What happened to "Silence = Death" and the "Policy of Truth?"

The phrase Silence Equals Death may mean nothing to you, but it sure means a lot to me. It means a lot to any gay man who survived the first decade of the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s. The expression Silence Equals Death meant that by hiding your HIV status you were complicit in the rapid spread of the disease throughout our community. it also was used by many as a call for members of the gay community to come out of the closet and join the fight for equal rights and fair treatment under the law.

As a young man who was driven to attempt suicide rather than have his sexuality discovered by others, it meant to me that by remaining silent about my sexuality - by not being truthful about who I was to my friends and family, too - I was slowly and silently killing my very soul. Not only that, by pretending to be straight among heterosexuals and living my gay life in the shadows, I was becoming the same kind of hypocrite I grew up in the church being wary of. Those wolves in sheep's clothing who would come at my innocence, taking advantage of my own ability to understand myself and my place in the world at such a tender age.

  

For many like myself, coming out took a lot of guts, especially at a time when people were not shy about hating gay people publicly. I remember in college lots of fraternity guys wearing the popular t-shirt, "Silly faggot, dicks are for chicks". It was a slap in the face, as the core of it was understandably hilarious and touched on the 70s nostalgia that Generation X was heaving during that time, the Grunge era of the early 90s.

But the phrase and the wearing of the shirts were a passive aggressive way to voice that they as straight people were normal and gay people were abnormal. Fine, believe what you want. But it was also communicating to some that violence and verbal hate attacks against gay people was okay, even laughable.

When I chose to come out publicly at that time I was met with a lot of aggression but also some curiosity. I rose to curiosity's call and agreed to meet with fraternity members to take back the curtain on what it was like to be a gay, closeted college student in their generation. Many listened and took these messages to heart. Within a few years, the "normalization" of homosexuality fully set in, and many more people felt comfortable to come out. 

But still there are those who hide in the shadows. They do it not only because they fear the repercussions in their life, but often because there are people they love who still carry the antiquated viewpoint that homosexuality is an unspeakable sin - because if it is indeed a sin, it is the lust of homosexuality that is sinful, but in equal proportion to heterosexual lust. Not different. Not worse. But equally despisable in front of a sinless creator.

Anyway, I'm not here to preach any message. But I do want to let you know that if you do decide to be completely honest and transparent about something in your life, do not be foolish enough to believe that those who claim to stick by your side also consider you to be their equal. To many "normies", anyone they consider different is a perversion of their limited beliefs. Still, it is best, in my humble opinion, to live in honesty even if the policy of truth has burned you in the past.

NOTE: The photos used here include artwork by Keith Haring and by the Act Up movement.

Learning real estate online by creating context in communities

This blog post about learning real estate online comes after a prolonged hiatus from the Man of Merit. I am excited to announce I have started the next “merit badge”. Of course, these badges are made up, but they are inspired by the Boy Scout merit badges I never got to finish when I was a kid because of the exclusionary nature of the organizations (i.e. no gays allowed). This made up "real estate business" badge, then, begins with me taking an online real estate course. But finding context in the communities around me is the piece that will make the information click for me in the end.

I have stated a goal to finish by the end of August 2020. I want to be ready to sit for the real estate license exam for my state by the end of October.

To support a more full-on focus in the real estate field I started two Instagram blogs, Harrisonburg-Rockingham Living and Winchester Virginia Living. I post about community open space, local culture, and real estate. The names work for now, but once I get more than 100 followers, I am going to change them officially to Harrisonburg Metro Living and Winchester Metro Living, to give it a more urban (or at least suburban) edge as well as to better communicate the areas they cover - aligning them with their respective U.S. Census Bureau Metropolitan Statistical Areas.

International food trucks add spice to Harrisonburg, Virginia

The Harrisonburg Metro includes the city of Harrisonburg as well as towns of Bridgewater, Broadway, Dayton, Elkton, Grottoes, Mount Crawford, and Timberville. The metro also includes around 30 unincorporated populated areas and is home to some 110,000 people. The Winchester Metro includes Frederick County and Winchester, its only incorporated city, as well as parts of rural West Virginia. It is home to nearly 135,000 people spread across more than 100 named unincorporated places. a great many of them historic rural communities in the hinterlands.

Both Rockingham and Frederick counties are quite rural, but many folks here – especially newer residents – trend cosmopolitan. Harrisonburg is quite diverse. Several universities in the area give it some cache. And the urban core is expanding beyond the city limits to engulf several towns and neighborhoods that used to feel a bit more separate.

Winchester is growing rapidly, too, with much of its urbanized growth within the fragile Opequon Creek watershed. It is becoming ever more a bedroom communitiy of the DMV, metropolitan DC, Maryland, and Northern Virginia. Because of the DMV's expansion and the decentralization of government office buildings within that area, plans are in place that will dramatically change both of these MSAs over the next couple of decades.

Bucolic view surrounds this hilltop home in Broadway, Virginia

I have been driving throughout both metro areas over the last month, taking pictures of some impressive properties that are listed for sale with local brokerages. I focus on community amenities like walkability and local culture. I buy the food, engage in commerce, and go to community parks and other protected open spaces to walk the trails and report on their condition and uses. My hope is that people who are not already aware of these exceptional community amenities might begin to take part.

It feels right to be back to this blog, because Man of Merit keeps me connected to one of my greatest -passions, lifelong learning. As I take all the classes and work through the very in-depth material in the real estate course, this blog will help me track what I am learning and put it into real world context. I may even start to post some Man of Merit content to my YouTube Channel. We shall see…it is all so new right now. So, thank you for reading, and please subscribe, comment, and share freely!

Eagle Scout projects, returning to my roots, blaze path to opportunity

The Eagle Scout curriculum offers and amazing array of self-led learning experiences that, when meshed together in the imagination of an innovative scout, can prepare him for limitless opportunity.

As an adult, this curriculum is no less valid. In fact, perhaps it is more so. There is no one looking over my adult shoulder, for example, to keep me on track toward the goals I want to pursue. There is no one that, at the end of it all, is going to say I did a satisfactory job or not. The proof is in the pudding, as they say.

Still, in ticking off each small task that is part of the three or so merit badge projects I'm working on at the moment, I'm constantly coming up with new ideas of how to put my newly acquired knowledge into practice. Beyond what I'm doing at the moment as a means to complete the list of must-dos in a finite booklet, I'm finding limitless the ways I can make an impact in my home, my community and in my world.

Recently I decided to abandon city life - a life I've known for the better part of 25 years - to return to a life that's, geographically at least, closer to my roots. My formative years were shared among what, as a child, I considered to be four very different communities. These communities were each more than an hour's drive from each other, and because my parents were divorced, I was constantly being shuttled between some concoction of two of the four.

