Pathfinder is where you step up as a leader in your crew. You'll lead adventures, help your crew grow, serve your community, and keep exploring personal values. It's a chance to make a real difference for your crew and yourself.
Why it's worth it
Pathfinder is the rank where the crew starts following your plans. You'll lead an adventure of two nights or more from first idea to closing reflection, help your crew grow, and serve as an officer or go to a leadership course like NYLT or NAYLE. Along the way you'll learn project management and how to work through real disagreement. They're the same skills that run a workplace, a team, or a community campaign.
Start this week
- Bring one adventure idea to the next crew meeting with a rough date, cost, and why it would be worth doing.
- Ask your Advisor when Venturing Project Management training is offered next.
- Ask an experienced youth mentor, like a crew officer who has led a trip, to guide your trip planning (your Advisor can if no one qualifies), and set a first planning meeting with the crew.
- List three things your crew needs to grow, like new members, better communication, or more trips.
Plan ahead: Requirement 4 takes 6 months as a crew officer, unless you attend or staff an approved leadership course instead. If you're going the officer route, start your term early. Requirement 6's 36 service hours also add up slowly, so keep logging.
Stay safe
- Plan every adventure with your Advisor using the Guide to Safe Scouting, and make sure higher-risk activities have qualified leaders and the required training.
Requirements · 11
Every official requirement and part, numbered to match Scouting America, in plain language. Sign off against the official wording (opens in a new tab).
- Requirement 1
Take part in two or more additional Tier II or III adventures (at least four in all) at any level from crew to national, and be a leader on one of them
Tip: Join two more adventures and take the lead on one. Work with your Advisor to plan safely.
- Requirement 2
Complete Venturing Project Management training
Tip: Project Management training helps you break big plans into steps. Use it right away on your adventure or crew project.
- Requirement 3
After Discovery, plan and lead a Tier II or III adventure of two or more nights in a row. With an experienced youth mentor (or an Advisor if none qualifies), organize it early, plan for contingencies, prepare the crew, and consult an outside expert if needed. Over four nights, a second Venturer may co-lead, sharing work fairly. End with a team reflection on what everyone learned
Tip: Ask an experienced youth mentor, like a crew officer who has led a trip, to help you plan; your Advisor can step in if no one in the crew qualifies. End the trip with a short reflection where everyone shares a highlight.
For example: A sample: a 3-day canoe trip. Your timeline covers choosing the route, reserving sites, menu and budget, gear checks, permission forms, and a practice paddle. On the last night, lead a reflection where each person shares a high point, a hard moment, and what they'd change.
- Requirement 4
Officer service or leadership training. Choose 1 of 2
Tips for this section: Take on an officer role or attend a leadership course like NYLT or NAYLE. Both build skills you'll use for years.
Example for this section: Officer route: as vice president of program, you might survey members' interests and build the year's calendar with the crew. Course route: NYLT or NAYLE gives you leadership tools you can bring straight back to the crew.
- Requirement 4a
After Discovery, be a crew officer (president, VP, secretary, treasurer, quartermaster, historian, guide, or den chief; district-to-national Venturing offices also count) for 6+ months total. Roles add up, but two at once don't shorten the time, and gaps are fine. Set goals with your president (or Advisor, if you are president) at the start, and go over wins and struggles with them once mid-term
- Requirement 4b
Take part in or staff a leadership course such as NYLT, NAYLE, Order of the Arrow NLS, Sea Scout SEAL, or Wood Badge (age 18+); a non-Scouting course like NOLS counts if your Advisor approves
- Requirement 5
Plan, organize, and lead a project to keep your crew strong and growing; submit it to the crew president (the Advisor, if you hold that office) and describe how it should draw more young people into Venturing
Tip: Think about what your crew needs, like recruiting, better communication, or more adventures, and lead a project to make it happen.
For example: Crew growth projects could be an open house where members bring friends to a climbing night, a newsletter that keeps families in the loop, or a yearly planning weekend where every member gets a vote on the calendar.
- Requirement 6
Give at least 36 more hours of service beyond Discovery's 24; up to half may be your own service and the rest must be through crew activities
Tip: Keep logging service hours. Look for projects where you can lead others, not just participate.
For example: Thirty-six hours could include 18 with the crew, like trail work or setting up a community race, and 18 on your own, like helping coach a youth sports team or volunteering at an animal shelter.
- Requirement 7
After Discovery, explore the two realms (faith, self, or others) you haven't yet, write personal reflections on them, and use them to prepare for requirement 9 and your Advisor conference
Tip: Take time to explore the two realms you haven't yet. Journal, read, or talk with someone you trust.
- Requirement 8
Take part in an ethical controversy discussion that extends into conflict resolution
Tip: Listen carefully to different viewpoints and practice finding common ground. Be respectful even when you disagree.
For example: Ethical controversies are real dilemmas with no easy answer: a friend asks you to cover for them, or the crew budget could go to new gear or to helping members who can't afford a trip. Practice listening, restating other views, and finding a fair way forward.
- Requirement 9
With your Advisor's input, set at least two personal goals rooted in the realms from requirement 7, and reach them
Tip: Set two goals tied to your reflections. Check in with your Advisor to stay on track.
For example: Two goals for two realms: for faith, setting aside time each week for prayer, meditation, or reading that matters to you; for others, mentoring a younger student for a semester. Check progress with your Advisor monthly.
- Requirement 10
Hold an Advisor conference about what was hard and what you learned in requirements 7 and 9 (sharing a faith reflection is optional)
Tip: Share what you've learned from your reflections and goals, and what's next for you.
- Requirement 11
Pass a crew board of review after your Advisor conference
Tip: Talk with the board about your leadership and growth. Be honest about challenges as well as successes.
Ask yourself
- What was the hardest decision you made while leading your adventure?
- How did the crew respond when plans changed, and how did you handle it?
- What did the ethical controversy discussion teach you about people who see things differently?
- Which realm was hardest for you to explore, and why?
- What do you want your crew to look like a year from now?
Good questions to ask your crew Advisor at your conference
- Where did you see me lead well, and where did I struggle?
- What would you have done differently on the adventure I planned?
- Am I ready to mentor someone, and who might benefit?
- What should I start thinking about for a Summit service project?
Helpful reads
- Venturing: plan your own adventures, How a Venturing crew works, the four ranks from Venturing to Summit, what officers do, how to plan an adventure, and the national high-adventure bases., Youth · Leaders · 5 min read
- Finding service that matters, Service hours count toward your rank, but the best ones are the ones you'd want to do anyway. Here's how to find them, arrange them, and get the most out of them., Youth · Families · 5 min read
For leaders & parents
- Pair Pathfinder candidates with mentors who can give feedback during adventure planning.
- Run ethical controversy discussions in a safe, respectful setting where everyone's voice is heard.
People & places that can help
- Crew Advisor and officers — Help with planning, mentoring, and approvals.
- Council training team — Offers leadership and project management courses like NYLT.
- Scouting America (opens in a new tab) — Venturing training information.
- Pathfinder Rank (opens in a new tab) — Scouting America's official Pathfinder requirements and resources.
- Training for Youth (opens in a new tab) — Youth leadership courses from Scouting America, including NYLT and NAYLE.
- Guide to Safe Scouting (opens in a new tab) — The safety rules every crew adventure plan should follow.
Pairs well with
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Tips, examples, and questions are ideas from experienced leaders, not extra requirements. Your unit leader or counselor decides when a requirement is complete.