[From the Philmanac - Visto Grande is Spanish for Magnificent View.  This camp was originally called Bench Camp, but it was changed in 1975 to avoid confusion with the nearby Upper Bench Camp.  In 1947, while stationed as a Ranger at Bench Camp, staff member John Westfall wrote the Philmont Hymn.  "Purple mountains rise, against an azure sky" represented the view at Visto Grande Camp as the sun set over Baldy Mountain.  There are still remains of an old cabin that was used in the early years at the camp.  The spring at Visto Grande is the water source.]

[From the Philmanac - Deer Lake Mesa Camp is located on the trail from Upper Bench to Ute Park Pass, on the northwest corner of Deer Lake Mesa (which is one of the largest mesas on Philmont.)  The top of Deer Lake Mesa is capped with Cretaceous Poison Canyon Formation - which is sandstone and conglomerate washed from the west (in ancient times) by streams.  The reservoir at the camp is stagnant water; the better water is the spring located just to the east.  The camp is notable for the enormous number of pine cones produced by the trees in the area.]

Woke at 5 am, with the birds and the noise of the (grey) Crew next door getting up.  Another perfectly clear sky overhead.  As expected, it was very cold in the meadow; it's always amazing how much warmer it is even with just a few overhead trees.  Fortunately, the all-night breeze kept the dew down to a minimum.  Got up around 5:15, and did a leisurely pack up of my still damp clothes and other gear.  38 degrees in the meadow, and 47 degrees under the trees 60 feet away.  Wrote some diary til 5:55, then ambled down for a group wakeup call - a lot easier when everyone's together!  The grey Crew (doing Trek 32) left around 6:15, off to Upper Bench.  We followed at 6:45, doing a quick 30 minute run down to the upper rim of Bear Canyon for breakfast.  Already too late for the "best" view of Bear, but it was still impressive.  Today's breakfast was pretty thin, so we augmented it with some of our extra goodies from home, making a decent meal out of it.  Left at 7:50, just as the first member of another Crew came down from Santa Claus.  Down the new trail into Bear Canyon - a really excellent piece of trail work that took years to finish.  Great views from most of the upper third.  Passed 2 Crews heading up; the first was split into 3 smaller groups, with the last group (the Advisors, naturally) looking a little desperate in their efforts to keep up with their greyhounds.  Well, this is what you get when you allow people to take off!  Live and learn, friends.  Getting increasingly hot as we approached the bottom, even though it's still before 9 am - Bear Canyon is notorious for being an oven in the mid-afternoon.  A little cooler at the very bottom, since it was still shaded there (but not for much longer!)  Quickly down to the Cimarron River, with a group shot at the tunnel under U.S. Rt. 64.  Surprisingly, the old bridge was gone, replaced by a lower version built on 2 I-beams.  Must have been a heck of a flood to tear the other one away; it had been 6 - 8 feet above the river.  A couple of fishermen were trying their luck just upstream of the bridge, barely glancing at us as we passed; I guess passing Crews are a pretty common sight here.  Continued on through the Cimarron River Camp (deserted), passing through a sea of waist-high goldenrod on the way - got a good picture, hope it turns out.  Andy got a good laugh out of everyone with a comment on the power lines paralleling Rt. 64 - "World's largest bear-bag cables!"  Headed up the hill towards Visto Grande camp, blowing past the grey Crew we had camped next to at Santa Claus (they were sprinting and drifting.)  Hot and dusty now, with a high sky.  Pulled into Visto Grande, happy to see that the spring was flowing, and no-one else was around.  Took a packs off break to water up (and for a few Scouts to hit the Red-Roof Inn.)  The grey Crew came in about 10 minutes later, and looked to be heading right through camp without a stop, so I called out and reminded them that Upper Bench was a dry camp, and this was their last water supply until Harlan.  For some reason, they seemed irritated at the hint, but fell out into the trees nonetheless.  A few minutes later another Crew came down from the Bench; they were an NCAC Crew from Fairfax (probably one of the 630 a la carte contingent Crews.)  They looked to be having a pretty good time - guys all lively and animated.  We headed out soon thereafter, pushing up to Inspiration Point.  Passed a female Rayado Crew in the meadow just below the switchbacks - 2 Rangers and 4 female trekkers.  