LEROY — Steven Garner currently lives in LeRoy, and over the past couple of months, he’s completed an incredible journey of cross-country skiing the U.P. along the North Country Trail.
It took the 55-year-old 55 days to cross the 555 miles of trail from St. Ignace to the Wisconsin border. Garner tries to do a journey like this every five years. When he was 50, he hiked the Florida Trail.
The journey started on Jan. 8, and he reached Wisconsin on March 20, but not without some hiccups and doubt creeping in along the way.
“The whole way, I never really thought I was going to make it. It just seemed like an impossible journey.” Garner said. “Everybody along the way told me it’s impossible. No one’s ever done this and it’s not made for skiing, I was getting down on myself a little bit. But after the trip to the hospital, I said, ‘just take it one day at a time, one resupply at a time, and however far you go,’ I was fine. After I started taking it one day at a time, then the miles just started clicking by and pretty soon I’m like, wow, I’m going to be to Wisconsin in two days.”
He returned home to LeRoy on a bus from Wisconsin and added that he appreciated everyone who helped him out along the way. Garner is yet to figure out what his journey at age 60 will be.