Teenagers completing the annual Ten Tors trek were congratulated by the Duke of Edinburgh, who came out to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the challenge.
Prince Philip, the patron of the event, made a personal appearance to shake hands with 2,400 young people as they completed the two-day moorland hike.
The event, organised by the Army for adventurers aged 14 to 19, began on Saturday as teenagers set off in groups of six to cross either 35, 45 or 55 miles of open moor.
Starting at a camp in Okehampton Camp, Dartmoor, they carried food, water, bedding and tents and relied on their own navigational skills to guide them before camping overnight.
Brigadier Steve Hodder, Director of Ten Tors and Commander of 43 (Wessex) Brigade, which runs the event, said he was pleased to welcome the Duke of Edinburgh.
He said: ”I took took part in Ten Tors as a CCF cadet from Exeter School, completing the 35 mile route twice and finishing the 45 mile route early on the Sunday morning in 1975
”I look back with pride on how we learned how to cope with a waterlogged moor and the horrendous weather conditions of 1974.
”We learned how to look after each other and how to work together as a team; and as an individual, I learned that with determination and thorough preparation and training, anything was possible.”
More than 250,000 people have completed the Ten Tors Challenge since it began in 1960.
Teams of six are required to visit ten tors as checkpoints as they navigate their way across the moor.
Teams normally train for months before the event, although organisers stress that it is not a race but rather a test of endurance, navigation and survival skills.
In celebration of the anniversary a group of men known who call themselves the Denbury Old Boys who completed the challenge in the 1960s joined the trek.
Bob Etherton, 65, who completed the first Ten Tors said: ”It’s obviously fantastic to have the opportunity to take part after 50 years.
”Dartmoor is a great leveller and Ten Tors is an extremely challenging adventure, but it is clear this spirit of adventure lives on in the youth of today.”