Philmont

I can't believe my boy did this.  He, 6 of his buddies and 3 incredibly adventurous parents went on a Philmont trek over the summer.  (yes, I'm posting out of order again)  If you don't know, Philmont is the holy grail for scouting.  The BSA has 4 high adventure camps all over the country. Northern Tier, Sea Base, Bechtel and Philmont.  However, Philmont is the one everyone recognizes.  These boys chose a 77 mile trek that turned out to be over 100 miles in the end.  The reached an elevation of 12,500 feet when they reached the peak known as Baldy.  They carried 50 pound packs on their backs.  They had the opportunity for showers twice in the 10 days they were out on the trail.  Little B had an ingrown toe nail cutting into his toe the whole time.  I cannot express how proud and impressed I am.  They carried food, water and cooked their meals out there.  They were filthy and together constantly.  They loved it!  When they got home, I loved hearing the excitement in their voices.  B told me everything late into the night his first night home.  I had told 7 boys that their parents and I wanted to see photos.  Lots of them.  Good photos.  No eyeballs, nostrils or feet.  LOL!  They all brought back tons of pics.  Not only that, but they passed around their phones so that they could get shots of themselves too.  Of course the very last photos I got were of each of their eyeballs.  LOL!  I love these kids!  They are turning out to be such amazing young men.  I am so glad they have each other in their lives.

 Having a shake down a few days before they were scheduled to leave.  They were as prepared as they were going to get.  :)

Saying goodbye to their families.

OK - pretend like the next 18 photos were before you saw any actual trail photos.  Blogger doesn't make it easy to move photos around.  These next 18 photos are of base camp when they got there and the next day.