These communities were Orange, in the Virginia Piedmont, Stephens City, in the Shenandoah Valley, Hanover, in South Central Pennsylvania and Olney, a suburb of Rockville in the DC Metro, a.k.a. the DMV.

Since I returned to live in the District of Columbia a year ago, I've been out exploring each of the four communities of my youth. Before coming back, I'd always remembered these communities as prisons of torment to an angst-filled teen. But in fact, there is great beauty in each of them, and the forests and trails that surround them have given me a new perspective I had not originally held.

I brought with me my adult perspective as well as my reborn love of the outdoors. And because of that, ideas that have been brewing in my mind over the past five years, since my 2010 transformation are bubbling to the surface and beginning to take shape.

Now I'm returning to a rural life, at the foot of the mountains, here in the southern end of Megalopolis. Being self-employed was a goal of mine five years ago. As such, I've been making calculated career moves for the past five years while continuing to increase my outdoors and leadership skills. And the projects I've been working on in pursuit of Eagle Scout merit badge completion have prepared me to launch new endeavors in areas I'd not originally dreamed possible.

So what's next for me? I guess like me you'll have to turn the page to the next chapter to find out.


ABOUT Man of Merit: This is a project I started to help me overcome post-traumatic stress disorder. I was diagnosed with PTSD some years after 9/11, when my weight had ballooned some 200 pounds and I was struggling to keep employment due to bouts with anxiety, depression and impending physical disability. Impacted greatly by a brief stint with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy while living in Philadelphia, the birthplace of positive psychology, I underwent a weight-loss transformation. Subsequently, I began to pursue goals I'd left behind after quitting Boy Scouts as a boy of 15, when I was "coming of age", attempting to balance an outward Christian identity with my burgeoning inner queer self.

As springtime warms, hiking heats up in the Appalachian Mountains

by Brian Schwarz

It's been nearly two months since I've checked in here on Man of Merit blog, but a lot's been going on in my preparations for summertime camping and backpacking. I've been obtaining new skills I'll count on as I delve into wilderness survival and emergency preparedness, too.

Brian on top of Old Rag Mountain, April 2, 2015, at 330 lbs.

Old Rag Mountain

In April, warm and sunny weather broke through the cold grey winter. I was able to get in some big hikes, one out of every three days. The first hig hike of spring was Shenandoah's Old Rag Mountain on April 2.

This winter was pretty rough on me and my fit life journey; I'd gained five pounds from a combination of unhealthy eating and lack of exercise, so when I took on Old Rag I was weighing in at a beefy 335 pounds. Try not to laugh when imagining me heaving and hauling my deluxe-sized body over walls of boulders and squeezing through ascending and descending crevices. Encouraged by such an auspicious start as summiting the DMV's biggest, baddest (and perhaps baldest) Blue Ridge outlier, I'd hiked 10 pounds off by the end of the month.

A guy from work named Tom, who's in training to hike Mount McKinley this summer, hiked Old Rag with me. Rucking with 50 pounds on his back, Tom got a kick at how I handled my own 20-pound pack while at the same time grunting and groaning as I made my way precariously over, under and through the rock formations for two miles at the top.

Just prior to reaching the Old Rag rock scramble that day, Tom and I ran into a dude who been shopping at our store the day before - Abdiel. As it turns out, Abdiel would end up joining our little HTO hiking crew, too. As a result, the two of them would become avid hiking partners for as long as I could keep up with them; We ended up doing several high points in the Massanutten Mountain Range and elsewhere in the Appalachians before the month was out.

Abdiel and Tom on Massanutten's Buzzard Rock, overlooking Fort Valley

Signal Knob and Maneka Peak

Signal Knob and Maneka Peak was the first big Massanutten hike I did with Tom. About 100 yards from the Signal Knob overlook, there's a tower for Virginia public television. You'd think this would detract from the views, but its existence in no way takes away from the experience.

After spending a while panning the landscape at the Signal Knob overlook, a couple walked up who had a lot of knowledge about some of the topography you could see from here. I was able to gain connections from the geography I'd learned while living in the area for five years in the 1980s. The couple pointed out in the distance a series of small outliers from Great North Mountain.

One of these outliers rises up from the valley floor just west of the city of Winchester; It's called Apple Pie Ridge. This ridge, I remembered, is where I'd gone to the Ridge Campus of my high school for marching band practice. And it was during those many intensive band practices that I'd built up the base for my "hiking calves", marching in cadence and formations all while playing a saxophone at my core.

Hiking north, down from Kennedy Peak, overlooking Shenandoah Valley

High Peak and Massanutten Ridge

On a foggy and drizzly day, Abdiel and I hiked to High Peak along the Tuscarora and Massanutten trails. We heard more than 70 gunshots in Shenandoah's south valley that day, and I'm pretty sure we'd agree that we heard a bear rifling around near a newly rerouted section of the Tuscarora Trail, below Shawl Gap. There was a cool bear's den sort of outcropping along the trail. Maybe we were passing by its home and it was watching from a distance. In any event, we kept moving along.

Kennedy Peak and Edith Gap

It was a super sunny day when I hiked Kennedy Peak with Tom. The views from the Kennedy Peak tower are some of the best I've seen in the region. At the summit, Tom surprised me with a fish taco - simply a small flour tortilla filled with grilled asparagus and striped bass meat. But the meat was from a fish he'd caught only the day before at the confluence of the Potomac River approaching the Chesapeake Bay, so as we looked east from the summit tower, across the Shenandoah Valley and toward the Blue Ridge in the distance, this down-home Virginia-caught bass tasted especially good.

Buzzard Rock

Even after experiencing the overlook at Signal Knob and the high tower at Kennedy Peak, a much easier hike that I did with both Tom and Abdiel sticks in my mind most for the incredible vistas from its namesake rock. I say the vistas were incredible, but I honestly lost words at the moment I saw the view of Fort Valley and western ridges of the expansive northern Massanutten Mountain Range. Lost. Words. I possibly even gasped.

Buzzard Rock is the huge slab of rock that you see hanging high on the ridge to your left as you enter Fort Valley and the Elizabeth Furnace section of Washington National Forest from the north along Passage Creek. The day we hiked to Buzzard Rock, there was a group camp set up just down from ridge. We stopped and chatted with one of the group for a while, who told us he was a guide with a therapy outing. Some teen guys were being "straightened out" through leadership and trust exercises while rock climbing, or some such.

