maybe about an hour and a half. The conservation project started at 7:30 or 10:30 or 1:30 and the crew wanted to get it done at 7:30. The navigator for the day was moving quickly up hill and the boys were following right along. Those more than double their age were falling behind. I told them, just go and get us checked in. We all arrived by 7:20 and had time to sit down, rest and eat what we did not eat out of our breakfasts.



Soon we were called around for our safety talk and tool instruction. The instruction for the shovel was the most memorable for me. It started, “This is a shovel. It is used for moving dirt. Most of you may be used to staking the point of the shovel into the ground first. In case you have not noticed, there are lots of rocks in the dirt, hence the name of this mountain range, the Rockies. Please do not use the point of the shovel as we do not want it chipped or broken. Use the side of the shovel to scoop the dirt” as the conservation leader showed using the shovel in a sideward sweeping motion. As this was happening I was thinking, really, perhaps that is why all 18 of my tent pegs are a pain to get into the ground. Soon enough we were off to the site of our service, cutting down small ponderosa pines. When they get big they can suck up to 60 gallons of water a day. They had crept closer to Deer Lake, which was a mud hold due to the drought. You can see the brown mud in the middle of the green area in the distance in the picture below.



After we walked to the West side or far side of the lake and did our service, we walked back to the East side. We picked up our packs and walked back to the west side of the lake and the up a hundred feet or so. It was then declared time for lunch.



After lunch we resumed our trek for Ute Springs Camp. As headed North we could we got to a point we could look in the westerly direction and begin to see Ute Gulch. Much to our surprise, the trail would give us a front row seat to Ute Gulch and the mountains that surrounded it. We have a look to the North,



a look to the South,



and a look to the West.



We continued north and then cut back south as we lowered elevation. It seemed like we were way above the gulch. Another cut back to the North on a switchback as we continued to descend. I was getting used to the up and down thing. We go up in the morning, down just before or after lunch, sleep and then do the same thing the next day.



It was beautiful country and it was worth taking a stop to look. It was looking much different that the North Country where we started, more trees and greener. Of course, we were about a thousand feet higher.



Before we got to Ute Springs, we needed to stop by Ute Gulch to pick up another four days worth of food. It would be our last food pickup. The grid on the side of the building was electrified at night. It was a “Gatorade” vault that most any bear would want into.



When we got there we rested. They also had fresh fruit to eat and flour tortillas. Most of us had an apple or pear.



Fairly soon we had to get going. The sky was getting a little darker and our familiar afternoon thunder and lightning had been underway for some time. Of course about the time we got to camp, is started raining and it was time to get set up to cook dinner. There is nothing like sitting in the rain waiting for water to boil.



Of course one of the most intriguing things was the stone chairs. One crew member found a nice large comfortable chair. When we got to camp he was always thinking ahead about his comfort. There is nothing like lounging around waiting for dinner.



Soon enough, dinner was over and it was time for a torn and roses and a bud. Of course some things remained constant, same boy, same thorn – rain. Everyone thought that we did well; we got up and out on the trail timely.



Tomorrow we would be going to Sawmill. It was not a long way in miles, just over 5, it was just all up. We decided that we wanted to get there so we could shoot the 30.06 rifles.