Backpacking Honor

The Pathfinder Backpacking honor is the step where Pathfinder Club hiking adds a night outdoors: you carry clothes, food and a sleeping bag on your back, and prove it on a weekend trip with at least 8 km on foot.

The complete requirements for the Backpacking honor are in the catalog (code AR-056) and appear here summarized, with no answer key. Packing the load is covered in the guide how to pack your camping backpack; trail safety, in hiking and trails. Data checked on October 6, 2026.

🎒What is the Pathfinder Backpacking honor and what are the requirements?

The Backpacking honor has the code AR-056, belongs to the Recreational Activities area and is skill level 2. According to the catalog, it was created in 1986 by the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Of its 13 requirements, six (6, 7, 9, 11, 12 and 13) are hands-on activities, so memorizing answers is not enough.

On the card for the advanced class Companion of Hiking, published by the South American Division (SAD) on adventistas.org, item 11 asks you to complete the Backpacking honor (named Excursionismo Pedestre com Mochila in Portuguese). The Companion class starts at age 11.

AR-056 requirements in the Desbravai catalog, summarized with no answers; your instructor's wording prevails.

🧭What is the difference between the Hiking, Backpacking and Advanced Backpacking honors?

The Hiking honor (AR-010), from 1933, is the one many people call the “no backpack” version: stride, pace, foot care, route planning and hikes of up to 24 km. AR-056 adds what changes when you sleep outdoors: a sleeping bag, food to cook and a load on your back.

The Advanced Backpacking honor (AR-095) requires AR-056 first, goes deeper into fabrics, packs, footwear and socks, and ends with a trek in which camp moves to a new spot each night, the format of a club backpacking trip. Do not confuse it with the Advanced Hiking honor (AR-055), which requires AR-010.

Desbravai honors catalog, checked on October 6, 2026.

🌿How do you explain the hikers' motto?

Requirement 1 brings the motto “Take nothing from nature but photos; leave nothing but footprints; kill nothing but time.” The classic English wording (take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints, kill nothing but time) appears as the motto of caving groups linked to the National Speleological Society in the United States. Its exact origin is uncertain.

To explain it in depth, connect each part to the seven Leave No Trace principles, published by the American organization of the same name. The fourth principle nearly repeats the motto: take photos, not souvenirs. In Brazil, the Ministry of the Environment and the Centro Excursionista Universitário set out similar rules, known as Conscious Conduct in Natural Environments (Conduta Consciente em Ambientes Naturais), which ICMBio, Brazil's federal biodiversity conservation agency, promotes: bring your trash back, leave rocks and flowers where they are, watch animals from a distance and do not feed them. Then explain it in your own words, with examples from a trail your club knows.

Principles as published by Leave No Trace (lnt.org); ICMBio's Conscious Conduct guidance is equivalent.

🧥What to wear hiking in rain, heat and cold, and which sleeping bag to bring?

The basis of requirement 2 is the layering system. According to REI, the American outdoor gear co-op, the base layer moves sweat off your skin, the middle layer holds in heat and the outer layer blocks wind and rain. Bring them all: you can take off the one you do not need, but you cannot put on the one you left at home. Cotton soaks through and chills the body, and the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) adds that it increases the friction that causes blisters; choose nylon socks or a moisture-wicking fabric.

For requirement 5, REI describes the mummy bag, tapered and hooded, which holds in more heat; the semi-rectangular, for people who move around at night; the rectangular, which loses the most heat and suits warm nights; and the double. Research the other models with your instructor. On the label, the ISO 23537-1 standard gives a comfort temperature, a limit temperature and an extreme one, for survival only. These ratings are calculated for a standard adult (a 60 kg woman and a 73 kg man), so for a Pathfinder, use the comfort rating as your reference. Down loses its insulation when wet; synthetic fill keeps you warm even when damp.

Examples adapted from REI's layering guide; the final list is made with your instructor.

⚖️How do you choose a backpack, and how much weight should you carry?