Next Steps

My hiking has slowed a bit in May, and it's been by choice - I felt for the first week at least I needed to recover. I'll be heading out on a big hike tomorrow, though. Tom and Abdiel are doing 13 miles at Crabtree Falls. I'd go with them but Tom leaves soon for a three-week expedition at Denali National Park, so I think he may want to go harder than I'll be able to handle. Instead, I think I'm going to opt for something shorter, around between seven and 10 miles, maybe in West Virginia.

So when am I going to start backpacking? I've taken four days off around my birthday weekend, so this is probably when it will happen. I still need to buy a backpack, which is a pretty big deal. It's going to cost me around $200, and it's a really big decision as to which one to buy. I need to do it soon, though. Meanwhile, I am planning to do some car camping in conjunction with big day hikes at wilderness areas around Charlottesville and Roanoke. But backpacking will happen soon. Stay tuned to see my progress!

Follow Brian's adventures on Instagram @fitlifechronicles. Check out his splash page at about.me/brian.schwarz.

Learning Boy Scouts outdoor and survival skills - not just for the young!

by Brian Schwarz

Time to get back to the blog Man of Merit, where I'm working toward the requirements of Boy Scouts merit badges. Who says you have to become an Eagle Scout before you turn 18 - it may take me a lifetime, but I think it's a worthwhile pursuit, so I'll keep at it as long as I need to, or as long as I can.

Ready for warmer weather? Hikes this winter were infrequent and short!

I've pretty much nailed Hiking and am well into several other merit badges, thanks to becoming an expert day hiker and hike leader with several regional trail organizations in 2014. This year, 2015, is all about continuing my skills improvement, migrating some of my fun from land to water and learning the basics Kayaking and stand-up paddleboarding, known as SUP.

Camping will take a primary role whenever I'm able to link two days off in a row. When I'm able to get three or more days off, I will be venturing into Backpacking.

You should see the drafts I've written this winter about how I was going to brave the weather tomorrow and head out on the trail. Always "tomorrow", but tomorrow would almost always cut my planned five miler down to a pitiful mile, if I the weather was forgiving enough for me to be able to get out and get active at all.

I've overcome many of my weaknesses over the years, and as tempting it is to give up on becoming an all-weather hiker and just move south to a warmer climate - maybe Southern California or North Carolina, or perhaps Ecuador or the Mediterranean even - I am committed to life in the Northeast Megalopolis and will try better next winter.

For now, though, it's spring! And today's hike will be in the mid-70s with only a slight chance of a brief thundershower in the afternoon.

Today, I'm off to test a new pair of trail shoes I got yesterday - Altra's The Lone Peak 2.0. I'm used to hiking with much more stiffness and support, so before I head out with them for the 12-mile hike I'm leading on Sunday I thought I'd test them out on about five miles of rocky terrain this afternoon. The reviews online lead me to believe I'm going to love their performance, and I've got to say I'm already in love with the wider toe box and moderately cushioned soles.

The choice to live life as a Man of Merit is made moment by moment.

Subscribe to my blog if you agree that more of us should be focused on outdoor and survival skills building, no matter the stage of life. Until there are more curricula geared toward the middle age set, the Boy Scouts curriculum - with a few adaptations here and there - suits me just fine!

On Becoming a Sierra Club Regional Outings Leader

Today I led my first mentored hike as a provisional leader of the Sierra Club Potomac Regional Outings group. A few weeks ago I attended a retreat at the Bear's Den Hostel, located along the Appalachian Trail in Northern Virginia, on a ridgeline overlooking the Shenandoah Valley, where after two days I was certified in basic first aid and had completed a multi-module wilderness leadership training course. Today's hike was half of the next phase in the process of becoming a sanctioned leader of the club, and despite a rocky start I would say it was a resounding success.

Sierra Club Virginia Chapter SCPRO 2014 Leadership Retreat at Bear's Den
Photo by Ellen Hill, SCPRO

The hostel where the retreat was held is maintained by another organization I'm a member of - the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. Just last month I completed the training process to join the PATC Trail Patrol. As it turns out, several of the mentors and trainers at the SCPRO event were also PATC members, so it felt like family - a new family I've been adapting myself into since I moved back to the region in July of this year.

One of the best elements of the weekend retreat was an evening bonding session with my fellow classmates, instructors and mentors. This was when much of the sense of "family" began to take root for me. Also, as our new SCPRO Class of 2014 peer group was forming, we made a few jaunts out to a nearby rocky overlook along the Appalachian Trail - at night, in the morning and at noon - to stretch our legs. This was a time to shift the energy to a more intimate level, to get to know folks a little more deeply.

SCPRO Leadership Class of 2014 ( with organizer Liz Guertin on the right)

I came away from the whole retreat experience knowing more about my fellow humans as we were there, growing alongside each other; I left excited to begin the next step in the outings leader training program - my two mentored hikes. So today as I was signing in some 15 attendees, you can imagine how wonderful it made me feel to see one of the old class coming along on the first real-world test of my ability to apply our new leadership skills.

The hike was titled, Hike Through History: Rock Creek Park. Here's what I had to say about it in the MeetUp write-up:

One of the country’s first national parks, Rock Creek Park is home to a rich history that often remains hidden from residents and visitors alike. On this hike, we’ll discover some of this hidden history – as revealed in the recently published “History of Rock Creek Park”, by Scott Einberger. Entering the park from Connecticut Avenue via the Melvin Hazen Trail, we’ll first traverse the southern bluffs section of the park, exploring the fall zone via the Western Ridge and Valley Trails. Here we’ll learn about a skinny-dipping president and the naming of Boulder Bridge, pre-Colonial quartz mining, the mills of the valley and other bits of Rock Creek trivia. Eventually, we’ll make our way up to Fort DeRussy via the horse trails, where we’ll talk about the fort’s critical role in the Civil War Battle of Fort Stevens.

This is a moderate hike of about 7.5 miles. The route has several ups-and-downs, and there’s also a bit of an optional rock scramble.

I recommend that folks each carry 2 liters of water; Bring along trail snacks and lunch, which we’ll eat somewhere along the way. A bathroom break/pit stop will be made at the Nature Center.

In hindsight, I would have added a few more qualifying statements, such as "there will be several stream crossings, one made more difficult due my poor route choice, the result of my failure to scout the hike in both directions." But everyone made it from Cleveland Park Metro through the national park and back again without losing a limb and with a smile on their collective face, so I'd say I achieved my overall goal while experiencing some real learning-in-action.

With "The 2 Anns", along the AT Bear's Den Rocks during SCPRO retreat

Having led more than 60 group hikes in the mid-Atlantic over the past two years, I was confident I could achieve my goals. I'm glad I'll have the chance to apply what I learned today on my next hike, coming up in December.

