Monthly Archives: February 2017

SOTA at Philmont

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There are thirteen summits inside Philmont Scout Ranch that are listed in the Summits on the Air (SOTA) amateur radio program. There are another three within the Valle Vidal region to the north of the ranch. Only two of these sixteen peaks have been activated by SOTA operators, Baldy Mountain and Shaefers Peak.

SOTA is an award scheme for radio amateurs that encourages portable operation in mountainous areas. I think it is a great match for Scouting, combining the outdoors, technology, and world fellowship. Grab a radio, hike to the top of a mountain, and talk to people.

Here is a map of the Philmont South Country, which has most of the SOTA summits.

Philmont SOTA South

Starting at the north and moving south, these are the SOTA summits. If the summit does not have an official name, SOTA uses the altitude. An unnamed summit that is 8820 feet tall will be “Point 8820”.

Philmont Region Summit Name SOTA Reference Number of Activations
Valle Vidal Little Costilla Peak W5N/CM-001 0
Valle Vidal Ash Mountain South W5N/CM-005 0
Valle Vidal Point 11100 W5N/CM-007 0
North Country Baldy Mountain W5N/CM-002 2
North Country Point 8820 W5N/CM-023 0
South Country Point 8988 W5N/CM-018 0
South Country Phillips Mount W5N/CM-004 0
South Country Bear Mountain W5N/CM-011 0
South Country Schaefers Peak W5N/CM-016 3
South Country Black Mountain W5N/CM-010 0
South Country Garcia Peak W5N/CM-009 0
South Country Point 8881 W5N/CM-021 0
South Country Mesa Urraca W5N/CM-026 0
South Country Train Peak W5N/CM-013 0
South Country Burn Peak W5N/CM-014 0
South Country Lookout Peak W5N/CM-015 0

I used CalTopo.com to make maps with the Philmont boundaries and the SOTA peaks overlaid. CalTopo is a fantastic, free tool for making custom maps. For a modest subscription ($20/year), you can unlock more features. But the free version is still very useful.

The PDF maps are geospatial PDFs, so you can use them with a mapping app like Avenza Maps (free).

  • Map of all of Philmont with SOTA peaks, in PDF, JPEG, and on CalTopo.
  • Map of the Valle Vidal with SOTA peaks, in PDF and JPEG.
  • Map of Philmont North Country with SOTA peaks, in PDF and JPEG.
  • Map of Philmont South Country with SOTA peaks, in PDF and JPEG.

I don’t have a ride this year, but I want to go back to Philmont, with a radio!

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Lentil-Bulgur Chili

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I’ve made this on a few backpacking trips and it has always been delicious. It is several cuts above the normal dehydrated meal. It is simple to assemble at home and needs only a few dehydrated vegetables. On an overnight, it is worth carrying some fresh sourdough bread to accompany the chili.

This is from my favorite outdoor cookbook, The Back-Country Kitchen: Cooking for Canoeists, Anglers, and Hikers by Teresa Marrone, page 125. I’m reprinting it here with her kind permission.

Here we are, enjoying the chili with friends at Eagle Spring trail camp, near Mission Peak.

MG 5014

And here is her recipe.

Lentils, bulgur, and shredded cheese combine to make a complete protein in this delicious vegetarian chili. The sunflower seeds add great texture.

Serves 3-4.

Combine in quart plastic zipper bag:

1/2 cup lentils
1/3 cup bulgur
1/3 cup dried shredded carrot
2 tablespoons chopped celery (preferably de-stringed)
2 tablespoons husked, salted sunflower seeds
1 tablespoon chopped green bell pepper
1 tablespoon cornmeal
1 1/2 teaspoons dried onion flakes
1 teaspoon crumbled dried parsley leaves
1/2 teaspoon crumbled dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried garlic chips
1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
4 sun-dried tomato halves cut in half-inch pieces (I used oil-packed)
half of the leather from an 8 ounce can of tomato sauce (I used some sun-dried tomato paste)

Carry separately:

1/2 cup cheddar cheese (I use pre-shredded cheese)

In medium pot, boil 2 1/2 cups of water. Add mix; stir thoroughly. Cover and allow to stand for 15 minutes. Stir well and return to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are tender, 15 to 20 minutes; add additional water (1/2 cup) if the chili begins sticking during cooking. While the chili cooks, shred or coarsely chop the cheese. Sprinkle each serving with cheese.

