Getting Ready for Rayado

At the moment, I'm pretty tired of Base Camp. I've spent the past few days working here on itinerary planning and food packing. I'm not really used to doing actual work here at Philmont, so I'm really excited to get started with our trek. It has taken a while for everything to sink in, but I think I'm starting to realize the magnitude of what I'm about to do. I've talked to a lot of people, and everyone agrees that this is absolutely the best job on the ranch. Once I get out of the planning room and back on the trail, I'm sure I'll realize that too.

The first Rayado participants arrive tonight and there will be an ice cream social for all of us. We won't know who is in our crews though until tomorrow when everyone else arrives. I'm really looking forward to meeting our crew. Greg and I have done a lot of planning for this trek, so it will be nice to finally see it take shape. I've got a little bit of packing to do and some laundry tonight. Packing for three weeks is a little different than packing for just three days, but it should be mostly the same.

I probably won't have time to write anything tomorrow, since I'll be really busy with getting everything ready to go. That means that this will probably be the last post for about three weeks. I tried to keep everything else up to date by adding some pictures from my first crew and training, as well as some new panoramas and a new video. I really can't wait to go on this trek. I haven't actually been out in the backcountry for 20 consecutive days since I did this trek as a participant. You can only do Rayado once as a participant, and likewise you can only be a Rayado Ranger one time. Well, I've still got a little bit of work to do, so I'll have to leave it at that. I hope everyone is having as much fun as I am at home!

- Drew