--- title: The Top 5 Blog Posts of 2019 description: Read the Top 5 Trail Life blog stories of 2019 image: https://blog.traillifeusa.com/hubfs/BLOG%20HEADER.jpg --- ![The Top 5 Blog Posts of 2019](https://blog.traillifeusa.com/hubfs/BLOG%20HEADER.jpg "The Top 5 Blog Posts of 2019") # The Top 5 Blog Posts of 2019 ** [ Stephen Ashton ](https://blog.traillifeusa.com/author/stephen-ashton) ** Dec 28, 2019 [** 0 Comments ](https://blog.traillifeusa.com/top-5-blog-posts-of-2019#postComment) [![Hez](https://blog.traillifeusa.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Hez.jpg?width=1350&name=Hez.jpg)](https://blog.traillifeusa.com/trail-life-usa-a-christ-centered-boy-focused-mentoring-adventure) [**#1  Trail Life USA: A Christ-Centered Boy-Focused Mentoring Adventure**](https://blog.traillifeusa.com/trail-life-usa-a-christ-centered-boy-focused-mentoring-adventure) Away from the distractions of a culture that often pushes faith to the margins, boys are able to connect with mentors, learn about their Creator, and discover the purpose for which they were created. [Read more](https://blog.traillifeusa.com/trail-life-usa-a-christ-centered-boy-focused-mentoring-adventure) [![Backpacking-939x375-1](https://blog.traillifeusa.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Backpacking-939x375-1.jpg?width=939&name=Backpacking-939x375-1.jpg)](https://blog.traillifeusa.com/letting-boys-be-boys-in-a-toxic-culture) [**#2 Letting Boys be Boys in a Toxic Culture**](https://blog.traillifeusa.com/letting-boys-be-boys-in-a-toxic-culture) Boys need a place where it is safe to be a boy! A place where they are free to conquer and explore. A place where a boy’s impulse to cover himself in mud and crawl through a creek is understood and appreciated. A place where mud turns into war paint, a stick becomes a sword, and an impression in the ground just may be a telltale sign of a dragon they could tame if they only keep hunting. [Read More](https://blog.traillifeusa.com/letting-boys-be-boys-in-a-toxic-culture) [![theodore_roosevelt-blog-2-939x376-1](https://blog.traillifeusa.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/theodore_roosevelt-blog-2-939x376-1.jpg?width=939&name=theodore_roosevelt-blog-2-939x376-1.jpg)](https://blog.traillifeusa.com/manhood-a-letter-to-boys-from-theodore-roosevelt) [**#3 Theodore Roosevelt: A Letter to Boys on Manhood**](https://blog.traillifeusa.com/manhood-a-letter-to-boys-from-theodore-roosevelt) "The same qualities that mean success or failure to the nation as a whole, mean success or failure in men and boys individually...The man who counts, and the boy who counts" are the man and boy who have, "courage to stand up against the forces of evil, and courage to stand up in the right path..." [Read more](https://blog.traillifeusa.com/manhood-a-letter-to-boys-from-theodore-roosevelt) [![1000x400_2-939x376](https://blog.traillifeusa.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/1000x400_2-939x376.jpg?width=939&name=1000x400_2-939x376.jpg)](https://blog.traillifeusa.com/an-impossible-dream) [**#4 Floating an Impossible Dream**](https://blog.traillifeusa.com/an-impossible-dream) "A year ago no one would have believed today we would be sitting in a boat our Troop built from a fir tree and a broken golf cart. But that was before we boys began dreaming last spring."  Read the inspiring true story of how Trail Life Troop ID-4:12 rallied around a boy's seemingly crazy idea, and built a boat from a fir tree and a broken golf cart. [Read More](https://blog.traillifeusa.com/an-impossible-dream) [![Lincoln-Quote-blog-1-939x379-1](https://blog.traillifeusa.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Lincoln-Quote-blog-1-939x379-1.jpg?width=939&name=Lincoln-Quote-blog-1-939x379-1.jpg)](https://blog.traillifeusa.com/recent-shootings-highlight-americas-fatherhood-crisis) [**#5 Todd Starnes: Recent Shootings Highlight America's Fatherhood Crisis**](https://blog.traillifeusa.com/recent-shootings-highlight-americas-fatherhood-crisis) “The fix for this stuff isn’t gun control and all the other things we’re debating,” [**Trail Life USA CEO Mark Hancock told The Todd Starnes Show**](https://www.traillifeusa.com/). “It’s fathers and father-likes that step up and find ways to provide moral, strong, clear, leadership. . . .There are so many boys who don’t have a dad at home and are desperately in need of somebody who will show up and teach them how to be responsible and winning men. That is how we fix this."  - Mark Hancock [Read More](https://blog.traillifeusa.com/recent-shootings-highlight-americas-fatherhood-crisis) ###### About the Author ![Stephen Ashton](https://blog.traillifeusa.com/hubfs/Stephen-1.jpg) ### Stephen Ashton Stephen Ashton is the National Director of Marketing for Trail Life USA and serves as an adjunct professor at Clarks Summit University and Anchor Christian University. Prior to his work at Trail Life, he spent 15 years working with at-risk youth in residential therapeutic wilderness programs and served as the Vice-President of the Wilderness Road Therapeutic Camping Association. An author and a speaker, he has written for journals and published a book chronicling the foundations of therapeutic camping. He frequently speaks on the topics of fatherhood, biblical masculinity, outdoor education, and wilderness therapy. Stephen lives in South Carolina with his wife and 4 sons. 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