Imagine barreling down an Interstate on your way up north and coming to huge signs that say “I-95 ends in one mile” and then getting shunted off to a two-lane county road. I was talking with Ryan Smart, President of …
WINTHROP PACKARD, FLORIDA TRAILS
The sweetgum tree fills the swampy ground along the St. Johns “branches” and sheds its maple-like leaves in December. Sailing up the broad river you may trace the swampy spots now by the soft gray of bare twigs of the …
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
“We were bred of earth before we were born of our mothers. Once born, we can live without mother or father, or any other kin, or any friend, or any human love. We cannot live without the earth or apart …
Wanted: A Grant for the Trail
It is hard to believe that at my age I have never written a grant proposal. How is it that I have started a half-dozen non-profits and never done so? I have turned to friends with like interests and they …
FFT exists to support the Florida Trail
I met with the board of the Florida Trail Association last Saturday to explain to them why I founded Hiking Trails for America and Friends of the Florida Trail and for them to realize that FFT exists to support the …
Lobbying in Tallahassee
Last Monday Cynthia Henderson, a friend for over 20 years, past secretary of Florida Department of Business Regulation and now a lobbyist, arranged appointments for me with the following people in Tallahassee: Samantha Browne, DEP, Bureau Chief, Division of Recreation …
10 Jul 2015
Here’s a dated press release, but it’s good stuff; the date doesn’t matter: A study by researchers at the University of Utah and the University of Kansas found that backpackers scored 50 percent better on a creativity test after spending …
12 Jun 2015. FFT Meetings in Tallahassee
Two good meetings last Wednesday and a big step forward in promoting the mission of Friends of the Florida Trail: I met first with the new U.S. Forest Service Supervisor in Florida, Kelly Russell and her two staff people who …
June 5, 2015
Dennis Lewon, Editor of BACKPACKER magazine, writes in his column in the current issue (June 2015), “Nothing against school, but my education wouldn’t be complete without the national parks. As we start our year-long celebration of the NPS Centennial, rolling …
May12, 2015
Your scribe leaves for Europe tomorrow. During a 3-week trip I will be hiking in the Maritime Alps north of Nice in Parc National du Mercantour. Blogs will resume by mid-June. Jim Kern