4/23, 20 Mile Hike

On April 23, 2022, Troop 123 went on the final hike in the hiking merit badge. The hike was the 20 mile San Francisco Bay Trail from Sunnyvale to Sand Point that started at 6:30AM. Before starting, we did some stretches to get us warmed up for the hike. The start of the hike had a hill that we had to climb, but the rest was relatively flat.

Once we got on the trail next to the bay, we saw many interesting sights, including a vulture perched on a streetlamp, waiting for its breakfast. The first five miles of the hike were covered by swarms of mosquitoes and it had a foul smell. Luckily we rarely saw flies after that, and the sights were very beautiful. After five miles, we stopped to take a short break to eat something and recharge. At about ten miles we walked on a pier and saw bird nests. Since it had been ten miles, we turned around and found a tree to have lunch at. As someone went to look for a bathroom, they came across a sea scout base near the tree we were at and an Eagle project completed by an old troop. After a bit of tree climbing, we continued on the path to get back to the parking lot.

By the end of the hike, everyone was really tired. There was a lot of talk about just calling someone to drive over and pick everyone up. However, we powered through with a little more breaks than the beginning. When we got to the parking lot we did our final cooldown stretches for the hiking merit badge. As the scouts were sitting on the floor, the parents took a few photos, trying to jump in sync. It took a lot of convincing, but the scouts finally decided to take a photo. We tried twice to jump in sync before we went back home, with many stories to tell about the outing!

A good thing about the 20 mile hike was that it was by the bay, so it wasn’t super hot like the other hikes. The only thorn that most people agreed with was that by the last two miles, the hike was super tiring. In the beginning of the hike, there was a foul smell that we were trying to run away from. After about fifteen minutes, we couldn’t smell it anymore. Overall, the 20 mile hike was very tiring, but fun!