Hiking Merit Badge

1. Know what goes wrong out there, and what to do Requirement

Two conversations with your counselor, and they are what makes the sixty miles safe rather than merely completed.

2 parts

• 1(a). The hazards you are likely to meet, and how to handle them
• 1(b). First aid for what happens on a hike

2. Good hiking practice, and the two things you recite Requirement

Three parts. Two of them are recitations, which are worth learning early because they can be done anywhere.

3 parts

• 2(a). The points of good hiking practice
• 2(b). Recite the Leave No Trace Seven Principles
• 2(c). Recite the Outdoor Code

3. Plan how you will get fit enough for this Task

Explain how hiking is an aerobic activity, develop a conditioning plan for 10-mile hikes, and describe how you will build up for longer ones. This is the requirement that exists for requirement 4.

4. Five hikes, five days, five approved plans Often forgotten Requirement

Four 10-mile hikes and one 20-mile hike, each on a different day and each of continuous miles. A written hike plan before each one, shared with your counselor or a designee for approval before you start.

The written hike plan is prepared BEFORE the hike and approved BEFORE you start walking: by your counselor or a designee. Five hikes means five plans and five approvals. Miles walked ahead of an approved plan are the commonest way to lose work on this badge, because there is no way to put them right afterwards.

Each hike is on a different day and each is of continuous miles. Two hikes cannot be stacked into one long day, and a 10-mile hike cannot be assembled from shorter walks. That makes this badge a matter of at least five separate days. Start it early rather than close to a deadline.

5 parts

• 4(a). 10-mile hike #1
• 4(b). 10-mile hike #2
• 4(c). 10-mile hike #3
• 4(d). 10-mile hike #4
• 4(e). The 20-mile hike Often forgotten

5. Write a short report on each hike Often forgotten Task

One per hike: the date, a description or map of the route, the weather, anything interesting you saw, and any challenges and how you got past them. It may include what you learned about yourself, the outdoors, or the people you hiked with.

Usually comes after 4. Five hikes, five days, five approved plans.

Counselor signs it off Milestone

The completion date is the date you met the requirements, not the date of the signature.

Usually comes after 5. Write a short report on each hike and 4(e). The 20-mile hike.

Merit badge requirements are republished annually. A Scout beginning work uses the requirements as they stand then; a Scout already working may finish under the ones they started with. Guide to Advancement 7.0.4.3 governs which applies. This page records the date its copy was read. Check it against the official page before relying on it.