July 13 to July 21, 2018
By: Ian Kiyokawa
This year, our Troops’ trip to Philmont Scout Ranch was cancelled due to forest fires. As a substitute, the Philmont Crew went to the Maine High Adventure Camp. This was a real let down because they had trained so hard for Philmont and they wouldn’t even get to go. Despite this setback, the Philmont Crew quickly set up another trip which was spectacular.
After driving through 9 states, traveling more than 600 miles in roughly 13 hours, the Philmont Crew arrived in Baxter State Park in Maine. The Crew first canooed for 3 days and portaged to better canoeing waters. Portaging was very hard for the Crew. They portaged for 3/4ths of a mile and canooed the rest until they got to the area where they could start the backpacking portion of the trip. The Crew backpacked to base camp, which was difficult because there were a ton of downed trees all along the path. Nobody enjoyed having to climb over the downed trees all the time.
Some things people really liked about the Maine Trip were the views. The Appalachian Trail has beautiful natural features all along the way. Another thing the Crew liked was “rump bumping”. It’s when you wear a life vest on your bottom and ride the water downstream. The thing that made the trip very special was the combination of canoeing and hiking. It was like having two big activities in one trip.
One of the most disliked parts of the trip was the bugs, but there isn’t much you can do about that. Another really bothersome thing that the Philmont Crew was being faced with was having to cross all the downed trees with their heavy packs on. Also, they hated having to have to resupply after running out of food.
Over all, the Philmont Crew really enjoyed their Maine High Adventure Trip. I would recommend that we add it to our Troop’s High Adventure Summer Camp list. It is a great combination of hiking and canoeing and an adventure of a lifetime.