Borde de la Vida

Forgive me if I become emotional and sappy in this letter. In just 4 short weeks, I will get in my car and drive HOmE. This is the first and last time I will ever get to get in my car and drive to Philmont. You see, the 2018 season will be my last season for a while in my scouting career and it’s a scary thought. I’m a staff member who’s been there a while and have become a familiar face to the place that we all know and love. Five summers that have consumed my heart and soul to those old mountains will end on August 8th as I get back into my car in the wee hours of the morning and drive away for one last time. Hopefully spying that Arrowhead on the ridge. 

I’ve been reflecting on the past four seasons and learned a lot of things about myself. Here’s some advice to anyone who may read this post in the future as they’re looking at a paper application to Philmont.

Things that will happen to you as a person:

- you’ll make lifelong friends that you can talk to about anything because, hey when you have to teach kids about pooping in the backcountry, you learn a lot.

- you’ll find love and you might also lose that love. That love could be a person, a place, an animal, a view. But when you leave Philmont, you might lose it. It’ll hurt a whole heck of a lot too. 

- you won’t be the same person you were when you arrived for that first day of work. You’ll be stronger, mentally, emotionally, and physically. You learn what you smell like after not showering for a week. You can’t imagine how people actually shower every single day. You’ll learn how to handle stressful people and experiences with such grace and rigor even you will impress yourself. You’ll learn you can throw a 70 lb backpack on your back and climb 25 miles worth of mountains in a day and still want to climb some more. 

Things that you should do:

- go climb as many peaks as humanly possible

- get that really bad sunburn and live to tell the tale

- visit the Art Gallery in Cimarron so much they know what department you work in

- grab a carload of phil-friends and drive to Raton at 10 p.m. for a midnight Denny’s Run

- sleep in the parking lot of the Wheeler Peak Wilderness trailhead and go climb Wheeler Peak

- spend a whole paycheck on items at Taos Mountain Outfitters

- take a road trip and go visit Rocky Mountain National Park

- visit as many staff camps as you can and always be sure to bring gifts of appreciation if you can. 

- offer to do the dishes at staff camps, even if you just used a bowl and spoon for some cereal, the help is always appreciated

Things that might happen to you:

- you might get the opportunity  to take a crew to your favorite spot on the whole ranch

- you might get the opportunity to go help people on a Search and Rescue

- you might get the opportunity to be a crew’s guiding angel by becoming a temporary advisor

- you might have to fight for your job and show them that you can do what they never thought possible

Whatever it maybe, dear first year staff members, we, as former and present staff members know this: Philmont will be the best job you’ve ever had and will ever have. The experiences you have here can be insurmountable, the relationships and bonds you form will last a lifetime, and the old mountains that are still and strong and never moving, they’ll be there to remind you of the good ole days when you grow older and leave this place, this Heaven On (m) Earth.

Yours truly,