Hiking Dude Blog

The sumac is changing colors. The last few chilly mornings have convinced them it's time to start the show. The maples and oaks take a little more convincing, but they'll come around soon. It's been below freezing up North, but just 50 here. Is that snow I smell? :-)

A lot changes this time of year. School just started back up, the air is cooling off, the mosquitos have vanished, and it's the perfect time to hike and camp. It's also the perfect time to remind your scouts to look around their classroom and see who might want to join their Pack or Troop.

It's 11 miles to the end of the trail and back from my house. I'm doing that route each morning this week so I can see how my legs feel after 5 days in a row. So far, no problem.

Hike On

Met two scouts for a 10 mile hike this morning and pounded it out in 2 hours 50 minutes - that's 17 minute miles. It was a great hike and I didn't notice the pace or the time. The scout leading the hike kept us on route and moving along.

Both these guys are doing the Hiking merit badge and just started First Aid with me as counselor. We just talked about first aid, Leave No Trace, and hiking safety for about 90 minutes.

Hike On

I walked 8 miles this morning. The overcast and very slight drizzle made it a quieter and cooler walk. Not many other people and few animals. They all must have had more important things to do with their day.

Hike On

Did you get your Sept/Oct Scouting magazine yet?
Take a look at page 24! We don't always stop at Dairy Queen on our hikes, but we do use gmap-pedometer.com a lot and it works pretty slick. That page is a good indication of what I plan to do for the next few years now that I'm not wearing the Scoutmaster patch.

I'm going to tackle the National Scenic Trails system - click the image for a larger map view. There are eleven of them:

1. Arizona NST - 800 miles
2. Ice Age NST - 1200 miles
3. Appalachian NST - 2200 miles
4. Pacific Crest NST - 2600 miles
5. Continental Divide NST - 3100 miles
6. Pacific Northwest NST - 1200 miles
7. North Country NST - 4600 miles
8. Florida NST - 1400 miles
9. Natchez Trace NST - 700 miles
10. Potomac Heritage NST - 700 miles
11. New England NST - 220 miles

From the initial research I've done, there's no camping nor connecting routes for the last three and thru-hiking them isn't really a probability. I plan to hike the first 8 in the order listed, starting in Spring, 2012. If I'm wrong about the others, I'll add them.

The AZT is shorter and requires hiking early in the season since water is scarce and heat is intense as summer approaches. It will give me a great opportunity to test out my equipment, abilities, endurance, and processes. If it goes well, then I'll do the IAT in late summer, 2012. This lets me be home for my last son's high school graduation and shipping off to college.

After that, it'll be a trail a year. As an initial plan, I'll do the Appalachian Trail in 2013, hopefully working it so I can drop in at the Jamboree at the Summit - it's only 50 miles off the AT in West Virginia. But, at this point, I'm not set on the order of the trails.

I do have some goals for doing this, not just to burn through a few pairs of shoes. I'm hoping to:

• Connect with scouts - I'll invite scout troops along my treks to come out and hike with me for a couple hours or days. I'll have a tracking device so folks can see where I am.
• Promote lighter-weight trekking. When we try to 'Be Prepared' I think we overpack and make life more difficult than needed on the trail. I'll be an example of how to be light and safe.
• Promote Scouting - I'd like to represent the BSA on the hikes and talk it up to folks I meet.
• Record the Fun - through blogs, reports, stories, and journals I'll track and share the experience, hopefully providing a resource to help others.

I've gotten the Atlas and Guide for the Ice Age Trail and have developed an itinerary. The Arizona Trail books are in the mail so I'm really excited to start planning that one out. I'm walking about 8 or 10 miles each morning to keep the joints moving. My next part of the project is acquiring and testing gear.

Hike On

We finished the 20 mile hike at 3:45 after starting at 8:40 this morning. Two scouts set the pace and I just had to keep up. It was a great hike, exploring a few new places around the community, and the weather was terrific. And, actually, my feet and legs feel just fine - tired but fine.

Someone asked if we do anything special for a 20-mile hike. Not really. Everyone has water bottles. The scout laying out the hike shows me where water locations are and reassures me that we are on trails or sidewalks the whole way. I ask to borrow some sunscreen to make sure we have some, and then we're off. The scouts use GMap-Pedometer to lay out their hikes - it does a great job and they can share the map with everyone.