By the way, I didn't take any photos of today's hike, because I asked at the beginning if anyone minded being in group photos snapped along the way that might be posted on my blogs or social media domains I manage, and one person raised their hand. My hikes are all about inclusion, so I certainly didn't want to be someone managing an exclusionary process when I needed to focus on - as a host - making sure everyone felt they were part of an experience worthwhile.

My next hike will be December 20, time and place to be determined. Check out SCPRO on MeetUp and Hiking Megalopolis on Facebook for more info.

From the PATC to the Sierra Club - for me it's about leadership

by Brian Schwarz

I'm looking forward to improving my outdoor skills this weekend, taking a class that leads to becoming a Sierra Club Outings Leader. Part mountain survival, part Leave No Trace, part leadership, the class is set at a hostel out on the eastern edge of the Appalachian's central valley in Northern Virginia, at a spot where some of the lowest mountains of the Appalachian Range rise to lift the AT off the floor of the Shenandoah Valley.

From the PATC to the Sierra Club - it's all about becoming a better leader

As a kid, I backpacked and camped somewhere in those eastern valley hills, though I believe it was a little further south of where I'll be hostel-crashing this weekend. It was sometime around my transition to Boy Scouts when I was here before. I was a pre-teen, or really I guess I was transitioning, becoming a teen. I just remember being confused about the experience of camping and couldn't really focus on whatever it was that I was supposed to be getting out of the whole thing.

The feeling? Awkward. I hadn't been in school long enough to make friends, so I just developed a crush on my patrol leader and did anything he asked me to do, with enthusiasm. I made it through. But I ended up with chaffing in very uncomfortable spots because I wasn't that great at managing personal hygiene in a simulated wilderness environment. We slept in wet tents down by the creek, at a clearing in the woods, with a field nearby for capture the flag, somewhere with no bathrooms, just a swell in the creek big enough for group bathing.

I had no idea over time it would prove to be one of the most significant of my personal experiences growing up in terms of providing a richness, texture and framework to my life that always brings me back to concepts I learned in scouting.

Hence, the blog Man of Merit where I am trying to go back and finish all the merit badges I'd not been able to complete when I was that confused transitioning teen; I'm working to fill in the gaps as I explore the art of living in the great outdoors. First the PATC Trail Patrol Training. Now this.

I feel like I finally get it. Now I'm ready to camp.

The Challenge of Outfitting the Big Man for an Active Outdoor Lifestyle

by Brian Schwarz

Outfitting the big man for an active outdoor lifestyle is a challenge, to put it mildly. First, big and tall stores don't cater to the active outdoor lifestyle. Heck, they don't even acknowledge that some big guys are active and even fit. The assumption is perhaps, hey, you're big, so just go and put on these stretchy-waist jeans so you can look decent while standing in front of a barbecue grill, be comfortable tucking into the table when you're done, and not pop your buttons when you plop down on the couch for your after meal nap.

Rocking my Columbia Omni-Tech shell and Columbia fleece mid-layer

Sorry for sounding bitter, but as an active big man who feels he has been abandoned by retailers to make due with maybe one style and two colors for a pair of active shorts and a moisture wicking shirt - if I'm lucky enough to find even that - I think I've got the right to be a bit perturbed.

The thing is, I hike mountains. I backpack. I ride a mountain bike. I rollerblade. I'm even getting interested in kayaking and stand up paddleboard. And yes, I weigh between 280 and 310 lbs. And my is a XXL.

The thing is, though, most outdoor apparel companies don't manufacture their clothes up to a men's XXL. And if they do, their idea of an XXL is more like a slim-fit XL. And even then, lots of stores don't carry anything bigger than an XL, so I'm shit out of luck if I don't go online and take my chances that whatever I order might fit.

That being said, I have found a few brands that I can more or less count on. Columbia is by far my go-to brand for outerwear and mid-layer apparel, including waterproof and breathable shells and cozy fleece mid-layers. Champion has several options for moisture-wicking skin layers. And the REI store brand has a couple of options for me in shorts and long hiking pants. I rely on Woolrich and Eddie Bauer for button down shirts and other insulation layer items.

 Still, the selection in my size is frustrating. I'm often jealous of the broad array of styles and rainbow of color options available to those XL and under. Several years ago, before twisting my ankle while hiking a rocky trail at the Delaware Water Gap, I had lost enough weight to comfortably fit into an XL - and I'll tell you I was in clothes shopping heaven for about two years. But after that injury I put on 50 pounds. Afterward I have been struggling to take the weight back off. I feel if I had more options for affordable performance clothes in my size I would be even more active than I am now.

I'm willing to spend the money for better performing clothes that make my physical activity more comfortable. But the brands with superior performance that I really want to add to my wardrobe - The North Face, Patagonia, Millet and others - are just not available to me as I continue my lifelong fitness journey and try to shed these excess pounds to get me back to a size that is more healthy for me in the first place.

In short, outfitting the big man for an active outdoor lifestyle is a challenge. It can be done. But I feel it should be easier. The availability of performance clothing in bigger sizes from major active outdoor brands would make my life easier as well as the millions of others around the globe who are struggling to overcome obesity.

Brian Schwarz is a freelance writer, trail guide and outfitter based in Washington, D.C.

Hiking Merit Badge Earned; Now Let's Go Backpacking!

by Brian Schwarz

I'm ready to move on from the Hiking Merit Badge requirements and begin with Backpacking. The fact is that even though I didn't do the 20-mile hike as prescribed in the Boy Scout Requirements for the Hiking Merit Badge, I have more than earned it. Besides the fact that I've planned and executed several hundred hikes, including more than 60 during which I led groups), I also have to consider the level of difficulty of the hikes I've done.

Boy Scouts of America Hiking Merit Badge

The average 20 miler executed by a Boy Scout is along fairly level terrain. According to the Sierra Club hike rating system, this means one of these typical hikes could be rated as low as 20 if there is no significant elevation change (1 point equals 1 mile). Every 400 feet of elevation gain and/or loss is also equal to one point.

Case in point, in June of 2012 I planned and executed a hike to the South Summit of Sandia Mountain in New Mexico. This hike was 10 miles out and back, but with 3,000 feet of elevation gain and 3,000 feet of elevation loss, the hike would be rated at 25 - higher than what would be required by the 20 mile hike done on relatively flat terrain. And this was not even my most strenuous hike. Later I hiked the South Summit from a different route - a 12 miler with 4,000 feet elevation gain and 4,000 feet loss - which would have been rated as a 32 on the Sierra Club hike rating scale.

