In 2024, William and Mary Schoeffler will offer Hiking Merit Badge to anyone interested in achieving this Eagle Merit Badge. The Merit Badge requirements include three classroom requirements and five hikes - (a) four 10 miles hikes and (b) one 20-mile hike. We will hold the classroom requirements on Wednesday, January 24 during the regular Wednesday night meeting and we will schedule the hikes over the course of the year with a goal of one a month this Spring and into the Fall (February, April, May, August and September). We have identified one urban hike (Path 400) and the rest of the hikes among local hiking trails (Sope Creek, East Palisades, West Palisades and Arabian Mountain from Panola Mountain) so the drives to the trail heads will be close. We hike at approximately 3 miles an hour, so each 10-mile hike should take approximately 4 hours with periodic rests.
The first hike is planned for February 17 at 9:00am when we will hike the Path 400 urban trail starting at St. James. If you have an interest in achieving this Merit Badge, please email William Schoeffler at [email protected] so he can get an estimated head count of participants.