1973 First Kit Carson Women Trek at Philmont
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Philmont's Kit Carson Women Remembering the 1973 launch of the first all-female Kit Carson trek at Philmont Scout Ranch, New Mexico 41 Philmont's Kit Carson Women 47-year anniversary of the launch of Philmont’s all-female wilderness experience! en young women on the verge of adulthood, seeking to crucial year like no other in Philmont’s previous history: explore, express—and along the way develop a set of Eleven women were hired for the 1973 summer staff at incredible blisters. •Camping HQ, ten as Philmont Rangers (up from two in 1972). T 4 FOUR of our participants had siblings who • At least ten coed Explorer Posts came that June and nine more were on the staff at Philmont. coed crews in August. (1972 had been a very cautious year for introducing females into the all-male Philmont camping 3 THREE girls came from a Girl Scout program). Council in Oklahoma. • The very first all-female Explorer Post of 24 girls hit the 2 TWO came from a Girl Scout Council in Philmont trails on June 15; their advisor Johanna Wilson was New Mexico. hired off the trail for the Ranger staff. The first female was given a position at a remote back-country 1 ONE participant hailed from both •camp, as a member of the living history program at Clear Creek. Texas and California. Add to that mix, me, Kathy Leach, a young female Philmont What? A 15-day trek into the Ranger who believed that girls could meet the same challenges wilderness without …YOU NAME IT! in the Kit Carson program that boys did, and who burned with Your favorite creature comforts, favorite the idea to challenge teenage girls with a wilderness experience girly item, favorite soft drink, or TV show. LIKE NO OTHER. Last of all, we had Camp Director Joe Davis Where? Philmont Scout Ranch, a high- who was willing to listen and agree to my dream of bringing that adventure base in northern New Mexico, established in 1938 as a challenge to an unknown group of girls (once approved I had to gift from oilman and rancher Waite Phillips. quickly find ten girls!). When? The stars of the universe aligned one magical summer Why? To discover what lies beyond the routine of everyday in 1973 for the blossoming of the coed program at Philmont. life. To challenge the body. To experience the comradeship of The previous year had seen the introduction of the first female shared struggle. To understand the gifts of stillness and solitude. Rangers to Philmont. Old-school Scouting perceptions were being To flood the senses with greenery, with mountain tops and with challenged! With the introduction of the following, 1973 became a endless blue sky. —Kathy Leach August 10th, 1973—Departure from Base Camp L-rt: Back row: Diane Davis, Pat Newman, Colleen Smith, Teresa Dean, Patti Fidler, Wendy Friedman, Jeri Dixon and Philmont Ranger Margie Rockenfield. Front Row: Kathy Furst, Jane Munch and Lisa Kastler. Not shown: Philmont Ranger Kathy Leach taking the picture. 1973. 1 In the rain, on the way from the Ponil area to Camp Miranda. L-rt, back row: Patti Fidler, Pat Newman, Theresa Dean, Wendy Friedman, Lisa Kastler. Front row: Jeri Dixon, Diane Davis, Colleen Smith, Kathy Furst, Kathy Leach– Ranger. 1973. So why do we do it? So why do we do it? What good is it? Does it teach you anything? Like determination? Invention? Improvisation? Foresight? Hindsight? Love? Art? Music? Religion? Strength or patience or accuracy or quickness or tolerance or which wood will burn and how long is a day and how far is a mile And how delicious is water and smoky green pea soup? And how to rely on yourself? — From book “On the Loose” by Terry and Renny Russell. Read to the KCW girls by Kathy Leach at the beginning of the trek. Map and Entrance sign to Philmont Scout Ranch, Chow Wagon at Cimarroncita heading south on Hwy 21, Girls Camp. Top photo: near Cimarron, New Mexico. Wendy making birthday wishes, Diane Davis, Margie Rockenfield serving ice cream. Bottom photo: Lisa Kastler, Wendy Friedman cutting her birthday cake, and Margie Rockenfield. 1973. Watching the pot boil! Making dinner for lunch at Clear Creek Camp. L-rt; Jane, Kathy, Colleen, Diane, Lisa, Jeri, Patti, Teresa, with Wendy wielding the spoon. 1973. 