CANFIELD Wanderlust leads Valley man on 4,300-mile hike

John Hudock III is midway through a walk of Forrest Gumpian proportions.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CANFIELD -- About 1,900 miles into his hike, John Hudock III has worn out two pairs of boots, written hundreds of pages in his journal, and gotten quite used to carrying a 55-pound pack on a diet of military rations.
And he still has 2,450 more miles to go.
In December, the 43-year-old Canfield man set off to walk from the southernmost tip of the Florida Keys to Cape Gaspe, Quebec, Canada.
He is on the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina now, already having conquered the Pinhoti Trail in Alabama, the Florida National Scenic Trail, and some highways in between.
Hudock says he will be the third person to complete the Key West-to- Cape Gaspe trek.
"This makes me happy," Hudock said from a hotel room in Fontana Dam, N.C., where he holed up to do laundry and have a good meal. "Wild horses couldn't drag me off the trail."
Determination: Hudock, who has lost 25 pounds since starting his trek, said his celebrity as "Johnny Looksee" precedes him among long-haul hikers on the Appalachian Trail. If he didn't finish, he said he would feel like a failure.
"I've got it in my blood," he said.
Hudock, a carpenter, contracted wanderlust in February 2000 after falling from a roof he was framing. He broke his left leg and bones in his neck. The months of recuperation gave him plenty of time to think and surf the Internet.
"I decided I wanted to have an adventure," said Hudock, who is divorced and whose son had just started college. "I had the opportunity to do it, so I did it."
Within the year, he had put the contents of his apartment in storage and hit the trail.
"When he first came to us and said, 'I'm going to do this,' I thought, 'Why the hell would someone want to walk from Florida to Canada?' That is a heck of a long hike," said John Hudock Jr., Hudock's father, who also lives in Canfield.
The elder Hudock said that the idea has grown on him, however.
"My wife and I talked about doing it, but at 64 years old, we decided not to," he said.
The walk has not been for the frail or infirm. The first segment was along the berm of the Overseas Highway, which for more than 100 miles is the only route from the Florida Keys to the mainland.
One bridge is seven miles, and Hudock said there was only room enough for him to stand as traffic whizzed by.
Oops: In Florida's Big Cyprus National Preserve, Hudock said he found himself wading in hip-deep swamp for two days when he lost the trail. At one point, a log he stepped on suddenly sprouted legs and swam away -- an alligator.
Hudock got out unscathed, but two weeks later the swamp eventually caught up with him.
The infection from a blister had spread through his entire leg, leaving the leg so swollen that the doctor said it appeared as though it must be broken. Ten days later, Hudock was back on the trail. Now, he has weeks of wide, well-maintained trail to look forward to, and endless views until trees regain their leaves.
And with six more months of walking, he has plenty of time to fantasize about his next trip: canoeing down the entire length of the Mississippi River. Hudock said he plans that adventure for June 2002.