Elevation: 7,910 ft
GPS coordinates: W 105 2 54.41  N 36 27 36.97 

Temperatures: High  degrees - Low degrees 

Webters Park to Upper Clark's Fork

6.25 Miles

Total: 44.75 Miles

Upper Clarks Fork    images

     The Trek to Upper Clark's Fork passes through Hunting Lodge and Clark's Fork.   We arrived at Hunting Lodge just before 9:00 AM.  We were greeted by a Camp staff member with whom we registered as a Pass Through Crew.  He offered to give us a tour of the Hunting Lodge cabin.   The cabin was constructed as a getaway for the Phillips  Waite and his wife would travel here to get away from civilization. The sometimes spent two weeks or more at a time at the cabin.  Waite Phillips often had guests that would hunt with him.  The interior of the cabin had some of his trophies displayed.  When Waite donated the Phimont land back in 1938 the boy scouts used the lodge for one of it's staffed camps. As Philmont grew in popularity so did the Hunting Lodge camp.  The Hunting Lodge is very close to the water reservoir that supplies Cimmaron with its water.  The town folks made Philmont move the staffed camp to where Cimmaroncito Camp is located now.  The lodge was abandoned for years and was beginning to get run down. Only in the last few years has it been restored and is being used as a staffed camp again.   We had a good time listening to history of the the cabin.  The only bear we saw at Philmont was stretched over one of the tables inside the Lodge.  It was a bear that had become a nuisance bear and had to be removed for safety purposes.   The advisors enjoyed a hot cup of coffee heated on a wood burning stove.  A nice treat for the adults.

     We left the lodge behind us at about 10:30 AM and headed toward our destination.   The trail had a gradual incline with some steep areas.  This seemed to be the norm for most of the hikes we encountered.   Our longest hikes out of the way we began to enjoy the shorter five mile hikes.   We reached Clark's Fork camp just before noon.

     We re-filled our water bottles with new cold water.  The water we had picked up at Cimmaroncito was the worst tasting water we had encountered so far.  The Clark's fork water was just a little bit better but not by much.  The Ponil water was still the best tasting by far. We were asked to come up to the porch for the usual talk and sign in session.   We were told what the program consisted of at Clark's Fork.  They offered horse riding (Only to other Crews), branding, horse shoes and cattle rustling.   this was also the camp where we were going to have another Chuck Wagon Dinner.   It was going to be a long wait until 5:00 PM dinner, so the crew decided to head to camp to set up and then come back later.   The Upper Clark's Fork Camp was located only 3/4 of a mile up the trail.  When we started the hike up the trail were found out that "UP" really meant up.  It was a very steep climb.  The only good part was that we would not have to hike this stretch again with full packs on.  We located a nice shady campsite, put up the Tents, Dining Fly and Bear Bags for the ninth time.  We took the time to rest a while before heading back down to Clark's Fork to spend the afternoon.   We took both the two gallon containers and any personal empty water bottles to fill up on the way back tonight after campfire.   Did I mention there was going to be a campfire.  This is the only camp where a staff campfire is presented.  It would be at 8:00 PM tonight.  

     The crew hung out on the porch most of the afternoon playing cards and Chess as did several other crews.  Some roped cattle again while others played horseshoes.  It was finally 5:00 PM and it was time for dinner.  We all went over to the Chuck Wagon area where we were told it would be delayed for about a half hour.  We waited in the smoke and ash blowing through the building.  The wind was not cooperating.  Do and Matt were the cooks for this meal and had been there since 3:30 PM.  The meal was finally served at almost 6:00 PM.  The stew wasn't too bad and the biscuits tasted OK.  The Peach cobbler never finished cooking and was served in runny condition.  Most of the crew did not mind and hungrily devoured most of it.  Andrew and Justin stayed behind to help with the cleanup.  The rest of the crew went back to playing around. 

      8:00 PM time for the campfire.   The crews began to arrive and we walked to the campfire area.   The entertainment, usually seven strong was down to three.   The program was not too bad considering the few staff members involved.  Do provided some entertainment on his Ocarina once again saving the show.   Jokes were told and songs were sung and a few skits were presented.   A good time for all.   As I sat there watching the fire I realized how nice it is to watch the dancing flames.   Each of the camps we had been to had fire rings but we were not allowed to make any fires in them.  I think it would have added to the memories of Philmont.  Hopefully in the years to come they will lift the fire ban.

      We hiked back to camp with four gallons of water.   The Tooth Ridge camp, our last camp was to have no water supply.   We broke camp early in the morning and were on the trail before sun up.  The trail towards Tooth Ridge camp as the map portrayed and we suspected was going to be up hill at the beginning and level off on top of the ridge.