The Trail to Philmont started moving a lot faster – and got a lot more real – in March 2021. As I mentioned in the February update, during the winter we lost four members of our crew to COVID concerns.[…]
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Category: Trail to Philmont
Trail to Philmont – January/February 2021
January and February of 2021 were tough. The short days, the post-Christmas/holidays pandemic surge, and walls of snow from a 3+ foot blizzard made this one of the hardest stretches on the trail to Philmont. It was hard to stay[…]
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The Trail to Philmont – Year’s End
After a year on the trail to Philmont, it’s time to take a look back at where I’ve been, where I am, and where I’m going. Weight-wise, I’m near my goal of 195. I started the trail at 221 lbs.[…]
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The Trail to Philmont – September 2020
After one false start and two 5-mile primer day hikes, our Philmont crew finally went on an extended backpacking trip. We did a two-day hike in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in New Jersey. Friday night we stayed[…]
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The Trail to Philmont
In January 2020, my son and I started on the trail to Philmont – a six-month training project aimed at developing the strength, endurance, and skills needed for a 12-day, 60-mile backpacking trek at Philmont Scout Rank in Cimarron, New[…]
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The Trail to Philmont, July/August 2020
After six months on the trail to Philmont … we finally got on the trail. In August, we went hiking twice: first a 5-mile day hike on the Monocacy Creek Trail in Bethlehem, Pa., then a more rigorous 5-mile day[…]
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The Trail to Philmont, June 2020
The long, winding trail to Philmont continued in June as I launched into training for a 10K race. I don’t have a particular race in mind, and given the state of the COVID-19 world, it’s likely any race I do[…]
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The Trail to Philmont, May 2020
May started with our trip to Philmont being canceled. We moved our reservation to 2021 in the hopes that we’ll be able to travel (and hike) by then. The challenge used to be getting ready for a 60-mile backpacking trip[…]
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The (Extended) Trail to Philmont, April 2020
April was the countdown to the inevitable. We knew mid-month that Philmont Scout Ranch would update their COVID-19 strategy on May 1 and that announcement could mean the end to our 2020 backpacking trek. Throughout April, NeutronLad and I maintained[…]
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The Trail To Philmont, March 2020
We started actively training for our big 12-day backpacking trip to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico in January, and got into a good groove in February. And then everything changed. During the first half of the month, we maintained our regime of working[…]
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