Itinerary 32
Super Strenuous 85 miles
Hiking time 48:43
Day 7 Details
8.8 miles Time: 4:45
Gain: 2,082 ft Loss: 1,810 ft
Water at Visto Grande
Conservation between VG and Cimarron River (about mile 2-1/2)
Hike down to Hwy 64, cross Cimarron River.
Hike up through Bear Canyon to Santa Claus.
Destination Info
Santa Claus is a trail camp with a well and storage tank. Water is usually good, but you'll want to conserve because of the drought. The campsites are mostly level and open with good shade. Stay away from the abandoned cabin at the west end of the camp — hantavirus has been detected in rodent droppings there.
Activities Enroute
Conservation roughly halfway between Visto Grande and Cimarron River camps. You'll get to build some new trail and a new trail camp. Check for times at Logistics in base camp (there are fixed times for conservation projects) and plan ahead. This is not a particularly long hiking day, but you'll probably want to get your conservation out of the way earlier than later — there are more than 3 hours of hiking to go after the conservation stop before you reach Santa Claus.
Some crews take advantage of the highway crossing to order pizza delivery from Cimarron. I strongly recommend against it. Philmont points out it interferes with the Philmont "experience" — which is true. It also tends to mess with your crew's digestion (they're just getting used to the Philmont meals) and sucks up a LOT of time to wait for the pizza, eat it, then clean up. Remember, you're still about 3 hours away from camp.