Trailmen Advancement Trail

What is a Trailman

Trail Life calls our youth members Trailmen. Youth membership is open to all boys at least 5 years old and less than 18 years of age.

Trail Life Advancement Trail update August 2023

Each Trailman will be assigned to age appropriate programs called Woodlands Trail, Navigators and Adventurers. 

The Woodlands Trail Program is for the younger boys ages 5-10. Woodlands Trail is made up of ranks called Foxes, Hawks, and Mountain Lions. Boys on the Woodlands Trail gain knowledge about outdoor skills, citizenship, character, friendship, and faith through fun activities, awards, and skill instruction.

The Navigators program has three ranks called Recruit, Able and Ready for ages.  As Navigators, boys ages 11-13 gain understanding of their values and beliefs under the guidance of godly male role models through being responsible in outdoor adventures and in their home and school life. They explore areas of interest and earn Trail Badges for advancement.

And finally the Adventurers Program is for the older boys and is made up of the Journey, Ascent and Horizon.  As Adventurers, young men ages 14-17 mature in wisdom and faith through more difficult challenges and leadership activities with Christian men walking alongside. They plan and lead outdoor events and large projects while exercising leadership positions in the Troop, even mentoring some of the younger Trailmen.

You can see more information about the program overview  at Trail Life USA page. The new '23 program is also explained on your Dashboard when you log into Trail Life Connect under the tab called " '23 Program Updates' ". You will need to be a current Parent/Guardian or Registered Adult with Trail Life and use your user ID and password to login and view this tab.

What are some of the activities of a Trailman

During the school year, our Trailmen will be involved in weekly meetings. In our meetings we have an opening ceremony and then break up into the respective patrols lead by Rangers, Guides and other leadership of the Troop. The Trailmen will then be engaged to work on badge requirements to help the boys advance through the ranks of Trail Life.  

 We will also have additional activity such as campouts, Hit the Trails and service activity.  These activities usually take place on weekends throughout  the entire year. 

During the summer months we do scale back our meetings to every other week and tend to do more fun activities like water games, tag and working on knots. We realize family activity can ramp up in the summer with other commitments than Trail Life but we do want to keep our Trailmen involved with the Troop and their other Trailmen friends. 

You can see our calendar of events by logging into the Trail Life Connect website with your ID and password and going to Calendar > View Calendar. It might be a good idea to save this link as one of your favorites.

Trailman Profile Information

Please help us know the information we need to work best with your Trailman by keep their information up to date in our Trail Life Connect Troop management system.  This is where you can load a picture of your son to help us identify him better as well as other information. You as a parent are best to give us correct information and limit what you do want us to have. You will need to have your user id, your email address, and password in order to log into this system  then select Profile in the menu on the left. While your at it, go ahead and update your own information as well.

This system is setup so only our leaders that need to know, are allowed to see this information. No other parent or boy can see this information about your boy.