I’ve also made this at home, using fresh ingredients for the dried vegetables. It was just as tasty at home, something that isn’t always true for trail meals.

The cookbook has a handy chapter of equivalents for dried and fresh ingredients. I replaced the dehydrated vegetables with fresh and sautéed them before cooking the lentils and bulgur.

1 cup diced carrot
1 cup chopped celery (I add chopped celery leaves because I like celery)
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper (I use poblano because my wife doesn’t like bell pepper)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic
4 ounces tomato sauce
1/4 cup chopped parsley (or to taste)
olive oil

Sauté the onion, carrot, celery, and bell pepper in one or two tablespoons of olive oil until the onion is translucent.

Add the garlic and sauté another minute (until fragrant).

Add water and all remaining ingredients except the parsley and cheese. Bring to a simmer. Cook for 15-20 minutes or until lentils are tender. Different lentils cook for different times, so check the package.
Stir in the parsley.

Serve topped with cheese.

Back country kitchen The Back-Country Kitchen is available at Amazon.

75 Books

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I read 75 books in 2016. I started 78 books, but gave up on three of them. I signed up in the Goodreads challenge to read 75 books, because I thought I read roughly a book and a half each week. Well, I needed to read a lot of short books to hit that goal.

These are the best books I read last year.

Cover Dispatches Dispatches by Michael Herr, 1977. Reporting from Vietnam was mostly about hills taken and body counts, parroted from press briefings. Michael Herr skipped those briefings and went out into the jungles with the Marines. He reported the emotions, the mud, and the blood. Not an easy read, but an essential one.

 

Cover Sector General Sector General Series by James White (1957 through 1999). If you were a pacifist living in Belfast during The Troubles, what sort of science fiction would you write? James White decided to write stories of a city-sized hospital in space, where races are truly different, humans are not special or better, and the only goal is healing, no matter how difficult. It is easy to see the flaws in these books, but there is something rare and special in them. It is a twelve-book series and I read six of them last year.

 

Cover Influence Influence by Robert Cialdini, 1984 (new edition 2006). Don’t get conned again! Cialdini studied the mechanics of persuasion and describes them with great stories. There are two editions of this book. You want the cheaper, non-textbook edition without the exercises.

 

Cover Our Souls at Night Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf, 2015. Haruf’s last book is a gentle story about two people finding a bit of happiness in their old age, for a little while.

 

Cover The Food Lab The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science by Kenji Lopez-Alt, 2015. A week after I was given this book, I made Eggs Benedict for the family. I used Kenji’s straightforward method for hollandaise and it was perfect. When I made it the next Christmas, it was just as good. Every recipe in this book is like that, because science. Yes, it is over 900 pages and I read the whole thing. Buy this for that engineer in your life who cooks.

 

Cover Scout Field Book Scout Field Book by James E. West and Daniel Hillcourt, 1948. Short chapters, lots of pictures, something to do on every page, just the thing for the boy who spends his time glued to that new, addictive device, the radio. The current BSA Fieldbook manages to make the outdoors boring. Let’s start over using this and the 2nd edition Fieldbook (1967) as models. For a good example of that approach, get the Outdoor Adventure Manual from the Scout Association in the UK.

 

Cover Just Mercy Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, 2014. It is time to stop reading To Kill a Mockingbird in school and start reading this. “Mockingbird” is fiction about white people, but this is a true story about a black man, a good man, who was accused, convicted, and broken for something he didn’t do. The book weaves together that story and Bryan Stevenson’s personal story about working to free people wrongly convicted. You won’t be able to put it down and you won’t be able to forget it.

 

Cover Brooklyn Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín, 2009. This is the only book I’ve read by Tóibín, maybe his others are better. But this was very good. The movie is equally good and follows the book very closely. Both are quietly rewarding, though I might give the edge to the movie for Saoirse Ronan’s fine performance.

 

Cover What s Cooking on the PCT Whats Cooking on the PCT by Martin “Rainman” Leghart, Jr., 2015-2016. A backpacking cookbook with a wide range of cooking and eating styles. If you are not satisfied with your current trail food or just starting out, you should get this book and read how 40+ PCT hikers eat, with one recipe from each. There is a new edition every fall and half the profits go to the Pacific Crest Trail Association.

 

The full list of my 75 books is on line at Goodreads. This year I signed up to read 52 books, so I can read some longer ones. I’ve already finished Moby Dick.