We invite you to go hiking with Flat Stanley and his friend Turtle on the Florida Trail. You may recognize Turtle from “Exploring the Florida Trail”, our activity book for kids. Be sure to send us photos of your adventures. One opportunity is to enter the FTA photo contest, but photos will be accepted anytime. Articles from Flat Stanley will also be accepted for publication in the Footprint. In fact, he may even have his own column in the future.

For those of you who are not familiar with our skinny friend, the Flat Stanley Project was begun in 1995 by Dale Hubert, a teacher in Canada. You can learn more at http://www.flatstanley.com/. There’s nowhere Flat Stanley hasn’t been (except, perhaps, hiking on the Florida Trail). From 225 miles above the earth aboard the Space Station to 14,000 feet under the ocean on a NOAA expedition, he has been there and done that. If you adults think this is an activity only for kids, look through the pictures on the website. You may notice that Flat Stanley is most often seen with adults, not children.

You can download our very own Florida Trail Flat Stanley (designed by Ann Sabo) here. Cut him out and take him along on your next hike. For you backpackers who worry about extra weight, no one but Ray Jardine would worry about Flat Stanley’s weight. If you want to take Flat Stanley hiking often, you can laminate him on both sides to make him waterproof. Clear contact paper is an inexpensive way to do this. If you don’t like the way he's dressed, download him in black and white and color him yourself.  You can also download Turtle in color and in black and white.