The Blue Mountain Council has reserved a 2026 slot for a crew of 5-9 youth age 14-21 who want the experience of a lifetime at Philmont Scout Ranch in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of northern New Mexico. So far, there is 1 male youth and 1 male adult committed, leaving room for at least 2 adult leaders and 4-8 youth. If there is interest from any female youth, we would need to have at least two female youth, and at least one female adult in the crew. If it ends up being all boys who want to go, one of the leaders could still be an adult female. Participating youth must be at least 14 by July 3, 2026 and under 21 by the same date.
Our trek is considered a 9-day trek, beginning with lunch on July 3rd and ending with Breakfast on July 12th.
Adults and youth who commit to participate need to be in good physical condition, should register in some capacity as a Scout or Scouting volunteer prior to the trip or training trips.
The expedition fee per youth or adult is $1,620, plus travel costs. We may choose to travel by car, or fly down and rent a car. I’m okay with whatever the group decides they would like to do. Traveling by car extends the trip on both sides a little, but we could plan some fun along the way. Flying into Denver or Albuquerque is also an option though. We can assist Scouts with fundraising to cover the costs.
For those who haven’t heard of Philmont before, this promo video gives a nice taste of what it’s like, but essentially it’s some pretty incredible backcountry, wilderness navigation experience, exciting backcountry camps, with fun programming sprinkled along our backpacking route. There are food pickup camps along the way, so we don’t have to pack all of our food for the complete trip.
We can plan our trip to be anywhere between 45-65 miles or so for the 9-day trek, depending on the route we select, the activities we decide to work into our itinerary, and how aggressive everyone would like to be with their hiking miles each day.
We need your commitment as soon as possible, so we can plan some preparation hikes together, and so we can begin making scheduled payments for the full cost of the trip. A payment for half the cost should be made at the Scout office before 12/31/2025. The remaining balance needs to be paid by 3/1/2026.
Those who are interested may contact Brett Bybee at brettbybee@hotmail.com or 509-212-1569.