[From the Philmanac - Wilson Mesa is not part of Philmont, but is rather located adjacent to Philmont in the Elliott Barker Wildlife Area (which is managed by the New Mexico State Department of Fish and Game.)  Elliott Barker was the New Mexico State Game Warden from 1935 to 1953.  The mesa is believed to have been named after W.P. Wilson, an Army Captain assigned to the Cimarron Indian Affairs Agency in 1870.  There are several small lakes on top of the mesa, and it is known for its spectacular views of Baldy Mountain.  There are numerous relics of early settlers on the mesa (including several gravesites.)]

[From the Philmanac - Pueblano is Spanish for Little Village.  It was also part of the original Philturn Rocky Mountain Scout Camp.  Until 1963, the western edge of Philmont was just beyond Pueblano; the addition of the Norton Clapp purchase of the Baldy Mountain Tract allowed Scouts to hike and climb Baldy Mountain.  In the early 70's, the program was Hunter Safety and 30.06 Rifle Shooting.  Pueblano returned to trail camp status in 1975 and 1976, and then reopened in 1977 as a staff camp with the Maxwell Tie and Lumber Company program; this name was changed to the Continental Tie and Lumber Company in 1980.  This latter name matched that of the company started by Thomas Schomburg in 1907 to make railroad ties and mine timbers from the trees in the many Ponil Canyons.  He also established the Cimarron and Northwest Railroad to transport the timbers down to Cimarron.  The Continental Tie and Lumber Company worked the North Ponil Canyon `til 1923, and the South Ponil Canyon `til around 1930.  The tracks ended in North Ponil Canyon near Ponil Park, and in South Ponil Canyon near Pueblano Ruins.  The present-day program consists of spar-pole climbing, tie-yard, and the Philmont Story Campfire; Pueblano is also the mid-point for the Ponil/Miranda Burro Packing Program.  The tool shelter in the tie-yard was actually built as the shelter for the 30.06 Rifle Shooting program.  The canyon heading south to Head of Dean is known as Doe Canyon; a large Douglas Fir located at the beginning of the canyon is affectionately known as "Big Doug."]

Up at 4:50, after the usual fitful first night of sleeping on the trail.  Clear, 42 degrees, light breeze.  It had ended up being a great night for stars, after midnight and dewfall.  The planets were quickly fading into dawn as Chris and I did the wakeup chores (at 5:00) and sorted the bear-bags.  Most of the Crew was packed up by 5:30, but Andy and Matt were dragging.  We also lost time refilling all our canteens, since the tap was 100 yards away (another task which we all should have done the night before.)  Unfortunately, the tap water was no better tasting (or smelling) after travelling up the pipes from Ponil.  Our clothes were still wet from last night's washing - no surprise with all the dew - so we hung them off the packs to dry as we hiked.  We finally circled up at 6:05 to camel up and do our stretches, with the Philmont veterans clearly exasperated with the lengthy delay.  Brad led the exercise routine, while we discussed how we had done on camp breakdown (lousy) and what we could do to improve things (a lot.)  I think Laura was somewhat amused that we were upset for taking "a whole hour" to get out of camp, since most of her previous Crews got up much later, took 2 to 3 hours to get their collective acts together, and thought nothing of it.  OK for them I guess.  Once we were stretched, we went ahead and did a "grass fluff" on our tentsites, then a camp sweep for trash, and finally saddled up and hit the road at 6:20.  No burros for us, thank's anyway! - we're off for Wilson Mesa.  Quickly up the road to the Middle Ponil Creek crossing - but it was shallow and easily forded today.  Got into Bent literally just as Crew 1 was walking out of their campsite - so we immediately joined forces for the hike up to the Mesa.  Guys all renewed their ragging on Eric for not hitting on his 2 "groupies" last night; he just grinned.  Hard left, and we're off for the Mesa - another tough uphill climb, and much longer than yesterday's hike out of Indian Writings.  Started caterpillaring immediately, and trekked all the way to the top without a break (again).  There was a surprising amount of burro crap on the trail - obviously, a number of Crews were violating the "No Burros Over Wilson Mesa" edict (either that or Philmont has rescinded this rule.)  At 7:30, we stopped and enjoyed breakfast.  Back on the trail within 25 minutes, arriving at the firebreak after another 15 minutes hiking.  I  had everyone circle up, called for absolute quiet, and asked each member of the Crew to do a slow, reflective walk about 1/3rd of a mile up to the rocks at the crest, and to look around and just soak up the vista.  [The firebreak resulted from a fierce forest fire about 20 years ago, sparked by a lightning strike - a natural disaster which gave Philmont a natural wonder, as fantastic mountain views loom at every quadrant, particularly Mt. Baldy to the immediate west; it's one of the top 5 views in all Philmont.]  Sent Brad first, since he knew where to stop, then everyone else in 30 second increments.  It was a perfect day for it - deep blue skies, with nary a cloud.  Once we were all regrouped at the rocks, I launched into my "Legacy of Philmont" talk - my best version ever, according to Rick. Laura followed with a challenge quote from Anne Franke, and invited each trekker to give a few comments on why they were here - and what were they expecting?  Good comments all around; to my surprise, Clay got pretty emotional in his remarks, indicating that he was fulfilling a childhood dream.  Rob finished with comments on being closer to God here than anywhere else on earth, and Laura handed out the Wilderness Pledge cards to Crew 3 (Rob decided to wait `til later tonight.)  With that, we did a little more training on map reading and triangulation, plus lightning safety.  I reviewed the North Country expansion map with Rick, since they were off to Rich Cabins, and he also wanted to discuss his hikes for the following 2 days to see if there was any way to get more challenging hikes or additional programs in by picking different trails.  Another Crew showed up behind us around this time, so it was time to move on.  Grabbed a quick set of tentmate "mommie-shots" with Baldy and Touch-Me-Not in the background, then took our leave of Crew 1, heading towards the lake and Pueblano.  Surprisingly, we ran into another Crew at the lake - a Trek 24 Crew (same as Crew 1) from Illinois, who had just come down from Rich Cabins.  Big guys, but some were already looking pretty whipped, with one bitching about "having" to go climb Baldy, as he pointed towards the mountain.  Unbelievable.  I offered a minute's worth of  "go get `em" encouragement, emphasizing how great a trek they were on (24 is very similar to the old Trek 13, which had been one of the most popular treks ever on the Ranch.)  I turned back to set up our classic Crew shot with the lake and Baldy in the background.  Laura did the honors on this one, so (for a change) I'm in it.  With that, we bid "good hiking" to Illinois, and headed right back out.  Right turn after the fence (we debated whether to go check out the gravesites along the rim above Pueblano, but decided to pass), and down to Pueblano.  Great "over your shoulder" views of Baldy up South Ponil Canyon as we were descending.  Quickly into camp (11 am), chatting briefly with a Trek 29 Crew from North Carolina who were just leaving for Flume Canyon; they looked hard-charging and enthusiastic.  Everyone got invited on the porch for the usual camp orientation talk.  Two bears near the camp, but neither was a problem.  We got the first afternoon spar-pole session (1 pm), then headed on over to our assigned campsite (with a stop to replace our Ponil water with the local brew; much more palatable; the Pueblano Staff referred to what we were carrying as "Ponil-Fart-Water" - all things considered, a pretty accurate description!)  Site 4 was a nice flat area, with small grassy meadows on each side offering some great tentsites.  Only bummer was an extreme surplus of flies - fortunately, however, most were just standard houseflies - only a small minority were a different, biting type.  Andy and I stopped counting after a hundred confirmed kills apiece.  After doing a Crew gear dump, laying out our still dew-wet tents, and hanging up our laundry, we grabbed lunch.  Laura and I decided to pass on the spar-poles to watch our gear; Laura wanted to catch some sleep, and I wanted to do some more diary writing.  This would have been my 6th or 7th spar-pole session, so taking a pass was not a big deal.  Brad and Hank handled the photo duties.  [Photos: 1, 2, 3]  I headed up to the Staff cabin around 12:30 to dump excess food and trash, and chatted briefly with "Topper," putting in a request for guitar playing later on.  The Crew left around 12:45 - and by 12:50, we had our first mini-bears coming to check out our stuff.  One extremely persistent squirrel appeared determined to sample Laura's toes, and had to be chased off 3 or 4 times.  Missed one of the local bears, just 150 yards down the trail - apparently, he ran between Sites 2 and 3.  We heard the Crews in those sites yelling, but that was it.  A few minutes later we heard the first screams of Crew 3 on the poles, with occasional "Laura"'s and "David"'s echoing through the camp.  Looks like someone's got a crush.  A great sky - deep blue skies with fluffy white clouds drifting along, no signs of a thunderstorm.  A steady breeze with occasional stronger gusts kept things cool.  I polished off the last of a full liter of Pueblano water, which seemed to ease my stomach a little bit.  