I enjoyed hiking about 13 miles over multiple moderate and strenuous rated trails at Paris Mountain State Park near Greenville, South Carolina today! The park had well-maintained trails which were generally fairly wide and smooth winding through wooded areas with many streams, lakes, and occasional mountain vista views. Climbing the mountains was slightly challenging at times but not even close to the Appalachian Trail mountains!
Michael and I plan to return to finish the Green Line of the Swamp Rabbit Trail in Greenville tomorrow.
Great hiking today on the Swamp Rabbit Trail from Travelers Rest to Greenville, South Carolina! My son, Michael, and I hiked about 15 miles on the Green Line of the Swamp Rabbit Trail from just north of Travelers Rest to downtown Greenville, SC. This fully paved trail goes through some very scenic areas and is used by many cyclists and hikers. We passed by Furman University and the nearby Woodlands retirement community where my good Rotarian friend and former VP Grants for the CART Fund, Dr. Jim Puryear, lives with his wife. Jim was delighted to hear that we were in his community and offered to pick us up in Greenville, bring us back to the Woodlands for a wonderful lunch, and even transport us back to my car in Travelers Rest! We had a great time catching up, meeting the administrator of the Woodlands, and being introduced to many of Jim’s friends. Our packs were fairly light (contains food, water, and water filter system), so the 15-mile walk was fairly easy compared to what I experienced in Maine on the Appalachian Trail and the Florida Trail in June and July.
Gary, Dr. Jim Puryear, MichaelGary with Swamp Rabbit sculptureMural on building near trailTrain near trailFurman University signGary at Furman University Travelers Rest muralGary and Michael with Swamp Rabbit sculpture Gary and Michael at northern terminus of Swamp Rabbit Trail
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-InFly-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:
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.
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.
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 TrailWastewater 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.
After an amazing day at the Mayo Clinic Jacksonville presenting at their Neuroscience Seminar about Rotary’s CART Program (Coins for Alzheimer’s Research Trust) with Executive Director Tiffany Ervin and meeting with four researchers interested in CART Grants, I traveled about 40 miles west to Ocean Pond Campground, parked my car, and hiked on the Florida Trail to the Osceola Shelter, the oldest shelter on the Florida Trail, then to the West Tower Camp.
Presenting about CART at the Mayo Clinic Jacksonville with Zoom to the Arizona and Rochester campuses
Although Far Out reported Pygmy rattlesnakes on this trail, I never saw any snakes, bears, or other large animals. The trail was well-maintained and fairly level. After being unable to find an alternate route around a 100-yard section of swamp with water coming up to my knees, I removed my shoes and socks to wade through this area. However, I still ended up with wet shoes and socks in other sections with less obvious boggy areas until stepping into water. After hiking 12-miles NOBO on Friday and about12-miles SOBO on Saturday using nearby forrest roads, O ended up with one blister on my right foot. My feet feel much better after removing the wet shoes and socks. I am able to walk around the Ocean Pond Campground in flip flops with minimal discomfort.
Crossing I-10 NOBO on the Florida Trail Osceola Shelter, oldest shelter on the FTBeautiful boardwalk on FTGreat campsite #28 at Ocean Pond Campground Car and water spigot at campsite!
I have a beautiful campsite on the lake with my own water source and nearby bathroom with flush toilets and a great hot shower for $20/night! This sure beats thru hiking on the Appalachian Trail in Maine and paying $130+\night for hotel room!
I hope to continue doing short section hikes when traveling to areas near the Appalachian Trail, Florida, and Foothill Trails. Michael and I plan to do a section of the Foothills Trail when I go to help him in Clinton next week.
I began yesterday morning feeling great and I hiked without problem from Bonnet Pond Camp to US 65 where I met Marion for resupply. I was very fortunate to see a Florida Trail sign re-routing hikers and find a comment in Far Out telling me how to use some forest roads to re-route around some dangerous boggy areas.
Unfortunately, my shoes and socks were wet from walking through mid-leg high swamp the previous day. I proceeded to walk to the Sapling Head Camp with a total mileage of 16 miles. I noticed as the walk progressed that my right foot was becoming more uncomfortable. After getting to camp and removing my shoes and socks, I noticed multiple large blisters and macerated areas on the right foot, making it extremely difficult to walk. To further add to the misery, the camp had no water supply. I walked about 0.1 miles to what was listed as the closest water supply and it was dry! I then had to walk to the last known water supply about three quarters of a mile away and obtain very brown water for filtering.