So with that, I am ready to move on. I consider the Hiking Merit Badge requirements to be complete and am excitedly moving on to Backpacking. Stay tuned as I ramp up to tackle this beast of a badge!

PS - I'm not giving up on doing a 20 miler or even completing the three-day 30 mile challenge I set for myself in a previous post. I simply realized that those two things were not necessary for me to consider this Hiking Merit Badge challenge complete for myself based on all that I have accomplished in hiking over the course of recent years. I'm just ready for this new challenge to begin and am setting my sights firmly on completing it. Next weekend I complete training to become an official member of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club's Trail Patrol and in November I train to become a Sierra Club outdoor leader. I've also taken a job where I'll be exposed to all the best outdoor gear, so it is time for me to give my full focus to this and other new challenges.

Brian Schwarz is a freelance writer based in Washington, D.C. Way to old to be an actual Boy Scout, Brian has set a goal to complete the requirements of Eagle Scout by his 50th birthday in August of 2021. While some slight modifications are made to the requirements along the way, the spirit of the Boy Scouts guide all efforts Brian has on his journey, living life as a Man of Merit.

Gearing up for a three-day, 30-mile hiking challenge

Yesterday, as I was sitting at the White Rocks Overlook in the Bull Run Mountains - an outlier ridge of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Northern Virginia - I took some time to reflect on my goals. It is disappointing that I started this blog in 2011 with the intention of completing merit badges I'd not had the opportunity to complete as a kid, and to date I've made progress but haven't completed a single one! That's gotta change. That will change! I am more determined than ever.

Being a Boy Scouts dropout was not in my control when I was a teen - lots of factors made it impossible for me to pursue my goal of becoming an Eagle Scout, the most prominent being not having an older male mentor and feeling excluded due to being different from the other scouts in my troop. But as an adult, I know that it is my decisions, and not the conditions of my life, that determine my destiny. So if I fail to accomplish what I set out to do now, it is my own fault, and I can blame no one but myself.

Reflecting on goals, watching hawk migration from Bull Run Mountains

That being said, I have been conditioning this summer to complete my final 20-mile hike as part of earning the Hiking merit badge. Unfortunately, problems with my left foot and ankle - the result of an injury while hiking Mt. Tammany at the Delaware Water Gap last fall - have precluded me from hiking long distances. I have only been able to hike up to 10 miles at a time before my body just gives out on me. So here's what I'm thinking. Instead of giving up on my goals, I am going to re-invision them. I will remain true to the spirit of the 20-mile hike goal, but I'm going to create a plan that works for me given what my body is physically capable of.

This is my plan. Instead of doing 20 miles in one day, I will plan to hike 30 miles over the course of three consecutive days. This is still going above and beyond what I've ever done before, challenging myself in an equal nature to the way hiking 20 miles in one day would challenge me, but giving my body rest intervals to recharge and not do more damage to my weakened frame.

I will plan to do a 12 mile hike on day one, followed by a 10 mile hike on day two and an eight mile hike on day three. The 12-mile hike and the 10-mile hike will be hikes with little elevation gain. But the third and final hike will be a hike with some significant elevation - Old Rag Mountain. It will push me beyond what I believe myself to be capable of, but because I am conditioning to prepare for this three day challenge, I know I will be able to handle it.

My goal is to complete this challenge the end of October 2014. Since I have already completed every other challenge set forth in the Hiking book in the Boy Scouts of America Merit Badge Series, once I complete this three-day, 30-mile challenge I will consider my hiking merit badge to be complete.

Meanwhile, I will also begin working on the Geology Merit Badge. This week I am reading through the manual and setting up an interview with a local geologist to interview and do a profile on him for my blogs.

Hiking: Setting goals for the summer

I am happy to report that I endured the harsh winter and am finally back to hitting the trails - hard! Last week for the first time in 2014, I achieved my 20-miles/week goal. For two years I was hiking 20 miles per week, but 2013 had seen a steady reduction in miles, and my fitness level has declined as a result. I just didn't have the same access to trails as before. For that reason, I've moved to a neighborhood that abuts a park with some mildly rugged trails, and from my front door step I can make a nice loop of between three and seven miles that includes a bit of city trekking mixed with good old dirt-and-rock single-track. I'm back in the zone. Location is everything.

During the dead of winter, I joined several organizations related to hiking, the sport that's got my passion. I joined the American Hiking Society, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, the Philadelphia Trail Club and the Appalachian Mountain Club. All of these organizations have incredible missions and tons of ways to get involved. But the one that reached out to me in a way I responded best to was the Appalachian Mountain Club - Delaware Valley Chapter. I had been looking for affordable outdoor leadership training, and they offered a two-day class for just $35. Cha-ching!

I attended the two-day training in the beginning of April, and throughout the month I have been training to be an outdoor leader with the AMC, which is the oldest conservation and recreation organization in the United States if you didn't know. After the two-day training at Nockamixon State Park, the club assigned a mentor under whose guidance I was to arrange to co-lead two hikes.

Serving as "sweep" on my first AMC-DV co-lead, April 2014

The first co-lead I did was with the DV chapter chair, Joan, on a brisk and sunny jaunt through the Tohickon Gorge. For that one I helped with registration at the trailhead and served as sweep on a hike of nearly 30 people. My second co-lead is one I actually planned and executed with the help of my mentor, Lennie, who is also the club's leadership chair. That one was just this past Saturday in the Upper Wissahickon Gorge, and I did it with Midori as the "leader", since Lennie was unable to hike that day. Midori's role was really to observe my leadership skills in the field and report back to Lennie.

While many people do this training to lead hikes with the AMC, I am still leading hikes independent from the AMC with the fitness-inspiration group I started, Hiking Megalopolis. I've held two hikes within the past 10 days - one was an Earth Day Hike in East Fairmount Park and another was a thru-hike of the Wissahickon Gorge. I am feeling that my fitness level is getting better than it was a month ago, but with this being said, I still need to train harder so I can finish that 20-mile hike I've been talking about since forever. I am still gung-ho as ever about it, but I fear my body is not up to it yet, so I have some preliminary weight loss goals that must be attained before I can set out on the hike with any degree of certainty for success.

I have set a goal to hike 20-miles per week as part of a fitness plan that includes core training with a medicine ball and strength training three days per week at the local YMCA. With this, and a healthy eating plan based on Michelle Obama's My Plate, I believe I will be able to achieve a large portion of my weight loss goals by August - around my birthday. This means that September is when I will plan my 20-miler.

September 7, there is a 5K on a historic trail near my house - The Boxer's Trail 5K. I plan to run this, and then two weeks later I will do my 20 mile hike. I am planning a route that leads from Love Park in Center City, Philadelphia, through East and West Fairmount Parks, and through the Wissahickon Gorge to Chestnut Hill.