2 Hunting for needles in haystacks! Kathy’s challenging search for the Kit Carson Women! ometime during the second week of June 2020, I contacted nowadays phone numbers are not Pat Newman, through her brother Tom Newman (a free. And Facebook helped again Philmont Ranger during the 1970s). I found out that her for Wendy, once I found her 1976 Sname was now Pat Black, still in Florida and married to Shelby wedding story, saying she and the Black. And that she had a photo album! Hooray! That was great new hub were moving to Oregon. motivation to search for ten women who had been getting more I felt blessed I did not have to learn separated and farther away over the 47 intervening years. about all the Friedmans in the U.S. Facebook search Fathers and daughters At the same time I located Jane Munch on Facebook, via her Of course, the trick to getting this sister Carol Munch, and on June 11, sent her this message (trying information about married names my best not to seem obsessed and frantic): is knowing who the fathers are. “Hi, Jane – Working on documenting So all of a sudden it’s a search some Philmont history! I am hoping for daughter AND father and ? that you will have a photo of the group sometimes more. The hardest one of women who went on the very first was Teresa’s dad, which I needed ? Women’s Kit Carson trek at Philmont in because the number of “Teresa August 1973. Can you look through that Deans” in Oklahoma is endless, Kathy Leach’s return to Fish ol’ dusty box of photos and see if you not to mention that Teresa had left for greener pastures. Fortunately I Camp. Philmont Staff Assoc. have photos from that trip.” backpack trip. 2013. found a great story about Teresa’s Believe it or not, this was the first I had Girl Scout adventures, which also named her parents. talked with Jane in 47 years. Jane came through in spades, dropping everything Property Records to transcribe her trail journal and a complete list of names, Looking for Teresa took place before I thought of using addresses and full birthdates. All would prove invaluable. property records. As much as it feels like too much “big brother watching” in this age of digital information, I was so relieved Forgotten Women that both Houston and Oklahoma City had online property My obsession (ok, I admit it) with this intense search started records. The anonymous person, Diane Davis, seemed less of last spring when a Philmont ex-staffer and budding author a mystery when I found that the owner of a house in 1973 in asked me for an interview. I realized how much I had forgotten Houston was Donald A. Davis. over the years, not even remembering the nine other women Rangers working with me in 1973. If I had forgotten, then I I have to say that researching names like Davis and Smith are knew everyone else had forgotten. There was much Facebook just the worst. Pat and I stalked this sweet woman in Ringgold, chatter about what female first worked in a Philmont Louisiana (close to Houston so within the range of possibilities) backcountry camp and who first worked in the Cons Dept. All who had the misfortune of being named Diane Davis and being good endeavors, but all a good 20 years later. I viewed it as an close to the right age. She actually returned Pat’s call to say “Phil injustice to the forgotten enthusiastic and energetic women that – what?” Pat may have been added to the woman’s Christmas worked or trekked Philmont in 1973. list, I’m not sure, or maybe vice-versa. Dead Ends then Family Trees and Obits Last One Found! It was time to do some hard searching, and it was lengthy and Our last “Truckin’ Turtle” hard, with many neck massages needed. I could tell you the Colleen Smith was located steps to discovery but none of it would show the multitude of in September and to the false leads and dead ends I traveled down. For example, I spent delight of all, made contact at least two weeks thinking Lisa’s cousin was her father. Then with Teresa Dean around there was the day I felt really desperate and used Facebook Sept. 24. Colleen should to contact Lisa’s high school friend, a name I had found in an have been the easiest to old 1977 Texas newspaper about a wedding and Lisa as maid of find, but that name Smith honor. I eventually heard back from Lisa’s friend but of course just psyched me out. Turns by then Lisa had been found through her father, now in his 80s, out Colleen still lives at who still practices law in Raton. By then I knew Lisa’s family the same address listed in After several hard days on the trail, our group adopted the slogan tree for three generations. Jane’s journal and I was able “Truckin’ Turtles.” I am forever grateful to daughters who lovingly write obituaries to find a phone number about their fathers. Thus Patti Fidler became Patti Gilbert. for her. (Even if it was the kind that cost, at least the number And Kathy Furst became Kathy Perez-Vitier.