From the Philmont Trail Guide:
The trail to New Dean begins directly across the Middle Ponil Creek from the commissary building at Ponil. The ascent up the Skyline is arduous, especially if this is your first extended hike at Philmont. At the top of the Skyline you have one of the best views on the ranch. You can see Philmont's central section to the south, Baldy Mountain to the west, and Colorado's Spanish Peaks to the north.
New Dean Camp was named after Bob Dean, who was a cattle foreman in this area. The water supply at New Dean comes from a windmill-driven well.
Route for the day
From my journal of 1967:
We woke up at 6, ate, packed and left 4-mile at 10:00 AM. Hiked to New Dean - very hard and rough climb. At lunch Jim Mokri make a birthday cake for Mr. Snedeker of a large cracker, 2 pieces of Spam & a match. Day was very hot & sunny until we got to New Dean - clouded up & looked like rain. At Ponil rest stop we looked at my left boot & found a seam was loose. Got a blister. Went to bed early. Had a conservation lecture & worked (3 hours total). Arrived too late for program.
Our route was from Four-Mile Camp to Ponil Camp on a fairly easy dirt road, then uphill over the Skyline to New Dean Camp. After the easy hike into Four-Mile Camp, this day was a real change. The hiking seemed to be all uphill! Happily, most of the days that followed were easier to take, so we had gotten the worst out of the way early on.
A tasty breakfast
Boy, doesn't that look appetizing? I remember this meal like it was yesterday - who could ever forget French toast made from Melba toast? Yes sir, crunchy French toast, just the thing to start a day with. As we soon, discovered after a full day of hiking just about anything tasted good.
Looks yummy!
Do you like your pancakes well-done or very well-done?
Breaking camp
Here we are getting ready to leave camp. Now that the Boy's Life photographer has left you'll notice our dress code went downhill.
The other group heads out
At this point our expedition split into two groups. Normally there would have been four crews of 10 boys and one adult, but we were one adult short on the trip. We thus split into two groups - a large one of 30 boys led by Mr. Tobin and Mr. Allegra, and our crew of 10 boys led by Harold Snedeker. Here you can see the big group heading out of Four-Mile Camp. The next time we would see them would be on top of Baldy Mountain.