Well, that's it for now. If you have any questions or comments for me about this post, please leave it below. And check out a list of my other blogs and social media contacts at About.Me/Brian.Schwarz.

Time flies when you turn your eyes from your goals

One year and nine months have passed since I completed my fifth 10-mile hike, leaving a one-day 20-miler as my only Boy Scouts Hiking Merit Badge requirement to complete. That's nearly two years! What has taken me so long? Good question. Time sure does fly when you turn your eyes from your goals.

I love to quote motivational speaker and coach Tony Robbins, saying, "It is your decisions and not the conditions of your life that determine your destiny." I recognize this to be true. So then I must take responsibility for my decisions for the past two years, which have simply taken me down a different path.

City life entered the equation last year, when I moved from the Western Mountains region to the East Coast, and out of convenience I turned my eyes from this 20-mile hike goal as I transitioned to life in Philadelphia. While living in New Mexico and Southern California, I could hike every day alone if I wanted to by just biking or taking the bus to various trails. I had hikes with 4,000-feet of elevation gain practically on my doorstep! But in Southeastern Pennsylvania, hikes with even 1,000-feet of elevation gain are two hours away by car. Even just one big hike a week can cost $60 to $80 round trip, with tolls. So to mitigate the cost I began hiking with others. And soon, their goals became my goals, and my 20-miler goal was put on the back burner so I could mitigate the costs of what, through the process of creating this goal in the first place, had become my hard-core hiking habit.

So anyway, I'm back and focused on the goal. I just need to see the hikes with others as training for the big hike, which I still expect to do alone. I have brainstormed some ideas, like having certain people meet me at different points along the 20 miles and hike smaller sections with me, or even doing the hike as some charity event. But whatever I can muster by June will have to do, because I have decided that June is the deadline for achieving this goal. I'm adding that the 20 mile hike should be completed within two years of the final of five 10 mile hikes.

So, there you have it. This is my goal, so today I'm off to the park to get some training in. I'll post pics later!

Hiking: Is 2014 the year to hike my first fourteener?

Wow, I can't believe it's already 2014! I haven't posted here in a while, as I've been getting adjusted to my new home here in Southeastern Pennsylvania for the past eight months, hiking up a storm in the nearby Appalachian Mountains. In fact, I figure I did between 60 and 75 hikes this year.

The Catoctin Mountains, part of the Appalachians in Maryland

The first four months were spent hiking Sandia Mountain and other geological formations of central New Mexico. I hiked Pinnacle Mountain in Arkansas on my road trip back east, and the rest of the year was all about the Appalachians, from Western North Carolina to Northern New Jersey. I still haven't completed my goal 20-mile hike in a single day, but plans for it are in the works. Meanwhile, I'm thinking beyond that goal to another hiking goal I have in mind: hiking my first fourteener!

Although I absolutely love hiking the Appalachians, I am often inspired to research hikes out West. Ever since returning from New Mexico and Southern California, I've been thinking I really missed out by not hiking the Rockies in Colorado. Well, this year is the year. How epic would it be to hike my first fourteener in 2014!

I'm not sure how the details will all pan out, but I'm hoping that in either August or October to make the trip to hike either Longs Mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park or perhaps one of the Collegiate Peaks. I need to do more research, but meanwhile, my mind and my heart are soaring in the Rockies tonight. I hope my body will be able to joint them soon.

For inspiration, John Denver's "Rocky Mountain High"!

 Happy Trails! And check out my blog HikeyHikey for info on great hikes from East Coast to West! And for more info on me, check out my splash page.

Hiking: Conditioning plan for Boy Scouts Merit Badge 20-miler

This summer I have been doing a bunch of hiking both locally in Philadelphia's Wissahickon Gorge as well as in the nearby Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont. Most of my hikes have been fairly intense - meaning they were usually greater than 7 miles and included some moderate elevation change (1,000+ feet) - but I haven't been exactly conditioning for my first "Boy Scouts Hiking Merit Badge" qualifying 20-miler, which has been a goal of mine for about two years now. Now that I've finally become accustomed to East Coast high-humidity hiking once again, though, it's time to get at it!

Recent conditioning hike, Lover's Leap Trail, Wissahickon Gorge

So, without further ado, here is my conditioning plan for preparing to do my first 20-miler.

1. Attack the core. When I first started hiking two years ago I had a core of steel. I had been focusing on my core for more than a year before, doing medicine ball exercises five days per week and planking every chance I got. These excellent habits have waned greatly over the past year, so step one is to get back into near-daily core work. I will return to doing my former medball workout every day except Tuesdays.
2. Hike with a mission. I am able to get to the Wissahickon Gorge to hike on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Normally I do about five miles each time I go, but now that I'm going to be focusing on conditioning or a 20 miler I've got to amp it up. That being said, I will begin hiking a minimum of eight fast miles at each outing. This means I'll hike with no significant rests for contemplation, picture taking or anything hippy dippy at all. I'm going to book it through those woods!
3. Hike for fun. On Saturdays, I have been in the habit of hiking with friends. This will be my opportunity to slow it down a bit and just enjoy being outdoors for the sake of it. I'm still going to hike fairly quickly, but I'll take time to stop and smell the Hemlock.
4. Hit the gym. After one full month of adhering to the first three steps outlined above, I will add strength training at the gym. I really miss lifting weights, but I know I don't want to bite off more than I can chew right off the bat. Besides, if I do too straight away I'm prone to injure myself, and that would be entirely counterproductive.

Hiking the north slope of Philadelphia's Wissahickon Gorge

Well, there it is. My conditioning plan for completing my first "Boy Scouts Hiking Merit Badge" qualifying 20-miler is fairly intense, but it is totally do-able. I just need to be focused on my goal and intentional about creating the habits over the next month that will prepare me to handle hiking 20 miles in one day between sun up and sun down.

Hiking: Trail Maintenance along AT and North Trail at Lehigh Gap

Today I joined Dave Scheid, trail maintenance co-chair with the Philadelphia Trail Club, and James Dunn, an Appalachian Trail Ridgerunner, to do some hedging of prickly greenbrier and other plants that had practically overgrown great sections of the blue-blazed North Trail, a scenic offshoot of the white-blazed Appalachian Trail just west of Lehigh Gap.

AT Ridgerunner, James, and PTC trails co-chief, Dave, on North Trail

I met Dave at the Translator Road parking area off of Mountain Road west of the gap, and we hiked up to the AT using an un-named spur trail - which we agreed to call the Birch Clump Trail, since there's a striking clump of white birch trees at the spot where it intersects the U.S.'s premier interstate long-distance trail. 

