Local Boy Scouts backpack through mountain range

Submitted Photo A local Scout participates in pole climbing at the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico on their eight-day backpacking trip in August.

SIKESTON — Early last month, 17 local Boy Scouts and advisers went on an eight-day backpacking trip through the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in northern New Mexico at Philmont Scout Ranch.

The trip covered about 50 miles and was a significant, life-changing experience, according to one of the scout advisers, John Bollinger of Sikeston.

Four Boy Scouts of America groups from the area went on the trip: troops 4041 and 4019G in Sikeston, troop 4025 in Benton, and troops 7044 and 7156G in Southern Illinois.

Submitted Photo Local Boy Scouts and advisers pose for a picture on their eight-day backpacking trip through the Sangre de Cristo Mountains at Philmont Scout Ranch in northern New Mexico. Local scouts from troops 4041 and 4019G in Sikeston, trop 4025 in Benton, and troops 7044 and 7156G in Southern Illinois attended the trip.

Bollinger said he had been to New Mexico when he was younger, and this was the first time their troops had taken the trip to Philmont Scout Ranch in a long time.

“There was a few of us that had been before years ago, but for mostly everyone else, this was their first time,” Bollinger said. 

According to Bollinger, the Boy Scouts of America own and operate Philmont Scout Ranch, which is the largest National High-Adventure Base and where groups of Scouts and venturers go on backpacking adventures and engage in other outdoor activities.

“It’s 214 square miles of wilderness in northern New Mexico,” Bollinger said. 

It spans 140,177 acres of rugged mountain wilderness in northeastern New Mexico’s Sangre de Cristo range of the Rocky Mountains, he said. Over the challenging terrain that ranges in elevation from 6,500 to 12,441 feet, Philmont Scout Ranch manages 35 staffed camps and 55 trail camps, he said.

In addition to backpacking, the group also engaged in other activities, according to Bollinger, including blacksmithing, operating a railroad pump cart, horseback riding, spar pole climbing, gold panning, a mine tour, black powder rifle shooting, tomahawk throwing, visiting Indian petroglyphs and visiting a T-Rex track.

Bollinger said the Scouts learned a lot of backcountry survival skills while on the trip. 

“The crew practiced outdoor skills such as low-impact backcountry camping, water purification and backcountry navigation,” Bollinger said. “They also learned team building, leadership and overcoming physical challenges required to complete the trek.”

According to Bollinger, the special trip to New Mexico gave them the chance to have a variety of experiences that, together, made for an adventure and lasting memories for both the young and the adult participants.

“It was important to experience the backcountry of the mountains in New Mexico and to see sights in an area that most people will never get to see,” Bollinger said. “This backcountry backpacking adventure will be something everyone who went will remember for the rest of their lives.”