Philmont Scout Ranch is located in the

Sangre de Cristo Mountains ) , country= United States , subdivision1_type= States , subdivision1= , parent= Rocky Mountains , geology= , orogeny= , area_mi2= 17193 , range_coordinates= , length_mi= 242 , length_orientation= north-south , width_mi= 120 , w ...

of the Rocky Mountains of New Mexico. Philmont is about across (east to west) at its widest point, and about long (north to south). The southern part of the ranch is mostly grasslands/prairie, while the north is rocky and rugged, but a small part of the eastern area is prairie.

Geography

Philmont's lowest point is the southeast corner at and the highest point is the peak of Baldy Mountain, located on the ranch's northwest boundary, at . The average rainfall at Philmont ranges from around Base Camp to in the backcountry. There are nine major watersheds at Philmont - the Rayado River, Urraca Creek, Cimarroncito Creek, Sawmill Creek, the Cimarron (La Flecha) River, Turkey Creek, Dean Canyon, the Ponil River, and Ute Creek.

Geological history

The Tooth of Time, as well as Baldy Mountain, Betty's Bra, Lover's Leap, Cathedral Rock, Hogback Ridge, and many of the ridges in the northwest of the ranch, is an igneous

intrusion In geology, an igneous intrusion (or intrusive body or simply intrusion) is a body of intrusive igneous rock that forms by crystallization of magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth. Intrusions have a wide variety of forms and com ...

of dacite porphyry formed in the

Paleogene The Paleogene ( ; British English, also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene; informally Lower Tertiary or Early Tertiary) is a geologic period, geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period million yea ...

Period of the

Cenozoic The Cenozoic ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterised by the dominance of mammals, birds and flowering plants, a cooling and drying climate, and the current configura ...

Era some 22-40 million years ago. These intrusions were formed when magma from deep within the Earth rose through older rock layers and slowly cooled. Over many thousands of years, the older sedimentary rock eroded and left the harder igneous formation. The sedimentary rock, generally

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...

, acted as a mold for the intrusive magma, causing it to harden and cool where the sedimentary rock was strongest. The gold veins were discovered in between the dacite porphyry and shale.

Geological features

Aside from Baldy, the ranch contains a number of prominent peaks. The South Country is home to a series of six difficult peaks, namely Mount Phillips, Comanche Peak, Big Red, Bear Mountain, Black Mountain, and Schaefers Peak, as well as Trail Peak, which is popular for its relative ease, its nearness to Beaubien, and the wreckage of the crash of a B-24 bomber in 1942 near its summit. Of the ranch's various peaks with trail access, Black Mountain is widely considered the most difficult, followed closely by Baldy and Big Red. The most recognisable landmark is the Tooth of Time at , a dacite monolith, composed of two laccoliths, protruding vertically from an east–west ridge. Tooth of Time Ridge, and the latitude line on which it sits, mark the boundary between the central and southern sections of Philmont. The boundary between the central and northern sections is around U.S. Route 64, which runs just south of the narrowest part of the 'I'-shape, which is only a few miles across. Other prominent landmarks on the ranch include Grizzly Tooth, Window Rock, Deer Lake Mesa, and Urraca Mesa. The Tooth rises prominently from the valley floor, some below, creating a sheer vertical face unable to support substantial plant life. Both its pinkish-gray color and its unusual shape make it a particularly notable geological landmark. It was well known among the overland traders on the

Santa Fe Trail The Santa Fe Trail was a 19th-century route through central North America that connected Franklin, Missouri, with Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pioneered in 1821 by William Becknell, who departed from the Boonslick region along the Missouri River, th ...

, who used it to mark the final seven-day push to

Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe ( ; , Spanish for 'Holy Faith'; tew, Oghá P'o'oge, Tewa for 'white shell water place'; tiw, Hulp'ó'ona, label=Tiwa language, Northern Tiwa; nv, Yootó, Navajo for 'bead + water place') is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. ...

