Back in October, I finally got the nerve to get the Philmont tattoo I always wanted. I got GPS coordinates and people always ask me what location at Philmont are they?
Baldy Mountain? Tooth of Time? Dean Skyline? Window Rock?
Actually, none of those. Quite simply -- Base Camp (more specifically the middle of CHQ dining hall if you want to get technical. Hey, food is important.)
But why Base Camp? You have all this back country with more beautiful places than Base Camp?
Because Base Camp is very definitely the heart of Philmont. People begin and end their journeys there.
Think about it, every time a heart beats, blood cells exit into the body on a little journey and return changed. Every time a participant or staff member goes to the backcountry they return changed.
Base Camp is also the gateway to every memory (good and bad) that I’ve ever made at Philmont. I could never choose one location in the back country over the other because each place that holds significance to me represents a different point of growth for me.
I’ve met the crews that have changed my life in that very Welcome Center in Base Camp.
Philmont is like a living, breathing body in some ways. The trails are the veins and arteries, the roads are the lymphatic system, the camps are like mitochondria (aka the powerhouse of the cell), the staff members are like the brain, and base camp is, and always will be, the heart.
