Philmont Scout Ranch

I spent years in the Boy Scouts, but the best experience I had was my second summer at the national scout camp, Philmont.  It was 1987 and the first time a young boy was really out on his own.  I spent the summer working in what was known as the headquarters camp.  It was where all of the scouts came to start their hikes into Philmont's 215+ square miles of rough terrain and mountains.  

My job was in the commissary, we handled all of the food for everyone working for or visiting the camp.  We provided the food for all of the meals served in the dining room in the headquarters camp,  all of the food for the staff at the base camps, and packaged and distributed the freeze dried meals for all of the hikers.  It was a wonderful experience for a 17 year old.  It was a glimpse into a world of ordinary kids doing ordinary things.

We spent days drinking beer for lunch and grilling out on days when we finished early.  Working hard was a norm, but we played just as hard.  We were a close group of kids enjoying our freedom.  

On my days off I would fill a pack with food and head into the back country to one of the camps where I had made friends.  Those were some wonderful days.  It was a rock climbing camp, which was such a blast.  We could go and climb where we wanted when none of the groups hiking were coming through.  And I always enjoyed cooking, so fixing meals for everyone was enjoyable as well.

We had a sweat lodge set up which was always a blast.  Sitting around the fire drinking the beer I had snuck back to them, waiting for the rocks to get hot enough.  The natural herbs we found growing were added to the water.  And when we finally brought the rocks in and poured the water over them, everyone would come into the sweat lodge as long as they could take it.  And finally when the heat and steam was too much, you would rush outside and jump into an ice cold shower fed with water from a mountain spring.

The simple things are sometimes the best.  Driving into Raton for a dinner with friends or a movie at the drive-in theater.  Staying up until 2 in the morning playing spades or dungeons and dragons.  Or the July 4th party, all of us drinking and grilling, overlooking Eagles Nest.  The fireworks over the lake, reflecting in the water.  The simple things.

I met a girl out there, a beautiful young thing that stopped my heart.  We spent many days casually growing closer.  And that we did.  Until finally one night we were alone and a chance did come for us to move our relationship to a more romantic and intimate level.  But the awkwardness I felt, the awkwardness of a teenager, kept that from happening.  I still remember her fondly and wonder how my life would have changed had that relationship blossomed.

It was a freedom and a joy that soon escaped me.  It was a summer that I wished could have gone on forever.  It was a time that could have changed the person I became for the better.  But nothing ever lasts long enough and my senior year in high school became my defining moment.  Some things just are not meant to be.