. Baldy Mountain, or Mount Baldy, is the highest peak in the Cimarron Range, a subrange of the

of New Mexico. It rises abruptly, with of vertical relief over , from the Moreno Valley to the west and has a total elevation of . Copper and gold were mined in the area starting in 1866, and the top of Baldy Mountain was developed as the Mystic Lode copper mine. Mine workings and prospects are still evident on the slopes of the mountain as well. There are about of mines in the whole mountain. Mount Phillips, formerly called Clear Creek Mountain was renamed in 1960 in honor of the then living Waite Phillips, who donated the area to the Boy Scouts of America. It is located in Colfax County about south of Baldy Mountain in the Cimarron Range, a subrange of the

of New Mexico. It is the second highest peak in Philmont Scout Ranch in the central country on the western perimeter. It is an easy hike from Comanche Peak, but it is a much steeper ascent from Clear Creek to its summit. Urraca Mesa is a large mesa reaching an elevation of and has coordinates of N 36.413647 and W 104.998059.http://www.mountainzone.com/mountains/detail.asp?fid=4606956 Urraca Mesa Summit - New Mexico Mountain Peak Information The mesa has a long "history" of mythical and supernatural associations, dating to the local indigenous tribes.

Ecology

Flora

Philmont supports a wide variety of flora. There are five of the

Merriam Merriam can refer to: People * Alan P. Merriam (1923–1980), American ethnomusicologist * Charles Edward Merriam (1874–1953), American political scientist * Charles W. Merriam (1877–1961), American insurance businessman and politician * Clinto ...

life zone The life zone concept was developed by C. Hart Merriam in 1889 as a means of describing areas with similar plant and animal communities. Merriam observed that the changes in these communities with an increase in latitude at a constant elevation ar ...

s at Philmont - the Arctic, Hudsonian, Canadian, Transition, and Upper Sonoran zones. Trees at Philmont range from the plains cottonwood to the quaking aspen to the ponderosa pine. Wildflowers at Philmont include

prickly poppy ''Argemone'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Papaveraceae commonly known as prickly poppies. There are about 32 species native to the Americas and Hawaii.shrubby cinquefoil, skyrocket (scarlet gilia), fairy slipper, blue columbine, and pinedrops. There are also a number of grasses, lichens, ferns, and mushrooms. Musk thistle,

leafy spurge Leafy spurge may refer to several species of plant in the genus ''Euphorbia'', including: * '' Euphorbia esula'', native to central and southern Europe * ''Euphorbia virgata ''Euphorbia virgata'', commonly known as leafy spurge, wolf's milk leaf ...

, and tamarisk are all

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

found at Philmont. In addition to the natural flora, Philmont grows

alfalfa Alfalfa () (''Medicago sativa''), also called lucerne, is a perennial flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is cultivated as an important forage crop in many countries around the world. It is used for grazing, hay, and silage, as w ...

hay for livestock. There are irrigated for cropland and another for plant forage. The ranch also allows selective timbering to promote healthy forests. Backslopes of new trails and campsites are reseeded to control erosion and prevent the spread of invasive species.

Fauna

There are approximately 125 black bears on the ranch. The bears spend most of the summer looking for food, mostly plants like grass, acorns, and berries but also grubs, small animals, and carrion. Philmont also has mountain lions which feed on the native elk, deer,

porcupine Porcupines are large rodents with coats of sharp spines, or quills, that protect them against predation. The term covers two families of animals: the Old World porcupines of family Hystricidae, and the New World porcupines of family, Erethizont ...

mice A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

skunk Skunks are mammals in the family Mephitidae. They are known for their ability to spray a liquid with a strong, unpleasant scent from their anal glands. Different species of skunk vary in appearance from black-and-white to brown, cream or ginge ...

, and rabbits. Western diamondback rattlesnakes are also found in Philmont. During the off-season, Philmont allows selective deer, elk, turkey, bear, antelope, and mountain lion hunting. Philmont also has herds of cattle that rotate through several backcountry pastures and the buffalo pasture supports one hundred adult bison as well as their calves.

References

{{Philmont Scout Ranch Philmont Scout Ranch