Looking west on the AT from Birch Clump Trail - AT intersection

From the birch clump, we hiked briefly east on the AT to the start of the North Trail, which shoots north but soon doubles back to the west as it traverses an exposed ridge of Blue Mountain, featuring nearly two miles of striking views of the Lehigh River and valley beyond.

Lehigh River and Pennsylvania Turnpike snake north from Blue Mountain

At the point where the North Trail cuts west, we came to a spur that to leads to the Devil's Pulpit, a precipice overlooking the Lehigh Gap that requires a precarious scramble to enjoy. I made a mental note to return here soon. For today, though, there was work to be done - and lots of it!

Clearing the trail from overgrown understory was the job of the day!

The North Trail runs through the Palmerton Zinc Superfund Site, Dave explained as we clipped away at rampant overgrowth. The entire north side of this section of Blue Mountain had been denuded at one point as soils were poisoned through the work of a now-defunct zinc smelter in the valley below. Trees are sparse along this ridge, but they are coming back. In fact, the once thriving American Chestnut is making a stand, though not a very tall one. The real growth here is the forest understory - the taming of which was the reason of today's trek.

American Chestnut makes a comeback on Blue Mountain near Lehigh Gap

Seeds were at one point dropped from the air to re-vegetate Blue Mountain's north face, from the Lehigh River to the ridge. And following the substantial rainfalls the area has experienced throughout this spring and summer, the site is thriving with ferns, tall grasses, sassafras and greenbrier, all of which are taking root and spreading like crazy over what Dave said in recent seasons looked more like a moonscape than a forest.

Hiking through rebounding Palmerton Zinc Superfund Site on North Trail

A little farther down the North Trail we ran into Ridgerunner James. James had hiked in from Lehigh Furnace gap with the intention of catching up with us. I'm glad he did! Listening to him and Dave talk clued me in on lots of trail trivia I might have missed out on if it were just Dave and I on our own. Dave is day hiker, like me. But James thru-hiked the AT in 2012, and now he spends many nights on the trail fulfilling his official role with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.

Staving off our hunger along the way, we had been snacking on juicy wild blueberries that were growing in patches all along the North Trail. But as the morning mist began to clear and we realized it was already well past luncthime, we decided it was a good idea to have a bite to eat before finishing up and making our way back down the mountain. 

Wild blueberries! Our reward for hard work clearing the North Trail

As we sat down in the midst of a great boulder field, I noticed my arms and fingers were quivering. I joked that I thought I might be having a stroke, but James confirmed he was experiencing the same sensation, confirming it must have been the result of nearly three hours of walking and clipping, not of something more serious. Phew! After eating and hydrating, we made our way back to the AT and then eventually to a point along Translator Road, which we took back down the mountain to our cars.

Appalachian Trail - North Trail and Lehigh Gap 

For me, this day exceeded my expectations for my first trail maintenance experience. It was great exercise for one, and even though my purpose for coming out here was to give back to the hiking community, which has given me so much in recent years, I ended up walking away having received an amazing learning experience. If you think you might like to learn more about the AT or volunteering with the Philadelphia Trail Club - and I highly recommend you do - check out the PTC website or email Dave for information. Tell him Brian from Man of Merit blog sent you!

Brian Schwarz is an award-winning journalist whose career was derailed by super obesity. He fought his way back to health - losing 165 pounds in the process of his "fit-life journey". A professional communicator by trade and activator by nature, Brian's personal mission is to inspire others to live their fullest lives. Follow Brian on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Hiking: Giving back to the community that gives so much

I suppose you could call me an avid hiker now. That's hard to fathom considering where I was just a few years ago. But it's true! In 2011, I was concerned I wouldn't be able to endure a two-mile walk in the woods. Now I've summited at least a dozen mountains and can handle hikes with as much as 4,000 feet of elevation gain and happily trudge fairly significant distances. I've gotten so much out of hiking, in fact, that now I feel it's time for me to give back.

Man of Merit and HikeyHikey blogger, Brian, on the Mill Creek Trail

Pennsylvania is home to an extremely active hiking community, a fact that was lost on me when I previously called this state home. I had spent the better part of a decade living in Pennsylvania - off and on from the mid-1980s to the late-1990s - and back then I can honestly say I only truly experienced the mountains of Pennsylvania through my car windows, on frequent commutes between my mom's home in the Susquehanna Valley of South Central PA to my university - IUP - located in the Laurel Highlands of Western PA.

I'm happy to report, though, that since I've returned to the Commonwealth I have discovered that Pennsylvania is home to thousands upon thousands of miles of trail, including portions of three national trails and a handful of other long trails. To manage this vast trail network, there are several hiking clubs that staff an army of volunteers - my local club is the Philadelphia Trail Club (PTC) - and there is even a statewide advocacy group - the Keystone Trails Association (KTA).

I have contacted both the PTC and the KTA this week seeking out volunteer opportunities, and these groups are so on the ball representatives have already contacted me and eagerly recruited me to get involved.

The PTC maintains a 10-mile portion of the Appalachian Trail, north of Allentown, and on Saturday, July 13, I will be joining members of the PTC's trail crew to clear an AT-access trail within PA State Gamelands near Lehigh Gap.

Mill Creek Trail, in need of some maintenance, French Creek State Park

On September 7, I will be volunteering as a trail sweep for the KTA's Super Hike along the Susquehanna River between York and Lancaster counties. For that event I'll be clearing the trail, making sure all participants are ahead of me and no one is left behind, while removing all flagging tape from the last quarter of the 29.6-mile course. (Next year I plan on training to actually do the Super Hike!)

Hiking is such an amazing activity for achieving and maintaining physical and mental fitness, so I'm excited about the chance to volunteer to support the local hiking community here in Pennsylvania. Maybe I'll meet some folks along the way, too, so I can finally find some hiking buddies to join me on my many planned hikes for the remainder of the summer and the rest of the year.

Brian Schwarz is an award-winning journalist whose career was derailed by super obesity. He fought his way back to health - losing 165 pounds in the process of his "fit-life journey". A professional communicator by trade and activator by nature, Brian's personal mission is to inspire others live their fullest lives. Follow Brian on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Hiking: Planning seven hikes in Eastern Pennsylvania

Since arriving back on the East Coast two months ago, my hiking has been limited to the Orange and White trails of the Wissahickon Gorge, a rare gem of urban wilds that rises into the Piedmont through Philadelphia's northwestern city limits. I'm getting the itch now, though, to hazard deeper into the woods. So I'm making plans to venture farther north and experience a few of the many amazing trails of Pennsylvania's Schuylkill Highlands and the Pocono Mountains.

