Reflective greetings, Hikers!

What a weekend!  I actually got to spend some quality campfire time ( two fingers of Kentucky-aged quality) with Mr. Fred Mulholland, one of the original Florida Trail crew.  And man, what a man!

It was fascinating to hear how this amazing footpath through our state got its start.  A few people and a big, seemingly impossible dream..…

Fred was having fun doing all this new trail stuff, he told me, so he let on to founder Jim Kern that he’d be willing to serve as a Section Leader for five or so miles of trail.  Kern handed him the proposed map for TWENTY-FIVE miles of trail stretching across the northern half of the Ocala and then said “Thank you very much, Fred!”

Well, hikers, there wasn’t the first orange blaze on any of that mileage, not the first hint of trail tread. I mean there was nothing but miles of deep, dark Ocala National Forest. It was in Fred’s hands to do, and that was that.  Did I mention that Fred lives in Tampa??

He and his wife and a handful of hardy souls would drive to the Ocala and carve a bit of trail on the weekends.  Oh, they had a lot of fun, Fred tells me. A bottle of wine uncorked among trail amigos at the end of the work day to christen a half mile of newly minted trail was as good as it got.  And hikers, it still is. 

There were quite a few trail plank owners at the conference and all are hardy, healthy souls.  To meet each of them was an honor for me.  I’m walking the trail they built, pitching my tent in the camps they selected and cleared, and drawing my water form the sources they scouted.  I am reveling in their legacy.

Thank you, Fred.  Thank you to all of you who made the Florida Trail.  You are the real thing and I am in awe of you and I shall forever be in your debt.

Heartfelt and Inspired Cheers! from the Florida Trail, Mike

P.S.  Another more personal highlight of the Florida Trail Association conference?  I met Nimblewill Nomad, which is the nom de trail for Eb Eberhart, the author of Ten Million Steps, one of the great hiking epics of this epoch.  From time to time, Eb has been kind enough to send me words of inspiration as I hike along the trail and write of it. His thoughts are always on time.  He’s been in my boots. He knows like few others what happens to a man’s soul once he has lived out here. 

Let me just say this – There is no cooler, more centered man on this planet than the Nimblewill Nomad. He drove me back up to the 88 Store after the conference and along the way we sealed a friendship that I pray will endure as long as I live.  I read his book - the very copy which occupies a place of honor at the 88 – before I attended the conference.  He wasn’t scheduled to be there, and one reason for his appearance was to meet me.  I have no words to describe how humbled I am by his interest in my hike and my work.  He is a hiker poet without peer and a singularly brilliant and soulful human being.  It is an honor to know him and a privilege to call him my friend. 

We parted in agreement that it is impossible to hike this trail and remain the person you were before you took that first step.  It changes you, this vast natural world does.  You contemplate it, love it, curse it, and long for it when you are apart from it.  You become as never before a part of it, and it becomes a part of you. 

And now, after learning the lore and the lure of the Ocala, I’m back in the woods again.  Each time I return to this trail I feel a sense of happiness that even the company of good friends and loved ones cannot match, and I am a man who enjoys immensely blessings such as these.

Leaving for the woods isn’t just about leaving the comforts of the town behind for the scenic wonders of nature.  It’s about embracing the uncertainty and unpredictability of life that defines the wild places. In the wild one is compelled by nature herself to submit to a different set of rules than that which govern life in civilized society. 

Certainly, the prepared among us enter the woods with the knowledge and equipment that, in the best of fortunes, may spare us the harshest assaults of nature and her consequences. 

But we are constantly reminded that the wild is the province of creatures far better suited to it than we. And we, by virtue of our adaptation to comfort and security, are little more than fleshy tourists at the mercy of a place absolutely devoid of such lofty concepts. 

The very being of wild serves no greater purpose than to survive the moment, because in the wild that’s all there is.  You are a link in the food chain and that is all you are. You can -and just may - be eaten.  You are food.  Evidence of this is everywhere you look; in the cautious darting about of small animals, in the talons of the raptors, and in the sharp, ripping beak of the vulture.  In the wild, life and death happen more usefully, gracefully and beautifully than in any other place. 

And that, hikers, is a comfort no town can offer. Becuase in the wild, you always know where you stand.

A Lighthearted Cheers! from the Florida National Scenic Trail in the Ocala National Forest, the hallowed home of the first orange blaze.  Mike

PpS - At the FTA Conference awards ceremony, I accepted the Florida Trail Association Pathfinder Award on behalf of The Tampa Tribune for t’s journalistic contribution to enhancing the public’s awareness of the Florida Trail.  I am so proud to be writing for one of America’s greatest newspapers. It’s a dream come come true.  Life, hikers, Printed Daily