Summer Reading Series, Book 1, The Other Side of The Road

Pull out the trusty beach chair, adjust the sun-brella, pour your favorite beverage over ice, and dive into our Summer Reading Series!

Our first book tells the long overdue story of America’s best trained Scout leaders “…every Scout and every leader in the Boy Scouts of America today has been influenced by someone who has had a Philmont Training Center experience,” says Mark Griffin, author of the first book we’d like to recommend, The Other Side Of The Road.

This book tells the amazing story of the Philmont Training Center by a man who grew up with PTC as a part of his life. Mark Griffin has been going to PTC since he was a small child and served as the Director of the training center from 1995 to 2000. He is currently the Scout Executive of the Blue Mountain Council.

While the slim book is a fast read, it is sure to include some facts or stories about Philmont that even someone who has attended or worked at PTC may not be aware of. For a Scouter who hasn’t been to Philmont yet, it will certainly make them want to go!

In the chapter entitled ” The Training Center in Scouting,” Griffin includes several of the articles that have been written about Philmont and have appeared in Scouting magazines over the years.

Here is an excerpt from one such article dated April 1953:

Like a Vacation?

Philmont is an ideal vacation land, and it’s all yours! Its trout filled streams, its breathtaking scenery, its cool and grassy meadows are waiting for you this summer. Famous Philmont training awaits you too. There will be conferences for Finance committee members, Commissioners and District and Counsel operating committees…

After detailing the conference schedule for that year the article goes on to say:

While Dad participates in the Training Conference with Scouters from all over the country, Mom and the children can have the time of their lives! “Kit Carson slept here.” Only fifteen minutes from the Training Center  Tent City is Kit Carson’s home. Along the roadside to Carson-Maxwell Base Camp the deep ruts cut by the covered wagons of early settlers and traders still crease the soil.

Philmont Training Center is certainly a unique place that combines outdoor adventure with unparalleled leadership and training opportunities. It’s no wonder that PTC is attended by over 6,000 Scouts and their families every year.

For the next couple of weeks we will be recommending a few Scouting-themed books for you to check out. We’re calling them our Summer reading series. The next book in the series is Spirit of Adventure, by Alvin Townley.