Goforth Into The World

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  • South Carolina Adventure with Michael Goforth’s family!

    South Carolina Adventure with Michael Goforth’s family!

    This past week has been a great adventure with Michael, Crystal, Christina, and Paul Goforth in Clinton, South Carolina. Michael’s family is preparing to serve as missionaries with Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) as an information system specialist. He asked me to come help with some major yard work created after Hurricane Helene came through this area about one year ago. They still had lots of tree limbs down throughout their yard, so we spent 4 days clearing and burning this vegetation, cutting up some large logs with a chain saw, and taking some damaged fencing and other items to the recycling center.

    Special aircraft at Triple Tree Aerodrome Fly-In
    Fly-By Aircraft

    On Saturday, September 27th, Michael, Paul and I went to special air show at the Triple Tree Aerodrome in Woodruff, South Carolina. They had many private planes land at this private airfield for the week-long fly-in event. I enjoyed some great seminars:

    1. Dale Ellis, a charter pilot who was hijacked from Arizona to Mexico, ended up in a Mexican prison, and managed to be released after one week.
    2. COL (Ret.) USAF Richard “Duke” Woodhull shared his story of flying the high-flying reconnaissance U-2 “Dragon Lady”, KC-135 tanker, and C-54 aircraft. I was fascinated by his explanation of how U-2 pilots were selected and trained. The U-2 flew at 70-80,000 feet collecting photos and air samples (for detecting nuclear fallout), so pilots had to wear a pressurized suit while crammed into a very small space. A failure of the pressurized suit would result in a major decompression injury within seconds. We usually think of decompression sickness just in divers ascending too quickly, but this same issue is a problem for very hig-flying aircraft like the U-2 and SR-71.
    3. I missed hearing Ron Straus, Elvis Presley’s pilot, but did speak briefly to him since he was sitting next to me during Duke Woodhull’s presentation. Michael and Paul wanted to see another section of the fly-in, so we enjoyed seeing lots of airplanes and eating some homemade ice cream.
    Over Reedy River on Swamp Rabbit Trail
    Wastewater Treatment Facility

    Today, on Sunday, September 28, 2025, Michael and I hiked the Blue LIne of the Swamp Rabbit Trail in Greenville, South Carolina. This beautiful, roughly 10-mile trail ran from Mauldin Road to nearly downtown Greenville. A large portion of the trail was paved and passed some beautiful lakes, wooded areas with gorgeous homes near the Reedy River, a wastewater treatment facility, and ended at Cleveland Park near downtown Greenville. We parked the car at the southern end and took an Uber car back to my car when finishing the blue line. Other hikers and cyclists were also using this trail which runs from Traveler’s Rest to Greenville, SC. We plan to hike the 18-mile Green Line over the next two days. Compared to my experience with the Maine section of the Appalachian Trail and the Panhandle sections of the Florida Trail, the Swamp Rabbit Trail is very user-friendly for all fitness levels and extremely well-maintained. We did have to walk through some neighborhoods to get to the next section of the Blue Line Trail. I was surprised at the number of ups and downs on the trail, but the smooth trail made these fairly easy.

  • New Record Set Today on the Florida Trail!

    New Record Set Today on the Florida Trail!

    After a great night’s sleep and great eating, we departed from the Ebro Motel. I began hiking about 5:30 AM with a full pack at the SR 20 trailhead, met Marion 10-miles into the hike at Walsingham Bridge for A/C and lots of fluids, then hiked another 10-miles to the Scott Road trailhead arriving about 3:30 PM. The terrain was similar to the past 2 days,  but the views of the Econfina River were beautiful! This section had quite a few changes in elevation and one section had little 2 inch tree stumps which I tripped on occasionally causing great pain in my previously injured left great toe. My FitBit recorded nearly 51,000 steps, a new daily record for me! 

    We drove to Hillcrest Baptist Church where Pastor Forrest and his wife met us and showed us around their hostel for FT hikers. Two buildings have air-conditioned bedrooms, refrigerators, microwave, bathroom, hot shower, washer/dryer, and lots of outlets to charge our devices. I was still very overheated on arrival, but felt much better after hydrating, showering, eating, and sleeping! The church advertised having the largest orange marker on the FT. We were blessed to stay here and will depart heading east tomorrow. 

    After now hiking the Maine AT and the Florida Trail for over a week each, I believe the FT is a much more enjoyable and beautiful thru-hike. Before we left Maine, I heard about 2 deaths and 3 air evacuations sine July 1, 2025. I suppose the Maine AT is great practice if you want to compete in American Ninja Warrior. The FT does a much better job of protecting hikers with wider bridges across rivers, great trail markers, and sometimes even painting trip hazards orange. As a Floridian, we are blessed to have the FT!

