Boy Scouts spend years learning how to survive in the wilderness. They proudly wear badges to display their mastery of those skills.Now the Scouts from Troop 16 in Gainesville have one more to show off — the Philmont Arrow Patch.For 10 hot summer days, the boys carried nearly 50-pound packs on their backs and hiked the rugged and rocky terrain of the Boys Scouts of America Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico.“It’s kind of the crown jewel for scouting,” crew adviser Marty Siegfried said.The trip provides the boys with an opportunity to test their basic survival skills and learn a few new things while also gaining an appreciation for the land and for their homes.Because a year or two can make a big difference in teenage boys, the troop split into two groups, one for younger Scouts and one for older. Each group had at least two adults who helped the boys as advisers.The adults were instructed to not correct the boys when they did anything wrong and to let them figure things out for themselves, even if that meant following the Scouts two miles in the wrong direction.While it might have been difficult at times not to intervene, the advisers agreed that watching the boys learn to rely on themselves was certainly worth the wear on their shoes.“Watching those boys go through some pretty significant changes over the course of that time, watching them realize they can rely on each other and themselves and what they know and have learned to get them through was pretty neat,” crew adviser David Brand said.Bryson Starks, 16, said his group never quite got lost, though they did take a couple of wrong turns.“You get lost and you find something new,” Starks said.Some of the camps along the way included activities such as fly fishing, tracking animals, archery and even blacksmithing to keep the boys entertained.