According to REI, pack size depends on torso length, not height. Scout Life, the magazine of Scouting America, advises measuring torso and hips, testing the pack with weight in the store and choosing an adjustable torso if you are still growing. For an overnight trip, it suggests 35 liters or more, without overdoing it: a big pack invites you to carry too much. The emergency substitute in requirement 3 is up to you: research it, improvise and show it to your instructor.

Requirement 10 is a personal calculation. In April 2026, in an article about school backpacks, the Brazilian Society of Orthopedics and Traumatology (SBOT) recommended that a backpack not exceed 10% to 15% of a child's or teenager's body weight; the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), also writing about school backpacks, recommends 10% or less. Neither sets a number for the trail. For the honor, use that range as a cautious reference, confirm the limit with your instructor and share group gear with your Unit. Someone who weighs 45 kg lands between 4.5 kg and 6.75 kg, water included, and each liter of water weighs about 1 kg.

For requirement 12, REI points out the most common mistake: lifting the pack by a shoulder strap. The right way is to loosen the straps, stand the pack upright, grab the haul loop at the top, rest the load on your thigh with knees bent, slip one arm through a strap and swing the pack onto your back before putting on the other strap. With help, your partner holds the pack while you slip on the straps.

🍲How do you plan a 2-day backpacking menu and a hiking snack?

For the menu in requirement 7, count meals before foods: leaving in the morning and returning late the next afternoon means two lunches, one dinner, one breakfast and the snacks. The rule for trail food is energy per gram. The mountaineering organization The Mountaineers notes that fat provides 9 kcal per gram, against 4 kcal for carbohydrate and protein, and that water inside food is just weight: a fresh apple gives about 0.5 kcal per gram, and macadamia nuts more than 7 kcal.

At the supermarket, the list includes oats, quick-cooking rice and pasta, nuts, peanut butter, dried fruit and powdered milk, all without refrigeration. The same source suggests portioning food into zip-top bags and weighing each meal. For the hiking snack, a mix of nuts, dried fruit and cereal in small bags does the job. Test the menu on a club campout before the evaluation.

🩹What first aid does the honor require?

Requirement 8 lists nine problems: sunburn, blisters, hypothermia, heatstroke, exhaustion, snakebite, abdominal cramps, dehydration and muscle cramps. The weather-related ones are covered in hypothermia, heatstroke and dehydration at camp. Hypothermia is a core body temperature below 35 °C, and wet clothing in cold wind raises the risk, according to the MSD Manual; heatstroke goes above 40 °C and brings mental confusion, an emergency that calls for immediate cooling.

A blister, according to the AAD, is best left alone: most heal in one to two weeks, popping one opens the way to infection, and draining is only justified for a large, very painful blister. For a snakebite, the Virtual Health Library of Brazil's Ministry of Health says to wash the area with soap and water and take the victim straight to a health service, with no tourniquet, no cutting, puncturing or sucking, and no leaves, coffee grounds or dirt. For requirement 9, have the kit and practice using each item with your instructor; medicines follow medical advice and the family's guidance.

✅How do you prepare for the evaluation and the 8 km trip?

Requirement 13 calls for a weekend trip with a hike of at least 8 km and meals cooked during the outing. It is a club activity, with adult supervision, permission from parents or guardians and a route scouted in advance. Before leaving, the first Leave No Trace principle says to check the weather forecast, local regulations and trail conditions; on the hike, ICMBio's volunteer guide warns that shortcuts raise the risk of accidents and of getting lost, and asks that no one stray from the group. The other rules are in hiking and trail safety. The methods for requirement 11 are in how to find direction without a compass; practice two in the field.

Common mistakes: breaking in new boots on the trip, planning the menu the night before, closing the pack without weighing it and reciting the motto without explaining it. A practice hike with a loaded pack reveals the strap that rubs and the weight you do not need. Before the evaluation, check the complete requirements for the Backpacking honor. Suggested schedule: