This past summer I had the amazing opportunity to serve on the formation team for the 2006 St. George Trek to Philmont Scout Reservation in New Mexico. For those not familiar with the Boy Scouts, Philmont is a national high adventure base located on over 100,000 acres of rocky mountain woodland in northern New Mexico. Scouts will normally spend a 12-day trek backpacking all over the ranch with everything they need on their backs.

The St. George Trek is a special program that is sponsored by the National Catholic Committee on Scouting. Each diocese in the country is allowed to nominate up to two scouts to attend this once in a lifetime experience. The scouts are then broken up into groups of 10 called crews which will be the group they hike with. Each crew in the St. George Trek is led by two advisors who are either priests or seminarians. In my case, I was privileged to have Bishop Dan Conlon of Steubenville, Ohio as my co-advisor.

The St. George Trek is a little different from the typical Philmont experience. We started with a two-day retreat in Albuquerque even before going to Philmont. This was designed to set our spiritual goals for the trek, as well as to give a chance for a bunch of people who have never met each other to form into a functioning team. All treks are at least 50 miles (ours was about 60) climbing to elevations over 12,000 feet and can be quite challenging, both mentally and physically. Most crews that come to Philmont have been training together for at least a year, so getting organized in two days is no small task. Our full contingent consisted of seve crews (including one crew of female venture scouts led by two nuns) which all had different itineraries through the ranch. However, we did all gather together in the middle of the trek at a common campground for a day of recollection.

All the above certainly helped keep the spiritual focus of our trek. Just the experience of being able to have Mass every day in the beautiful backcountry of Philmont is itself quite a gift. It is truly God’s country and you can’t help but find God out there. For me personally, this was my second trip to Philmont. Had had taken my troop there ten years earlier. This time however was very special. It was a much more spiritual experience. One thing that really struck me was just how comfortable and happy I was with everything I needed stuffed in my backpack. You just really don’t need that much stuff in life. A warm sleeping bag and some good rain gear will keep you pretty happy most of the time.

I was also really impressed with the staff that I met out there. These are mainly college kids who many of them spend their whole summer living in a log cabin in the middle of the backcountry with oil lamps, a wood stove and a well. When the sun goes down they pull out their banjo or guitar and sit around the campfire or maybe the front porch and sing. It was an amazing experience just to live that life for a while. It was so simple. Paradise out there was easily found in the evening drinking a nice cup of hot chocolate sitting on the front porch swing listening to the sound of harmonica and guitar accompanied by the rain gently falling on the tin roof. I just couldn’t help but think that what I was experiencing out there was probably not too different from what the miners who lived there over 100 years ago must have done. No electricity, no TV, no running water…just a simple life with good friends out in God’s country. It couldn’t have been simpler and I couldn’t have been happier.

Before I close this I would be remiss if I did not tell the story of how I ended up being chosen to go on this trek. As you know, I was home in Kansas on internship beginning last February. Well, all the interns come back to the seminary for a 3-day workshop in April. It just so happened that at that time the National Catholic Committee on Scouting was having their national meeting in Chicago and some of them came to Mundelein for a little “field trip.” I happened to be going into the refectory looking for someone when I was stopped by a priest who asked me if I was a seminarian. I told him I was. Looking at a piece of paper he asked me, “Do you know where I might find a Shawn Tunink?” Looking kind of surprised I said, “That’s me.” Now he looked surprised! It turned out that this priest was the head of the St. George Trek and he had somehow gotten my name as a seminarian that was involved in scouts and he wanted to offer me a spot on the trek. What adds to this whole thing is that had I not already lost 70 pounds in the previous 6 months I never would have made the weight limit that Philmont sets. It’s amazing how that all fell together. There were only three seminarians on the trek and I was so lucky to be one of them. I hope to go again in 2008, this time as a newly ordained priest, god-willing.

Well, I know this was kind of long, but hopefully you enjoyed it. I’ve been a scout now for 20 years and can honestly say that this was one of the highlights. Please check out the link to my pictures of Philmont to get an idea of the beauty of the place. Lastly, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the great group of scouts I had in my crew. Crew A3 you’re the best. You are in my prayers and I hope you’re all doing well.

See All the Pictures

Crew A3 on Top of the “Tooth of Time”