Beneath the canopy of green along one of Eastern PA's amazing trails

My goal is to experience the following seven hikes this summer as I continue to condition for my first ever 20-mile hike later this year:

1. Pulpit Rock and Pinnacle Vistas - Appalachian Trail

This hike will take me from the Hamburg Reservoir along a section of the Appalachian Trail which, according to what I've read online, boasts two of the best vistas along the Pennsylvania portion of America's premier long trail.

2. Neversink Mountain - City of Reading

I love urban-accessible hikes, so I'm excited about hiking this historic small mountain, wedged between downtown Reading and the Schuylkill River.

3. Camelback Mountain - Big Pocono State Park

The first time I heard about Camelback Mountain I was in the ski club at my high school in the Shenandoah Valley, on a trip to nearby Massanutten Mountain. The cool kids were excited about going to Camelback for a ski trip later that year. I learned that night that skiing was not really my forte, but now that I'm an avid hiker, I figured it's about time I check out what the fuss is all about.

4. The Falls Trail - Ricketts Glen State Park

Wow! Twenty-plus wateralls on one loop trail! I have to check this place out! Having spent the better part of two years hiking the desert mountains of Central New Mexico and Southern California, I am more than ready to experience a full-on riparian environment like this.

5. Glen Onoko Falls - Lehigh Gorge State Park

This hike is located just outside the town of Jim Thorpe, known as the "Gateway to the Poconos" and the "Switzerland of the Americas". I'd always been confused by town's name, which was renamed last century as a marketing ploy (bad move if you ask me). But now that I've learned the town's original name was actually Mauch Chunk, named "Bear Mountain" by the native Lenapi people who once called this place home, I feel much better about checking this place out.

6. Hiking French Creek State Park: Chestnut Hill-Mill Creek Loop

Beyond the Wissahickon, French Creek State Park in the Pennsylvania Highlands seems to be one of the best places to hike near Philadelphia. I'm hoping to get some friends to join me on this hike and possibly whet their appetites for longer, more strenuous trails, but unless I can make some local hiking buddies quickly it looks like I'll be doing this and the other hikes listed here all by my lonesome.

7. AT-North Trail Loop on Blue Mountain at Lehigh Gap

I had the opportunity to hike a few miles of trails here while doing trail maintenance with the Philadelphia Trail Club. What a great experience. I plan to return soon to do some real hiking soon. The best thing about this area is the exposed north face of Blue Mountain so hikers experience nearly two unbroken miles of views of the Lehigh River and valley beyond.

Roots that are deep in the forest - something we all share!

There are several other Eastern Pennsylvania hikes on my radar, but these are the most accessible for the time being - each is within just a couple hours' drive from Philadelphia, making them ideal day hikes. As I get more confident with camping, I would love to plan a backpacking trip to the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon to do the West Rim Trail. But I will have to tackle that in a future blog post when I'm ready.

Thanks for reading!

Brian Schwarz is an award-winning journalist whose career was derailed by super obesity. He fought his way back to health - losing 165 pounds in the process of his "fit-life journey". A professional communicator by trade and activator by nature, Brian's personal mission is to inspire others live their fullest lives. Follow Brian on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Cycling Merit Badge: Mapping my five Philadelphia bike rides

When I tell new people about this blog they always ask, "Aren't you too old to get Boy Scouts Merit Badges?" Duh. Of course I am. But the point of this blog is not to be officially recognized for my accomplishments; it is simply to set goals and methodically achieve them - for fun! (And hopefully to inspire others like me who are struggling with obesity to get outdoors and get fit). With that in mind, I have decided to begin pursuing the the Cycling Merit Badge requirements.

Boy Scouts Cycling Merit Badge

I am almost finished with the Hiking Merit Badge requirements, which I started about a year and a half ago; but I am still not in the physical condition necessary to complete my final 20-mile hike. And since I recently moved to Philadelphia and don't have the same opportunity to train on hiking trails as I did when I was living in Albuquerque, I have decided to take up cycling as my primary cardio regimen, while still hiking when I can make it to the nearest trailhead - about 45 minutes to an hour away via public transportation.

There are many requirements for the Cycling Merit Badge that don't have to do with physical activity, such as maintenance and other preparedness measures, and I'll be doing those and blogging about then, too. For now, though, I'm focusing on the fun and physical part of the Cycling Merit Badge, which is the five prescribe bike rides.

The main physical requirements of the Cycling Merit Badge are five bike rides: two 10-mile bike rides, two 15-mile bike rides and one 25-mile bike ride. For planning these rides I used the online mapping tool MapMyRide and the 2012 Philadelphia Bicycle Map to ensure I'll be taking the most bike-friendly routes possible. All rides start and end at Passyunk Square Park in South Philly, with the exception of the 25 miler, which starts at Passyunk Square but is a one-way trip requiring me to find a ride back to South Philly when I'm done. Rides may be a bit longer than the prescribed rides, but only up to one mile. None are less than the prescribed mileage.

Two 10 milers

I plan on doing my first 10-miler this week. This ride will take from Passyunk Square to FDR Park, where I'll do three loops of the park trail before returning home. The second 10 miler will take me to West Philadelphia past my friends Miriam and Corey's house, then back to Passyunk Square.

Two 15 milers

The first 15 miler also starts and ends at Passyunk Square, taking me on a loop of the lower Schuylkill River Trail (the east and west sides), from Center City to the East Falls Bridge and back. The second 15 miler takes me to the Delaware River Trail north to Spring Garden Street, which I'll take west all the way to the Philadelphia Art Museum to the Schuylkill River (passing near my friend Jodi's house). The route then crosses the river and goes up the west river trail to Fairmount Park West, and then down 48th Street through West Philly and back through Grey's Ferry to South Philly.

One 25 miler

The final bike ride I'll do to complete the Cycling Merit Badge requirement - the 25 miler - will take me up nearly the entire length of the Schuylkill River Trail from South Philly's Passyunk Square, through Center City, Fairmount Park East, Manayunk, Conshahocken, and Norristown to the welcome center at Valley Forge National Park. 

I'm incredibly excited about these planned bike rides for so many reasons. Not only will these rides improve my fitness level, but they will take me through some gorgeous and historical neighborhoods. Also, completing these rides will prepare me for my upcoming 20-mile hike, which I'm planning to do entirely within Wissahickon Valley Park along the Orange, Yellow and White trails. Once I've completed all of these objectives I will also become somewhat of an expert on many of the important trails and parks in the area, which in turn will help me to help others find and explore these areas as well.