I have two full treks flying from NJ to Denver, then traveling via bus to Philmont this summer (1st in July, 2nd in August). I am concerned with the bulk of sleeping bags, sleeping pads, tents, etc. and the fact that the airlines charge extra for each checked bag.

For those that have flown to Philmont...

Are there any tips you can share?

Did you ship gear or fly with it?

Any concerns with external frame packs or the bulky gear?

TIA
Ernie

Ernie,

Last year my son and I flew to California from NC to hike in the Sierras. I posted here on BPL and after reading the posts decided to pack our gear in a duffle and check the bag. I bought the biggest duffle that the regulations allow before you pay extra for oversize luggage which I think is 62 inches adding all dimensions together. In that duffle I packed two backpacks, they are not ultra light, two sleeping bags, our 2 man tent, our trekking poles(placed inside 3 inch mailing tubes)and sleeping pads. All other gear, stoves, pots etc was packed in our suitcases along with our clothes. This worked out well for us and we had no problems. We would have been in trouble had the airline lost our luggage but paying the checked bag fee was cheaper than paying UPS. We are also going to Philmont this summer in August and will use the same method again.

Others here on BPL simply suggested packing your backpack and wrapping the backpack with shrinkwrap, which I considered but not sure how that would go over with the TSA.

Sean

Our crew packed our internal frame packs into duffle bags which we checked.

TSA does not like stoves or fuel bottles new or otherwise. Stoves and fuel bottles were shipped surface to Philmont and picked up there. I believe there are instructions on the Philmont web web site on how to do this. We shipped them home surface as well.

I personally carried my pack on the plane and just checked my knife and first aid kit.

We've done this 6 times. Packs (unpacked) go in duffel bags with gear tossed in. This lets TSA do its thing without having to unpack your pack. Most duffels end up weighing in at 40 pounds. The only carry-on is what's needed for travel. A couple adults get near 50 pounds because of crew gear being brought along. No hard-shell luggage. Stoves get mailed.

Edited by dzierzak on 01/17/2013 05:33:44 MST.

This past summer me and my crew flew from NY to Denver and put our fully packed packs into nylon laundry bags that we then checked. They had a simple draw cord on the top and we wrote our names and adress information on the outside of them so if they did get lost they could easily be shipped to phimont or home. As for stoves our council shipped them out to us and we picked them up after we got all of our gear that philmont gives to you. Pretty simple and we didn't have any problems with that method. We also had cary on's with cloths and things for before philmont (we did some things in colorado for the first two days).

I've had great luck shipping gear. But I also fly Southwest, so I don't have to deal with ridiculous luggage rules.

When I went, we all bought the big green duffles from Surplus stores and put our packs in them, with the gear packed around the actual packs. It worked really well. Interestingly the same random member of our crew got searched flying out and flying back in (which has absolutely nothing to do with how to pack but makes for a funny anecdote)