Injured right footLast campsite at Sapling Head Camp
I knew the following day that I would need to walk six miles to meet Marion. This seemed nearly impossible with the current shape of my right foot. Therefore, I called Marion and asked him to come get me. He initially wanted to come the next morning but decided to come to the camp and pick me up. I was so grateful for this very kind gesture since I was extremely hot in the bright sun and mosquitoes were constantly biting.
I am very disappointed at myself for not being able to thru-hike for more than 2 weeks on the Appalachian and Florida Trails after planning and training for about 5 years. I am pleased that I was able to hike up to SOBO mile 266 and see some beautiful scenery on the Florida Trail. I saw many deer, an owl, squirrels, beautiful sunrises and sunsets, ponds/lakes. However, I’m convinced now that thru-hiking is just too punishing to my body to continue for weeks and months. I will have a hard time forgetting all of the spiders and cobwebs, short tree stumps catching your toes, swamps and bogs with deep mud, wet shoes and socks, vegetation cutting into your skin, and insect bites.
I need to rethink retirement and get life back to a more normal pace. I do hope to return to Shell Point Retirement Community on a part-time basis (3-4 days per week) to continue seeing my patients. I look forward to doing more SCUBA diving, enjoying cruises and other vacations with my wife, children, and grandchildren, cycling with Ends of the Earth Cycling, leading Volunteer in Medical Mission international medical mission trips and serving on their board as Treasurer, continuing my work with the Fort Myers Gideon Camp, teaching my Fishers of Men LifeGroup class and serving as an Elder at McGregor Baptist Church, continuing my service with the Fort Myers Sunrise Rotary Club, and serving as the VP Grants fort the CART (Coins for Alzheimer’s Research Trust). I’m sure more opportunities will arise!
To my followers, thank you so much for your support, prayers, and encouraging comments on Facebook and the Goforthintotheworld.com website. I encourage everyone to pursue their dreams but don’t be afraid to change course if the risk of severe injury or death exceeds the expected benefit. Stay tuned for my next chapter in this life!
After getting a good night’s rest at Hillcrest Baptist Church Hostel last night and having a bowl of cereal with milk for breakfast, Marion drove me to the Althea Trailhead where I hiked about 3 miles and saw several deer. The trail markers were sometimes difficult to spot, so this was a little more difficult than expected. Marion then drove me through trail on several highways, and I hiked an additional 9 miles to Bonnet Pond Campsite. Today was modest mileage of 12 miles.
I was very fortunate to get to the Camel LakeCampground which had a beautiful lake and a swimming area which I really enjoyed. They also had hot showers, and the camp host and another camper offered up lots of free ice to cool me down.
It was just a short three-hike longer to the Bonnet Pond campground where I’m staying tonight. Bonnet Pond is located about a tenth of a mile away and has great water for filtering. This pond likely has alligators, so Idid not attempt to swim!
Today’s hike was marked by several bogs in which my legs sunk almost knee deep into mud and water in the boggy areas. I also found several areas that were poorly marked and had some difficulty finding the Florida Trail without using the Far Out app for direction finding.
Shortly after returning to camp from the pond, a huge thunderstorm lasting about 45 minutes gave me a chance to clean up and wash clothes. After the rain stopped, I was able to set up the camp successfully and keep my dry things dry. Other than lots of mosquitoes and other insects swarming around me despite insect repellent, this should be a great place to camp tonight! I even have 1 bar of Verizon signal and could talk with Kathy and Sarah. Photos later when I have more signal.
Great 13-mile hike today from Forgotten Creek Campsite to Leaning Pines Campsite through very similar terrain to yesterday’s hike — woods, prairie, small creeks. The only major irritant is all the spiders webs with all varieties of spiders, I’m getting better at spotting the webs and clearing them with my trekking poles, but missing a web and seeing a spider crawling down my hat gets my heart rate up! The Far Out info on the campsite tonight said no water was available, but the site actually has a fantastic well with a manual pump. Filling up a gallon ZipLock bag and pouring over me during the hot and humid day was fantastic!
Marion is staying in hotel in Ebro, Florida since his feet are still swollen. He is improving with hydration, rest, and cold packs on his feet. He is meeting me at road crossings (SR 20) today; he brought cold drinks and some resupply items today. I really enjoyed sitting in his air-conditioned car for a few minutes today. Tomorrow we will meet about 5 miles from tonight’s campsite, and he will take me to a small cafe and his hotel for a shower. I can hardly wait!
