Hiking merit badge changes - Why?

[cmd]

Does anyone have any insight into why the lengths for the hiking merit badge were increased?  

I've been trying to get myself in shape to be up to that 15 mile hike, but I guess I'll be hanging back at base camp when they go do the 20 mile.  I hope there are enough other leaders available with joints fit to accompany them. 

[fred8033]

Have your scouts already started the MB?  They can use the existing requirements.  Not the new ones.  

20 miles, yeah that's a long hike even on a flat level paved trail.   On a natural path with gravel, dirt, mud, ups and downs, that's 10 plus hours.

Edited March 27, 2023 by fred8033

[skeptic]

That just goes to show that I was not up on any such change.  I had thought the 20 miles was part of the badge since "always", and it was one reason it was often not attempted.

 

[cmd]

25 minutes ago, fred8033 said:

Have your scouts already started the MB?  They can use the existing requirements.  Not the new ones.  

20 miles, yeah that's a long hike even on a flat level paved trail.   On a natural path with gravel, dirt, mud, ups and downs, that's 10 plus hours.

Started this month, unfortunately. 

[cmd]

13 minutes ago, skeptic said:

That just goes to show that I was not up on any such change.  I had thought the 20 miles was part of the badge since "always", and it was one reason it was often not attempted.

 

Are the cycling or swimming ones easier?  You need one of the three for Eagle.  Seems like people usually did hiking. I assumed because it was the easiest of the three.

[nolesrule]

I'm not sure I understand. The 20 miler has been part of the requirements for as long as I can remember. The recent requirement change is from

5, 3 x 10, 15, 20 (6 hikes, 70 miles)

to

4x 10, 20 (5 hikes, 60 miles)

They have reduced the total distance by 10 miles and the number of hikes by 1.

[cmd]

1 minute ago, nolesrule said:

I'm not sure I understand. The 20 miler has been part of the requirements for as long as I can remember. The recent requirement change is from

5, 3 x 10, 15, 20 (6 hikes, 70 miles)

to

4x 10, 20 (5 hikes, 60 miles)

They have reduced the total distance by 10 miles and the number of hikes by 1.

Really?  I guess that's what I get for listening to what a scout was telling me without looking it up myself!  

[cmd]

I think I found the source of the confusion.  The 20 mile hike used to be a separate requirement all its own.  Now it's grouped with the other lengths.  This problem doesn't seem limited to 15 year-olds, though.  This is what the advancement newsletter has to say about it:

Requirement 4 After reviewing feedback from the field and discussions from both merit badge counselors and professional organization representatives, requirements 4 and 5 were merged and updated. The new requirement has Scouts complete four 10-mile hikes and one 20-mile hike, as opposed to the previous one 5-mile, three 10- mile, and one 15-mile hike. It has also been written for clarity.

4. Take four 10-mile hikes and one 20-mile hike, each on a different day, and each of continuous miles. Prepare a written hike plan before each hike and share it with your merit badge counselor or a designee for approval before starting the hike. Include map routes, a clothing and equipment list, and a list of items for a trail lunch. You may stop for as many short rest periods as needed, as well as one meal, during each hike, but not for an extended period such as overnight.

They fail to mention that old requirement #5 was a 20-mile hike!  
My confusion was compounded by my usual source for changes (usscouts.org) still has the old change log from when the 2017 version replaced the 2013 version, so reading the most recent old version means sorting through the struck out, the green bold, and the plain text to figure out what used to be new but now is old and the bold 5/10/15 was so much more obvious that the plain 20 a few lines down became near invisible.  

Thanks for helping to straighten me out!

 

[HashTagScouts]

It had been 5 x 10 and then a 20 miler. The past several years they did the 5, 3 x 10, 15, 20. The newest is 4 x 10 and then a 20. It is a jump to go from 10 mile to 20 mile. I would rather they dumped the 5 miler and kept the 15 miler as a conditioning opportunity- then again, it wasn't unusual that at least one of the 10 milers ended up being longer than 10 miles (unfortunately, not always planned to be that way).  

Swimming is always more popular than either cycling or hiking. You can see the 2022 rankings here: https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2023/02/28/2022-merit-badge-rankings-a-new-chart-topper-emerges/ 

[sierracharliescouter]

On 3/27/2023 at 7:14 AM, cmd said:

Are the cycling or swimming ones easier?  You need one of the three for Eagle.  Seems like people usually did hiking. I assumed because it was the easiest of the three.

For kids that are decent but, not necessarily particularly great swimmers, swimming seems to be the MB of choice. It is also the one that is most readily accomplished during a summer camp. 

Cycling is probably the next-easiest, but it depends on what kind of trails/roads are available in your area the riding preferences of the scout. If you have relatively easy, long, dirt trails the mountain bike option is the shortest. Our dirt trails are pretty challenging, so it takes a more adventurous scout to want to do that option in our area. We do have a few long Class 1 (separated) paved trails that are mostly flat and make the road biking option pretty obtainable.

Even though we are a high adventure troop, we have relatively few scouts that do the hiking MB.  I genuinely think it is a bit rigid of BSA to have that 20-miler in the mix, when length should take into consideration altitude changes. Even a 15 in the mountains can be really tough. Yes, you can do an "urban" 20-miler, and there are some creatively-drawn paths in our area that accomplish that, but it is frankly just boring for a lot of folks vs. hiking in a national forest or national park. 

[InquisitiveScouter]

Swimming is much easier.

Cycling next.

Hiking is awesome, but many balk at the 20-miler.  You do have to work up to it, or face some noticeable pain 😛

Edited March 28, 2023 by InquisitiveScouter

[MikeS72]

On 3/27/2023 at 10:36 AM, cmd said:

Really?  I guess that's what I get for listening to what a scout was telling me without looking it up myself!  

Wasn't your SPL by any chance, was it??? 😄

[qwazse]

Different scouts rank difficulty differently.

Son #2 knocked out Swimming early on and did Hiking as an elective for Eagle. The 20-mile hike was with a buddy … no adult joints were ached in the process.

[DuctTape]

I had a few scouts who chose Hiking mB specifically b/c it appeared more challenging.

[InquisitiveScouter]

16 hours ago, qwazse said:

Different scouts rank difficulty differently.

Son #2 knocked out Swimming early on and did Hiking as an elective for Eagle. The 20-mile hike was with a buddy … no adult joints were ached in the process.

Careful @qwazse!! You'll anger the G2SS gods!!

"Two registered adult leaders 21 years of age or over are required at all Scouting activities, including meetings."

This one kills me... two Scouts should be able to go for a day-hike together without adult supervision.  If they have a plan, are properly outfitted, and let someone know where they will be and when they will be back, that should be enough...

Edited March 29, 2023 by InquisitiveScouter