Bruce Ritchie, outdoors journalist for the Tallahassee Democrat, has written an article about our speaker, Johnny Molloy. It appeared in the Sports section on Friday, March 7th. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear in the online Democrat.
A shorter article appeared in Bruce’s blog. That one can be found at http://tinyurl.com/2zlkwq and is reproduced here:
The Chinese philospher Lao-Tzu said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
Johnny Molloy’s first step on his 1,100-mile trek on the Florida Trail was into a puddle of water. Not too many steps later the first snake he saw crossed his path.
Molloy will speak March 11 at the Apalachee Chapter meeting of the Florida Trail Association. It’s free and open to the public. He also wrote a book about his experience called “Hiking the Florida Trail,” published in January by University Press of Florida.
Beginning his trek in the winter of 2006, Molloy lost 15 pounds and used up two pairs of hiking shoes. While other trails, such as the Appalachian Trail, may have more challenging terrain, the Florida Trail can be harder on shoes because of the constant wet conditions, M. Timothy O’Keefe writes in the book’s forward.
Molloy is heavy on details, and I like his few passages of introspection and observations of some of the small towns and characters along the way. He recalls how trail maintenance volunteer Frank Orser in Lake Butler gives him the shirt off his back.
And I like how Molloy describes how most of us engage in a life of “voyeurism” rather than participating more fully.
“Backpacking simplifies your life and takes you back to taking care of the basics. It shows how few and simple our true needs are and how happy one can be simply by being dry and warm before a fire. Sharing a sense of accomplishment by walking 12 miles together with a friend or your family shows how simple happiness can be. It is the basic simplicity of backpacking that is its greatest offering in a world that we unnecessarily complicate.”
I understand the truth of those words. Yet I know that backpacking lengthy segments of the Florida Trail or the Appalachian Trail will remain just lofty goals until I get more gumption in life. Achieving those goals may only result from a dramatic, and perhaps unwelcome, life change.
But having those goals and challenges in life seem important for some reason, even if they are never obtained.
Bruce Ritchie