On this hike, we stopped at Subway at 8 miles. The scouts got footlongs, but I just did a 6-inch BMT with everything but tomatoes. Did you know the 'BMT' is named for the Boston Mass Transit? The scouts did a lot of guessing before giving up on that one. It was a scruptious meal and enough to fuel the engine another 12 miles.

We had two more water stops after that since it turned out to be sunny and 83 all day - a great day for hiking. I also asked how feet and legs felt a couple times but these guys are in great shape with baseball, tennis, and basketball all the time.

Hike On
Scouts can lead

I love it when a scout figures out that he needs to take responsibility for completing merit badges and rank requirements. Sometimes, scouts can have a path of badges required to advance through Star, Life, and Eagle laid out for them by the troop, offering badges in a cycle. This requires very little of the scout - sign up, show up and participate, get the badge.

When a scout wants a merit badge, it is so much more fun. He sets up meetings with the counselor, plans his requirement completions, and pushes to get things done. He is stepping out to engage adults rather than being pulled along with a group.

I've got a First Class scout anxious to reach Star before the September court of honor. He has just two merit badges to finish. Since he started Hiking in the spring to prepare for his Philmont trek, he's decided to complete that one.

He's arranged two hikes and we're doing his 20-miler today. On the last hike, we finished up the first aid and 'discussion' requirements. Today, it's just hiking around with a couple buddies - and lunch at Subway!

See you in 7 hours.

Hike On

The regional path was very busy today. I passed about 12 joggers, 9 bikers, and 4 or 5 walkers as I put in my 8 miles and I waved to each one of them. After all, the path is only about 8 feet wide and it's just polite to say 'Howdy'.
About 75% of those people had wires hanging out of their ears, listening to some music or reading. Is that good, bad, or irrelevant?

I understand that music makes the exercise routine less boring and helps the miles fly by faster. It adds a bit of entertainment to an activity that many don't enjoy. But, the dangers of being plugged in and tuned out are real.

Last year, pedestrian deaths rose for the first time in four years. Electronic devices are the blame. Runners, walkers, and bikers jamming to their tunes instead of paying attention to traffic get hit.

Even on nonmotorized trails, being tuned out increases the risk of harm. Not hearing the 'On your Left' warning of a biker overtaking you can cause a collision.

Sound perception researchers say that music affects your thought process. As you attune to the tempo, you may be able to run more easily, but you aren't noticing branches, rocks, curbs, and other obstacles as you should. Your brain tunes out the world as you daydream along which could cause a rude awakening.

My biggest concern with personalized music devices is that the majority of the people using them don't make the effort to say 'Hi' back to me. I'm not a bad guy. I smile at them. I raise my hand in greeting. But some just plod along, in step with Justin Beiber or AC/DC, I don't know.

This morning, they didn't hear the red-wing blackbird, the cardinal, the movings of some small critter in the brush, or the splash in the lake. They didn't notice the two young deer chasing each other in the field, the squirrel skittering up the oak, or the far-off turkey. I did, and I loved every sound.

Hike On

There are quite a few menus and food lists available online, and they are helpful for thinking of meals for backpacking treks. But, I didn't find a way to create a menu on-the-fly. This sounds like a useful tool for scouts to use in planning high adventure outings for their troops.

So, I've been working on a menu planner for backpacking over the long weekend. This Menu Planner lets you save the different foods you use on the trail, combine them into meals, and use that set of meals to create a menu and shopping list. You can share your menu so others can use it as it is or get ideas to make their own.

If you have some time to try it out, or tell your scouts about it, I'd really appreciate your feedback. It is brand new and only in the 'testing' phase with changes to be made based on your input.

Take a test run at Backpacking Menu Planner and leave some feedback. There is one menu currently saved which is the menu our troop used backpacking in Wyoming last year.

Hike On

This was a VERY Scouty day for me.

Got summer camp info together for the patrol leaders so each patrol can figure out their merit badges and activities at the PLC tomorrow.

Attended the Court of Honor for three Eagle Scouts. The cake was great!

Went on a 10-mile hike for the Hiking merit badge. At least the snow stopped from this morning. Snow on May 1st - sheesh!

Oh, and gave away a Scout gift card in the monthly contest here.

Hike On
Troop Tools

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.

Hike On
Challenge your Scouts