Sometimes the best hiking partner is the one who doesn’t talk to you. Garet Bleir, a junior magazine and marketing management dual major at Syracuse University, knows this first hand. He carried his companion up and down mountains in a large, black garbage bag strapped to his back.

Bleir spent 23 days hiking through New York’s Adirondack Mountains with a life-size cardboard cut-out of his political hero, Senator Bernie Sanders. He climbed a 45,000 foot elevation gain, reaching the summit of all 46 high peaks — 30 of them with “Bernie.”

Bleir bush-whacked with Bernie under his arm, navigated around logs with him on his back, and once accidently dropped him in a creek while he filtered water. If Bernie didn’t take a beating on the campaign trail, he certainly took one on the trails of the Adirondacks.

At one point, while scaling an alpine zone with no tree protection, winds reached up to 60 mph. Bleir was jumping down the mountain, rock to rock, with Bernie on his back acting as a parasail.

“I would jump and it would blow me a few feet,” Bleir said. “For 80-90 per cent  of the mountains I was the only one on top of it, which was a cool experience. But you have to watch every single step you took.”

For him, those steps were taken in Chaco Sandals, no hiking boots needed.

Courtesy of Garet Bleir

The escapade into the mountains came at an ideal time, Bleir said, after a hard semester at school.

“Why not bring humor to a lot of people and levity to some Berners,” said Bleir. “He’s been an inspiration to me so I thought it’d be cool to put him back on top in New York.”

Bleir said he was always a little hesitant to tell other hikers what he was carrying. Reactions varied due to different political views, but overall he said, there was little push back. He even met an active Donald Trump supporter who laughed and took his own picture with the cutout.

Bleir, and his companion, reached their final peak, Mt. Allen, on June 12.

“I’m surprised at how well he stayed intact,” Bleir said.

Syracuse University’s Outing Club, of which Bleir is a member, helped him shape the trip into a combination of political activism and outdoor adventure. With the help of the Vermont senator, Bleir was able to join the elite ranks of “46er’s” who have scaled every high peak in the Adirondacks.

Aside from the humor of carrying a life-sized cardboard cutout up 30 mountains, however, Bleir said there was more to the expedition than a laugh.

“The ideology Bernie represents, the greatest good for a lot of people,” Bleir said. “He’s someone who is campaigning for us, not for himself. His heart is true in what he’s doing.”

Courtesy of Garet Bleir

Bleir also took “Bernie” to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, where he protested for the former Democratic hopeful.

Even though he was disappointed at the outcome of the primaries and has mixed feelings about Sanders’ endorsement of Hilary Clinton, Bleir said his movement will continue.

“This movement rooted in compassion and love for others,” said Bleir. “He’s inspired a whole new generation of activism.”

Bleir himself spent time phone banking, knocking on doors, and setting up voter registration programs as a resident advisor at SU.

Although Sander’s didn’t win the general election, Bleir’s political revolution will continue in local level politics. He hopes to become involved in Sanders’ organizations, Our Revolution and the Sanders’ Institute.

See the full set of “Backpacking with Bernie” photographs on KarunaOutdoor.com.

Published on August 2, 2016 at 8:34 pm