Going back to the 1950’s, PTC has served as a space volunteer scouters can gather to participate in advanced level conferences, training, and education around all scouting subject matter. PTC alone serves just over 6,000 people annually, what an amazing feat. In my visit to PTC, I was honestly amazed by the consistency in staff morale no matter who you spoke with. I was able to connect with some of the Base Camp Directorship who explained how much of an emphasis Philmont puts on training staff how to live by the Philmont brand. Upon interacting with staff in my time at PTC it was very clear to see how important morale and attitude is in how staff are trained and carry themselves.

When planning my visit to Philmont, I had no idea what to expect out of the Philmont Training Center. Despite having never heard of the Philmont Training Center until early 2025, I had been amazed at how large an operation Philmont is. I haven’t been to Philmont since 2013 when I participated in a 12-day 96-mile trek of my own. Since then, Philmont has expanded radically over the years, and the training center itself has been used to host many amazing conferences and experiences. Funny enough, I found myself joking that I only visit Philmont on 75th anniversaries, given my last time attending was the 75th anniversary of base camp and 2025 marked the 75th anniversary of the training center. Perhaps I can doctor up a new Philmont 75th to celebrate soon! 🚀

Most recently the Cimarron area had been hit hard by a hailstorm. The damage and impact of these was still very observable across the property. Many of the roofs around the training center were in the process of being replaced or noticeably damaged as a result of the hail. Additionally, I was able to connect with staff during the tour of the base camp, where it was shared that many of their canvas tents had been damaged beyond repair and required replacement. I was impressed by Philmont’s attitude towards managing these unpredictable circumstances. While it is certainly a stressful task, Philmont staff continue to maintain such a positive attitude towards overcoming these massive challenges.

As many of you know, back in 2018 Philmont experienced an extreme wildfire that spread over hundreds of acers in the Ute Park area of the property. Since this point the facilities team has worked diligently to manage and oversee the area’s redevelopment, working closely with local and state conservation agencies. Regardless however, the visible impacts were very noticeable, and we will unfortunately not be able to see the full re-growth of the area for many many years. I took some time on my final day of the visit to travel through this section of property, and it is an eye-opening experience to observe. In positive news though, we were able to have brief conversations with facilities staff who highlighted the fact that the area is beginning to “fuzz over” suggesting a positive sign for things to come.

Thankfully, Philmont’s insurance coverage is helping rebuild and replace everything that has been damaged and there is a very strong team in place to navigate these challenges. To learn more about the steps Philmont is taking, I encourage you all to check out their resource toolbox, and more specifically the conservation department section of the toolbox.

The most impressive part of Philmont’s operation, from my perspective, was unequivocally their medical response and medical facilities. Due to the secluded and rural location that Philmont is located, parlayed with the fact they see upwards of 30,000 people per year, Philmont built out a medical infirmary to treat patients. By having an infirmary on property, their medical team can now provide many more services traditional health lodges could never provide.

This facility comes equipped with a trauma response room that has a variety of high-level medical equipment that allows for medical staff to provide immediate trauma care for individuals and stabilize before transporting out to a hospital.

The infirmary has a fully functional and operational pharmacy, allowing patients to have incoming medication prescriptions or refills sent directly to Philmont where their team can store and hold onto the medication as a pharmacy. Furthermore, this facility has its own lab where it can perform, while still limited, some lab testing should it be deemed medically necessary.

Philmont has a fully functional inpatient unit of their infirmary to house patients for a variety of reasons. At the time of my own walkthrough, we were unable to view this section as they had actively been using the space to quarantine individuals.

The most astounding part of my visit to Philmont’s Infirmary was being able to learn about how they are able to leverage outside partnerships to expand their reach as a high adventure base in the United States. For well over 60 years, Philmont has maintained a strong partnership with the University of Kansas. This partnership has helped provide many University of Kansas students a residency location to meet their degree’s requirements, while also helping Philmont maintain a strong medical staff team to support the ever-changing needs of the scouters visiting its property. Additionally, Philmont has used this partnership to conduct more ongoing data collection, allowing Philmont to be involved in multiple medical publications. Most recently, Philmont staff shared that they had recently been published in a publication about acute mountain sickness among adolescents. I personally find myself curious to learn more about some of their ongoing projects still in the data collection phase.

Between trail-bound, home-bound, PTC events, and online retail, the Tooth of Time Traders may be the largest, or one of the largest retail operations in all of Scouting America. I had an opportunity to walkthrough their store and warehouse and was amazed at some of their numbers.

Annually, Philmont’s trading post was reported as doing roughly $4 million in sales, not including the almost $1 million in sales seen through their online storefront and $500k in sales through its cantinas. For those who don’t know, a Philmont cantina is a smaller operation focusing on the sale of snacks, beverages, and other consumable products while the main storefront focuses on its branded merchandise. There is a larger cantina located directly next to the base camp store with smaller outfitted operations spread out on the property for scouts to stop at on their trek. With this in mind, Philmont’s warehouse, which is connected to their flagship store at basecamp, houses all merchandise used inside their physical store and sold online through its website.

With a $0 marketing budget, it is clear to see the power of high-quality branding and a strong social media presence can have on sales. The full-time staff at the Tooth of Time traders emphasized the importance of social media on how they market and share new product with people. While the seasonal and part-time staff contingent is much larger, Philmont also employes a small team of full-time retail staff to manage day-to-day shipments of merchandise, manage back-end fulfilment of product ordered through the website, and of course operate the flagship store when events are going on throughout the year. This is also the team of people that are coordinating how best to use social media posts to showcase new merchandise.

I found myself personally impressed by their use of in-store pickup options provided to consumers through website orders, which has been found to be an extremely convenient option for parents and family sending a scout to Philmont for a trek. Also, their use of the website and social media to sell off old equipment that they are phasing out of service. While I was at Philmont, I had personally observed them make old tents that had been used as rentals for scouts available for purchase at an extremely discounted rate. It is small nuances such as this that continue to show what makes Philmont’s Tooth of Time Traders so successful.

▶ Cimarron West, Western Wear Outfitting: Do you ever wonder where Philmont’s cowboys get all of their gear? Better yet, do you ever wonder who produces the all-natural leather belts sold at Tooth of Time Traders? Cimarron West, found just outside of Philmont’s Property is an amazing whole in the wall location that has anything western wear. Each of the all-natural leather belts you see for sale at the Tooth of Time Traders is hand stamped and produced in house in the town, specifically at Cimarron West. It’s amazing to see such a huge piece of business go towards supporting the local community outfitter!

▶ The St James Hotel and Restaurant: If you have visited Philmont I’m sure you’ve heard of the St James Hotel. Serving as one of the only local restaurants and bars in the area, this is a must stop location even if you aren’t staying at the hotel. The location is deeply connected with the history and story of Cimarron as well, hosting many local historical events.