Day 75: Hiking

Day 75: Two crews preparing for Philmont in June had their first 10-mile hike this morning. I don't get to do Philmont this year because there's a surplus of dads wanting to go, but I get to join them on the hikes since I'm the Hiking merit badge counselor. I've been hiking about 6 miles a day on my own every day so today's walk around town was nice.

The crews have 5-mile hikes scheduled for each Tuesday and Thursday, plus 10-milers each Saturday and a couple Sundays for the next 6 weeks. There're also two 20-milers lined up so enough hike opportunies for anyone doing the Hiking merit badge.

Have you looked at the Hiking merit badge? It's probably about the simplest merit badge to earn but we've only had a couple guys complete the requirements to earn it over the past few years. Lots of guys do all the hiking required, but few take the couple minutes to make the trip plans before a hike and even fewer write the after-hike reports. They don't really need the badge for advancement since most do Swimming at summer camp, but it can still be used as an elective badge.

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