H.E.A.T.

Our High Energy Adventure Treks (HEAT) is a wilderness high adventure program centered on providing experiences and opportunities for older youth. It also encourages younger scouts to learn skills from the older participants.  The HEAT program has also proven to be effective at building troop unity, lasting memories, and most importantly, a whole lot of fun.

In preparing and taking on these trips, the youth plan and prepare their own meals, carrying all of the gear they need for a camp out that may be several miles away from the nearest parking lot.  They also delegate among themselves who carries what gear and how to balance the work so everyone can complete and enjoy the trip.

The HEAT program includes an epic, multi day wilderness adventure every summer. These adventures are commonly backpacking or canoeing trips, but the mode of transportation is chosen by the patrol leaders council. To succeed in these adventures, the youth must demonstrate physical fitness, self reliance, personal hygiene, and general survival skills.

Youth of all ages are recognized for their cumulative accomplishments in the HEAT program with a reward system of beads. Although not a part of the official uniform, we encourage the youth to wear these beads on the right pocket of their uniform.

Beads are awarded as follows: 

• Orange, Red, and Yellow:  Colors are used in alternating years.  A bead is award to each participant who completes a HEAT trek.

• Green: One bead awarded for each 10 miles of horizontal distance covered during trek.

• Brown: One bead awarded for each 1 miles of vertical distance ascended.

• Blue: One bead awarded for each trek involving an ascent to more than 5,280 feet (1 mile) in elevation.

• Blue and White: One bead awarded for each trek involving an ascent to more than 10,560 feet (2 miles) in elevation.

• Gray (swamp bead): One bead awarded for each trek involving more than 1 inch of rain.

• White (snow bead): One bead awarded for each trek in which snow falls.

• Purple (injury): One bead awarded to a participant that endures an injury requiring more than basic first aid.

• Black (trip mentor): One bead awarded to the youth leader of each Summer HEAT trek.

• Gold (adults only): One bead awarded to for the accumulation of 500 youth miles.  Youth miles are counted by adding the total number of miles gained by all youth participants on a trip on which the adult has participated (for adults).

• Silver (adults only): One bead awarded for each accumulation of 1000 youth miles after obtaining the gold bead.

The HEAT program is the brain child of David Urban and Steve Benton, and first implemented for Troop 662, Shaker Heights, Ohio in 2001.

Milestone Awards

In addition to the beads awarded for the HEAT program, Troop 118 presents participants who obtain certain distance milestones with special awards to commemorate their participation.  The milestones for these awards are drawn from distances traveled by Frodo in the Lord of the Rings books, because some of us are geeks.