Topper came by on his way down to check out the bear at Sites 2/3, and stopped to chat with Laura for a few minutes (probably to check whether we had our act together with respect to bear safety, since everything was still laying out.)  The Crew returned at 3:15, having done both the spar-poles and the Continental Tie and Lumber Company programs; cool!  [Photos: 1, 2, 3]  They also regaled Laura and I with the story of their fellow Crew at the programs - who bitched and moaned the whole time that the Advisors were "making" them do the programs, and also about how tough their trek was; to add insult to injury, their Advisors were mocking their complaints at the Continental Tie and Lumber Company.  Pretty funny to watch, according to our guys (who didn't have a lot of sympathy, either.)  Since it was still relatively early, and it was clearly not going to rain, some of the guys went ahead and set up their tents to take a fly-free nap, while others headed down to the stream with Laura, doing an impromptu environmental awareness session.  Laura showed everyone a weed which numbed the lips and tongue if rubbed on them; first time I've ever heard of this topical anesthetic plant.  Dinner tonight was "Stew with Beef" and (again) Minestrone.  Done by 6:15, and I again headed over to the Staff cabin for a trash dump.  Most of the Staff was on the porch, and I was quickly drawn into the conversation, chatting for about 30 minutes, and asking about several staff members from some of my earlier treks.  Turns out that Spencer was getting married in Albuquerque on July 24th, so wasn't working at the Ranch this year.  In addition, Jeremy Spivey had hung up his spurs and (they thought) returned to school - as he had planned, if I remember right.  Talking about Spencer and Jeremy helped thaw the Staff a little bit towards me (it being pretty obvious that I wasn't a one-time Advisor), and they invited me to come back a little earlier than the Advisor's Coffee to play guitar.  I headed back to camp, and grabbed my sheet music, plus a set of strings and a few picks, and headed back.  Invited the guys to come along, but they were in the middle of doing a complete camp breakdown before the campfire program, and truthfully didn't seem too interested anyway, so I left them to it and returned to the cabin about 7:10 or so.  A couple of Advisors were already sitting on the porch, but the staff was still inside finishing dinner.  Topper lent me his guitar, and I ran through my standard 20 song repertoire, getting "polite" applause from a growing cadre of Advisors.  Well, I enjoyed myself, anyway, and the Staff seemed to like my different takes on some Philmont standards.  Topper took his guitar back at 7:50, so he could tune it up before the campfire program.  Thanked him and gave him a new set of strings and a couple of picks (even though he tried to say no); strings and picks can be tough to come by in the backcountry, and that's a fact.  Chatted for about 20 minutes with some of the Advisors who had been more into my music; they were interested in our various changes (and planned changes) for our trek.  When I said we were hoping to expand our trek to 90 miles, everyone kind of grimaced, and I gave them the line from Ponil's Cantina Show the night before:  "Hey, go home exhausted!" - adding that they'd all be wishing they were back here after a week at work.  The campfire got going about that time, starting with laying out 4 lit lanterns (still no fires allowed under the prevailing drought restrictions.)  First up was the famous Pueblano "Tough Man" competition, with a twist this year in that your story had to be true and "acceptable for a Scout audience."  Guess they must have had  a few problems on that during the previous couple of weeks!  8 Scouts and 1 Advisor joined in.  Andy participated, regaling the audience about suffering a dog attack on his face as a child, which pushed him to the top 3.  The other finalist was a Scout from Indiana (from one of our brother Trek 30 Crews, though we didn't know it yet) who had been involved a terrible car wreck with a tractor-trailer.  The winner turned out to be a Scout from California who got himself carved up with box-knives by 3 gang-bangers who were beating up a younger kid.  (More than likely, he interrupted an initiation rite.)  Pretty stupid, but it's hard to fault someone with such a noble heart.  Lucky he wasn't killed or really badly disfigured.  Once that was done, we moved into the actual campfire program.  As always, a really excellent set of songs and skits, but (again) too long.  Many of the songs appeared to be original or highly adapted material.  I started to pass out around 9:30, and headed back to camp about 15 minutes later, under partly cloudy and partly starlit skies - but most of the Crew shut the place down, returning to camp around 10:15 or so, reporting "a great time!"  48 degrees and a pleasant breeze, with the creek a distant chuckle.  A great day!  I slept very well tonight.