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The primary job in the Logistics department is to prepare crews getting ready for their trek at Philmont. There are 35 “canned” programs the crews can choose from with different mixes of distance to hike and various programs they can participate in all over the ranch. The programs are real fun for the campers. They include things like gold panning, blacksmithing, rifle and shotgun shooting, horse rides, spar pole climbing, rock climbing and such. They make a selection from the list of Treks several months in advance. |
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In addition to the trip planning, Logistics mans a radio room which is the center of communications on the ranch. They also have a special telephone that allows them to act as the out-of-hours switchboard for the ranch. Working the radio with all of its reports and messages isn’t difficult but requires you to listen carefully to what is being said and pay attention to all of the things that are being done on the ranch. This is most critical with medical emergencies of which there seem to be several each day. Sometimes they have two persons on duty to handle the load of questions that run the gamut of important to ridiculous. |
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When they enter Logistics, they do what is called
trip planning with the youth and adult leader in each crew. They
simply feed them information they need to know about conservation
projects they will perform, water conditions at camps and lots
of other general stuff they need to know. Then they sit down with
them and review their entire trek on a day-by-day basis to be
sure they understand where and when they need to be and what they
will do. It is incredible how much information Philmont provides
yet the crews don’t read or study the material so they have
to remind them of information to get them up to speed. They take
their wall maps, which Philmont provides, and mark them up so
they won’t forget what they are told and then send them
off to do other check in procedures with other departments on
the ranch. |
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Finally, we coordinate all transportation on the ranch. This includes getting staff back and forth to local airports and such plus busses getting the crews into or out of the backcountry. Most of this is done with rented school busses but some is done with an SUV assigned to our department and I will act as driver from time to time. We pick up and drop off folks at all hours of the day and night and it can get interesting at times. |
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On average, 30 to 32 crews of about 10 to 12 persons arrive daily at the ranch. This is about 300 to 400 people arriving each and every day. About the same number campers are returning off the trail each day so we can easily have about 800 new faces walking around every day. Our dining hall serves about 1200 to 1300 persons (campers and staff) at each meal. They sure stay busy. |
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As part of the Trip Planning, Logistics also prepares the paperwork that crews need to claim food along the trek and document other useful information. When Logistics finishes with a crew, they review where the various crews will be staying on each night for emergency procedures and document how much food they will be picking up and where so it is prepared for them when they arrive. Lots of things get done in the background they will never see or know about |
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