Matt Gidney
Imagine being 12 years old, bunking with your dad and best friends aboard a real aircraft carrier, drifting off to sleep after a full day of hands-on exploration. The creak of the ship, the distant hum of the harbor, the lingering excitement of standing where real sailors once stood—it’s the kind of experience that ...
Read More
Matt Gidney
Let Boys be Boys Troop Adventures Masculinity
There's No Offseason for Adventure When the world falls asleep beneath a blanket of snow, when bears slumber in their dens and squirrels hunker down, waiting for warmer days—boys see something different. To them, winter is a blank canvas for adventure.
Read More
Matt Gidney
Let Boys be Boys Troop Adventures Masculinity
The rain started the night before, a steady drumbeat on the tents that turned the ground into a quagmire by morning. But no amount of mud was going to dampen the spirits of the Trailmen. This was the Yukon Adventure—one of Trail Life’s longest-running and most challenging events—and they had come prepared.
Read More
Matt Gidney
A chill swept through the morning air as the Trailmen laced up their boots. The crew from Troop CA-0110 stood on the edge of Agnew Meadows, eyes cast toward the distant peaks that stretched across the California High Sierra. Their journey would take them over fifty rugged miles, pushing them up to 11,000 feet, testing ...
Read More
Matt Gidney
It was the summer of 2023. Troop ID-0412 had just finished scaling Borah Peak, the highest point in Idaho at 12,662 feet. Just a year before, they’d tackled Mt. Adams in Washington, a 12,281-foot volcano. The crew sat around by the river, airing out sore feet by the fire and jubilantly reflecting on their shared ...
Read More
Scott Clough
Parenting Troop Adventures Masculinity
How did I end up in the middle of Iceland with two sons and a bag of freeze-dried reindeer soup in my backpack? Let's start with the obvious - the boys in our Troop are ambitious and the leaders are crazy. But there's logic to our insanity and I think the other dads would agree with me on this. Let me explain.
Read More
Matt Gidney
Leadership Troop Adventures History
“Twenty more miles,” Caleb murmured, feeling the weight of each stroke. The Missouri River stretched endlessly ahead, and he wasn’t sure how much more his arms—or spirit—could take. He looked over at Ricky, First Officer of the expedition, whose own strength and resolve seemed to bolster everyone’s spirits. Together, ...
Read More
Stephen Ashton
Around 450 Trailmen from across Texas gathered for a weekend of camping, adventure, history, challenge, and instruction at the 2nd Annual All American Campout held at the Museum of American GI in College Station, Texas.
Read More
Stephen Ashton
Averaging more than 10 miles a day and making climbs of 11,000 feet, boys and men from Trail Life Troop-0222 Amherst, OH earned Trail Names like MANimal, Machine, Bear, Mighty, Bravo, Moose, Gazelle, and Rocky as they spent 5 days backpacking the 59-mile Loyalsock Trail in Pennsylvania.
Read More