August 14th

Sunday, August 14

We wake up 15 minutes earlier because of the day ahead of us. We leave camp at 6:35 under Brent's leadership. The hike on this day is tuff, Turkey Creek Canyon, known as the hottest hike in Philmont. We hike for a while before breakfast. As we hike, a Trail Crew comes up behind us. Mr. F and Rob Law, who are the last two in the line, hear them. The rest of the crew does not. Trail Crew has this very loud cheer that they use once in awhile and this was one of those times. The give their cheer and Mr. Kirkland and most of the rest of the crew nearly have a heart attack. Mr. Kirkland thought that Mr. F fell off the ridge or something. It takes Mr. Kirkland about 2-3 hours to get his heart out of his throat. We stop for breakfast and they pass us. We hiked out of the canyon and across the only pavement we will ever see on our trip. After crossing we take a break. Mr. F pulls out his now famous Jelly Belly jelly beans. He's a nice guy and shares. He uses them as a tool to get everyone in the crew to think of positive things about ourselves and others. We also set goals to be a better crew. We learn a lot about each other and ourselves. The Bad Knee Club goes to three today with Rob Law joining. We finish our hike to Harlen by 12:15. We set up and eat. The staff also warns us about the potential there might be a Bobcat in the area so make sure anyone under 110 lbs. doesn't go anywhere alone. Oh Baby, Scott is a little nervous, being the lightest one in the crew. The staff also stamps our crew leader copy of our itinerary with a simulated shotgun blast. After lunch we go to shotgun shooting. Each of us get to shoot five birds, Rob Law shoots three, Brent gets two and Mr. F gets one and a half. Scott and Sam have the guy shoot their hats and Brent has him shoot his bandanna, twice, Yea Baby! We rest a while. It starts to rain. Mr. Kirkland and Tim Wells cook pancakes and bacon for supper. Mr. F & K join in on the hack game too. After two hours of cooking everyone is full. Brent had the most pancakes and then gets sick first. The evening program was burro racing. The crew goes to meet the burros as advisors and sick crew members watch from the cabin porch. Scott gets to the corral and instantly becomes a soul-mate with a burro called Dawg. Before they start the race Scott kisses the burro on the lips for good luck. Scott said that he likes the hairy lips, then off to the races. The first race we place second and the second race we place first with Dawg almost running over a scout from another crew. The third race was called due to rain. We get back to camp and go to bed as it starts to rain pretty heavy. It rains most of the night and some tents experience water problems.