Dinner tonight was the same as yesterday and again very good! Snacks during the day include Cliff Bars, peanut M&M’s, beef jerky, and Twizzlers which are also very tasty!
Manual water pump
I had a little trouble sleeping last night due to a thunderstorm, but I was pleased that my tent held up well and kept everything dry. I finally found a good sleeping position and woke up about 5:40 AM. I was able to pack up within 30 minutes and make it to Marion in about 3 hours. Hopefully, tomorrow will be an earlier start since the heat is unbearable after 12 Noon.
Due to the inability to hike the Florida Trail within Eglin AFB due to closures for military exercise, we traveled 1 hour, 45 minutes to the trailhead on US 331 at the eastern edge of Eglin AFB. This was a beautiful hike beginning about 6:20 AM on relatively smooth ground going through wooded areas mixed with prairie areas.
The orange blazes marking the FT are well-placed most of the time, but somehow I got turned around in the Lafayette Creek area and ended repeating a 1-1.5 mile section right at the middle of my planned 12-mile hike to Forgotten Creek Campsite at SOBO mile 142.2.
I rejuvenated my spirit by taking a soak in the cool, clear, and very refreshing river! After arriving at the campsite about 1:30 PM, I rested, drank lots of water with Liquid IV electrolytes, filtered water to drink, and took another refreshing dip in the creek!
Forgotten Creek CampsiteNew ultralight tent — 2 pounds!
was able to set up my new tent without any problem, enjoyed a wonderful dinner consisting of Raman noodles with chicken, added olive oil, beef jerky, trail mix, and water flavored with Crystal Light. This meal felt like a gourmet meal compared to the very distasteful freeze-dried food used on the AT!
All is quiet in the woods now, and the temperature is going down from the max of 94 degrees with a heat index of 105 earlier this afternoon. My Ursack Almitey bag is safely hung away from my campsite with all food and garbage. Bedtime will come quickly tonight since I hope to start hiking at sunrise around 5:30 AM tomorrow.
With great support from John and Marion today, I was able to hike 17.5 miles from Brown’s Grocery in Holt (SOBO mile 67.3) to the Pearl Trailhead at 84.8 on the northern edge of Eglin AFB. After reviewing the PAM (public access maps), we discovered that the Florida Trail is closed in multiple sections. Therefore, we will travel nearly 2 hours tomorrow to begin the Eastern Panhandle section on the Far Out app maps.
First Baptist Church in Holt, FLDay 2 start in Holt, FL
I enjoyed hiking on US 90 through rural America with many farms, homes with large lots, well-shaded hiking paths near the road, beautiful river crossings, and helpful small businesses. I eventually came to Crestview, a much larger town than expected with nearly every known chain business. We ate breakfast at a wonderful Mom and Pop restaurant, Tropical Palm, in the gorgeous historic downtown Crestview. An old friend from F3 Island Coast, Kyle “Moose” Waltz, met us at the restaurant and shared news about his recent marriage to Heather and the selling of his pest control company to a large UK firm, Moose could retire at age 38, it he still plans to continue working.
Moose and I at Tropical Palm Restaurant Yellow River Bridge Side trail near US 90
I was able to meet John and Marion every 6-8 miles, rehydrate and eat a snack, and easily walk 17.5 miles today by 12:30 PM when the temperature rose to 95 degrees.
Marion Hoffman, his friend John Hafer, and I began hiking the Florida Trail at 5:30 AM from Fort Pickens through Pensacola Beach followed a bike ride to Navarre Beach, a total of 27 miles!
For 2-3 hours we were entertained by the US Navy’s Blue Angels who were practicing for an upcoming air show this weekend. I cannot recall ever seeing this amazing team operate at such a low altitude performing stunts in very tight formations, inverted, and high G maneuvers.
Blue Angel banner on many homesBird shelters
The Florida Trail was very urban after Fort Pickens and before the 13-mile segment to Navarre Beach. Unfortunately, the bike I rented was heavy, very slow (slightly faster than walking), and very different from my personal road bikes. Despite drinking about 5 liters of Gatorade and Liquid IV electrolyte containing drinks. Recovery came quickly with lots of fluids, air-conditioning, and snacks. Tomorrow will be interesting since several sections on Eglin AFB are closed. We hope to make it to Holt and Crestview before returning to the east side of Eglin AFB.
