HARRISBURG — A 64-year-old retired state worker who braved bugs, snakes and foul weather to hike all 780 miles of Pennsylvania's state forest trails has been honored for the feat.

John Monn received the State Forest Trails Award on Sept. 29 from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the Keystone Trails Association. It has been given to only about six other hikers.

"It's part of my life to hike," Monn said. "It takes me away from all the distractions."

Monn, who lives near Carlisle, said he took up hiking in the early 1970s along with some co-workers at the state Transportation Department who decided they wanted to embark on an annual outdoor adventure.

"The first trip we took was miserable," he told the Patriot-News of Harrisburg for a story in Monday's editions. "It rained the whole time. That discouraged quite a few."

After the state trails award was created several years ago, Monn decided to aim for hiking all 18 trails, logging nearly 350 miles in the last two years alone.

He said his favorite hike is the Black Forest Trail in Clinton County, also a favorite of his friend and frequent fellow hiker Otto Eleuteri, who died in 2001. The most challenging is the Chuck Keiper Trail, also in Clinton County, because it is thick with plant life, he said.

"Rhododendron covered the trail," Monn said. "You had to fight your way through it."

Over his 35 years of hiking, Monn said he has noticed improvements in outdoors gear and the growing presence of women on the trails. He finds that going uphill is less punishing on his joints than downhill, and he has learned to pace himself better.

"In the early days, I was an attacker. I wanted to go out there and do it as quickly as I could," he said. "Now, I keep a steady pace and enjoy it more."