Mr. Ballenger will begin accepting participant appliations immediately for the 2010 Philmont expedition.  In order to secure your position on the trip you will need to complete an 2010 Philmont participant application (including parent and participant signatures) and pay the $50.00 deposit.

Applications and deposits are due to Mr. Ballenger no later than January 15, 2009.

Get the 2010 Philmont participant application by clicking on this link:
 2010 Philmont Participant Application

Get important Philmont participant information by clicking on this link:
 2010 Philmont Participant Application Information Sheet

You can contact Mr. Ballenger via email at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Crew 445 has received 4 crew slots for the 2010 Philmont season.

Here is a little preliiminary information:

Philmont trek dates are July 29, 2010 to August 10, 2010.  These dates do not include an pre-trek activities.  Plan on departing either July 25 or July 26 for the 445 pre-Philmont activities.

The Philmont trek fee is $620.00 per person (youth or adult).  $50.00 deposit is due by January 15, 2009.  $285.00 "first payment" is due by September 15, 2009.  $285.00 "final payment" is due by February 14, 2010.  This amount DOES NOT include the 445 Philmont contingency fee that will be collected (probably $325.00 per participant - depending on expected fuel prices this amount could go up or down).

Crew 445 has 48 total available Philmont slots in four trail crew slots.  Each trail crew's minimum size is 7 participants and maxiumum size is 12 participants.  Each trail crew must have at least ONE adult advisor over 21 years of age.  Each trail crew can have a maximum of four (4) advisors over the age of 21.  Each trail crew must have a majority of youth participants (a 7 member crew can only have 3 adult advisors).

Youth participants MUST BE 14 YEARS OF AGE BY SEPTEMBER 1, 2010 - NO EXCEPTIONS.  Youth participants cannot be older than 20 years of age on July 29, 2010.

As with the 2008 Philmont expedition, each trail crew must have one person certified in Wilderness First Aid and CPR.  All adult advisors MUST complete YPT in 2010 (previous courses will not count).  All participants MUST have a complete physical in 2010 prior to participation.

There will be five or six Philmont shakedowns in 2010.  There will be an attendence requirement clearly defined on the participant application.

Participant applications, participation requirements, and other information will be forthcoming shortly.  The 2010 Philmont contingent coordinator will be Steve Ballenger.  Please contact Steve or myself with any questions.

I had the chance to visit the Troop meeting last Monday night in order to sign my merit badge counselor application and to work with a Scout on his camping merit badge.  While there, Bruce and I began discussing the 445 website and some changes that needed to be made.  Over the last week, I've been working on the site - upgrading and updating various parts of the site.  Some of the changes I've made include:

• a new user registration system
• a new registered user profiling system
• a new dynamic list generator
• a new private messaging system for registered users
• a new chat room function for registered users
• an upgraded weather component
• upgraded site security
• a new photo lightbox for viewing photos on both the front page and in the 445 photo galleries

Here is the video put together from the four crews' photos...

Hopefully, we will be back at Philmont in 2010!