Up to the point just before 10:30.  [Inspiration Point is where the Philmont Hymn was allegedly penned, back in the late `40's.  It offers a spectacular view of Touch-Me-Not and Baldy up the Ute Creek Valley.]  "Mommie-shots" for everyone.  The Rayado Crew cruised through (without a stop) just as we finished up.  We went ahead and ate lunch, since this was about as perfect an overlook as you could find anywhere on the Ranch.  About 10 minutes later one of the stranger Crews I've ever seen came down from the Bench - 5 Advisors, and 3 Scouts - one of whom looked to also be over 18.  I wonder how they pushed this one past Registration?  They were from Orlando, and we laughed about all the good practice they had managed to get trekking in the great Florida Alps.  I took some Crew pictures for them, and filled them in on the history of this spot, which they hadn't known.  I think they were heading for the Cimarron River Camp.  We saddled up and headed out a few minutes later, about 11:00.  Hot hike uphill to Upper Bench.  Passed 3 Crews going the other way - one was another Crew from Orlando (this one a little better "balanced"), and 2 from Sterling, Virginia.  One of the Sterling Crews refused to yield the trail, hiking right through us; only their Advisors pulled over.  Fortunately, the trail was just wide enough to let us pass without anyone running into each other.  Morons - but I managed to hold my tongue.  Passed Upper Bench Camp a little later; surprisingly (despite the drought), the meadow/pond was full of water, at least 3 feet deep in the middle.  We stopped for a minute and discussed how this would be an excellent spot to watch for wildlife, especially at dusk.  Unfortunately, we're not staying here this year.  Pushed on to Deer Lake Mesa Camp; a long, thin alpine meadow outlined by Ponderosa pines, with a reservoir at the far end.  However, the "reservoir" was a murky, green mess - and there was no well.  Uh oh!  Plus there was a pile of reddish pellets in and around a shallow bucket on the berm which looked to me to be maybe some kind of slow-release algicide - another reason to be wary of the water.  A check of the site map indicated a "spring" just above the reservoir, but it was just a mud-hole.  However, the Central Country map indicated another spring below the reservoir, so Brad and I schlepped down for a look-see, and finally found it - a tiny hole at the bottom of the slope on the opposite of the meadow, flowing at about 3 gallons per hour. Slow maybe, but it was clear and a heck of lot better looking than the reservoir slime, so good deal.  We collected cup-by-cup from 1:30 through 4:30.  Hank took the time to rig a sun-screen, relayed collected water back to the site, and brought us some Bug-N-Sun, so we weren't completely fried by the time we finished.  The flies were ridiculous, even with repellent on.  Definitely a strange way to spend an afternoon.  Neal and Steven started dinner with our first purified batches, and we took the rest for canteens and (eventually) cleanup.  When we got back to camp, Brad crashed immediately, while I sat in the shade and wrote some diary; lots of subject material today!  Despite our heads-up, the next Crew in camp (the fabled third Trek 30 Crew) didn't take our place at the spring; I guess they must have ended up filtering the reservoir water.  Dinner was Lasagna, plus some of the Cajun Beans and Rice we had in our supplemental food, and Banana Pudding.  Good stuff!  Fortunately, we had just enough water to finish cleanup without a second trip to the spring, plus everyone still had more than 2 liters apiece for the short hike to the Ute Gulch Commissary tomorrow.  Once we finished camp breakdown and packup, Chris, Brad and I ambled over to talk to the third Crew.  Our "get acquainted" chat turned into an hour and a half long talk.  They turned out to also be from Sterling, VA (Troop 970), and were down to only 5 members at this point (and expecting to lose their primary Advisor, Mr. H., the next day.)  They had originally started with 11 members, but 5 trekkers dropped out just before they were supposed to leave, then another one dropped out after a day or two on the trail.  Since they were well below the minimum at this point, Philmont had them "shadowing" the Indiana Crew.  Scouts were Ben, John and Bud; the 2 Advisors were both fathers.  We offered our assistance if they needed it; they thanked us but declined "for now anyway."  Took our leave at 8:15.  I drank a half-liter of water (I was still badly dehydrated) and hit the rack at 8:30.  Wrote diary until it was too dark, and called it a day.  And to imagine I thought today would be an easy one!