In his ongoing journey to the Eagle Scout rank, Eugene has to earn the Hiking merit badge. Although he already has 26 merit badges, he has yet to to earn five Eagle-required merit badges, including the one for hiking.
As part of fulfilling the merit badge, Eugene has to do six hikes: one 5-mile, three 10-mile, one 15-mile and one 20-mile. Eugene did his first 5-mile hike as part of his Second Class rank requirements last year and will do his final 10-mile hike at the Morton Arboretum on August 21.
In the last couple of months, I had the opportunity to go on the following hikes with Eugene:
- May 22: 10-mile hike @ Forest Preserve of Cook County’s Poplar Creek Trail in Hoffman Estates, Illinois
- May 28: 15-mile hike @ Linear Park Trail in Battle Creek, Michigan
- June 5: 10-mile hike @ Forest Preserve of Cook County’s Deer Grove Trail in Palatine, Illinois
- June 12: 20-mile hike @ Forest Preserve of Cook County’s Busse Woods Trail in Elk Grove Village, Illinois
Learnings from the hikes include:
- My average casual walking speed is about 2.5 miles per hour.
- My daily walking distance is anywhere between just under 1 mile to 2 miles.
- My daily walking distance at this year’s summer camping adventure at Camp Napowan was between 8 miles and 17 miles.
