Scoutmaster Musings

Do you wanna go back to Philmont? Or, go for the first time? I have enjoyed the Philmont experience twice, once with each of my sons. There is a lot of planning and preparation that goes into a trek. You have 1 month to get registered in the lottery drawing for crew slots in the 2020 season at Philmont. Start at Philmont.org where you can get the 2020 Registration packet and register for the lottery.

It is a completely random drawing and a registration request made on December 2 has just as much chance as being drawn as one made on October 30. But, if you put it off until December 3, you will probably not get to go. Details about the registration process and a useful worksheet to gather necessary registration information is here - there is quite a bit of data to collect, especially the 5 dates your crew is willing to go.

Did you know?

• The Philmont 12-day trek fee for 2020 is $1025.00 - it has steadily risen over the years. Here are some past fees: 2005=$495, 2008=$560, 2011=$725
• There are still openings for 57 crews at Philmont between July 30 and August 9 in 2019. I figured all slots would be filled from the fire closures this past summer causing roll-overs of treks. If your troop is looking for a high adventure for next summer, take a look at the openings on the Philmont website.
• Your troop CAN go to Philmont each year - it used to be only every other year.
• Each Philmont crew is required to have at least two members trained in Wilderness First Aid and CPR - do not wait until just before your trek to get this. This training is often difficult to find!
• There are over 2500 slots for 12-day trek crews at Philmont each summer. That is room for almost 31,000 trek participants. If all the slots were filled with the maximum 12-person crews, that would be over 381,000 peopledays.

Scout On!