  • Best day yet on the Florida Trail!

    Best day yet on the Florida Trail!

    Today, I hiked from the Leaning Pines campsite to State Route 20. I woke up early around 3:30 a.m. and began walking at 4:00 a.m. I was able to identify the orange blazes on the trees for the first one and a half hours but had to stop when I could no longer find the next marker. After sunrise at 5:40 a.m. came, I was able to find the markers and proceed on the route.

    I arrived at SR-20 near Ebro, Florida around 6:30 AM and met Marion, then took me to the Ebro Motel where I was able to obtain a room for one night. Ebro has as estimated population of 258 people! We ate breakfast at Subway, the only restaurant in Ebro. I also picked up some supplies at Dollar General across the street from the motel. Marion then drove me to the next trailhead off US 20, and I hiked another 9 miles to the next intersection of SR 20. The area covered today was beautiful with many wooded areas, prairie and several ponds.I had no difficulty obtaining water from nearby streams for filtering. The last 2 miles was difficult due to walking in the hot sun and several very marshy areas. 

    After meeting Marion at SR 20, we also discovered that the front tire on Marion’s car had a large bolt stuck in the tire. When the tire deflated, we had to put on the small donut tire after figuring out where the tools were located. Marion called AAA, and they sent a mechanic to plug the tire. Recovery from the hike and tire change came quickly with a shower, meal, air-conditioned room!

    The plan tomorrow is to return to State Route 20 and hike to a campsite and water source approximately 15 miles northeast of Ebro. Marion may be able to meet me 10 miles up the trail if the roads are good.

     I talked to the pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church located about 30 miles away, and he is excited about hosting us at their church hostel for Florida trail hikers on Tuesday night.

    Staying at the hotel tonight is super nice since I have access to hot showers, microwave, air conditioning, and a comfortable bed. We depart tomorrow morning at 5 a.m. so I can begin hiking at sunrise. 

  • Some additional thoughts post-retirement and post-AT hiking

    Some additional thoughts post-retirement and post-AT hiking

    Home is such a wonderful place especially after being severely stressed! Kathy and I have talked frequently over the past two days, but I was so glad to come home and be able to hug her again. We are so fortunate to have two wonderful Havanese dogs, Sir Hamilton and Max, who could not have been more pleased to see me come home.

    1. Retirement is really nice! Sleep as long as you like, play with the dogs, eat breakfast, casually check e-mail and the news, and plan whatever you want to do!
    2. I am so thankful for so many wonderful friends who read my Facebook and website posts and gave me so much encouragement. Walking down Skycap Mountain two days ago felt like a walk of shame. I am so thankful for my encouraging friends at McGregor Baptist Church, Rotary, Shell Point, Gideons, and many other old friends.
    3. During my service as a US Army flight surgeon, I had to assist in caring for aviators and investigating crashes occasionally. One of our major goals was to get aviators who has recently crashed back into the air when physically able so they could be encouraged and continue to serve as an aviator. For me, I believe pursuing a challenging but more reasonable goal of hiking the 1,400 mile Florida Trail is the way to get me back “into the air”!
    4. The human body is amazing and could not have been created by anyone except a sovereign God who has unbelievable and unconditional love for His creations. I saw some amazing people on this trip including my partner, Marion Hoffman. At Shaw’s Hostel in Monson, I met a man in his early 70s who was diabetic, had received stents and two coronary artery bypass procedures, had four hip replacements, and still finished an AT thru-hike. Everyone should pursue their dreams!
    5. Christians need to take advantage of every opportunity to share the Gospel with those who do not know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. I saw so many people on the AT who clearly did not know Jesus. I cannot imagine living in this world without having the comfort and peace of a personal relationship with Jesus. Knowing that I will spend eternity with Jesus in Heaven after leaving this world is icing on the cake!
  • Feeling on top of the world at the Mt. Khatahdin Summit!

    Feeling on top of the world at the Mt. Khatahdin Summit!

    My new friend, Marion Hoffman, and I started at Katahdin Stream Campground and slowly made our way up the 4,000+ foot climb to the summit of Mt. Katahdin beginning at 5 a.m. using the Hunt Trail. This is a very strenuous hike with lots of rock climbing.i did well until muscle cramping set in. Fortunately eating saltine crackers and trail mix fixed the problem!  The climb down should be interesting!