KEENE – The first time Syracuse University student Garet Bleir summited Mount Marcy, it was last summer in cold, windy conditions. The second time he summited the highest point in the state, it was for a warm, windless sunset in May with his hero, Bernie Sanders.

Well, it was a 30-pound cardboard cutout of Sanders, to be exact. Still, this version of the 74-year-old Vermont senator and former Democratic presidential candidate also stood 6 feet tall. And this version of Bernie stood even higher than the campaign trail in May and June, atop Marcy and 29 other High Peaks as Bleir “Berned” his way to becoming an Adirondack 46er.

“I thought this would be a really humorous way to address some serious issues,” Bleir said Friday after completing a through-hike of the 133-mile Northville-Placid Trail.

“The idea just came into my head,” he added. “A lot of people have goofy ideas in their head every day, and (this was) just a more fun place for me to carry this out.”

It indeed was a more fun place for Bleir than the time last spring when he was kicked out of a Donald Trump campaign rally in Syracuse for protesting. He’s a self-described “Berner” who attended a couple of Sanders rallies and got to meet his political idol.

Bleir admits there is no “amazing” story behind where he found the Sanders cutout. He didn’t find it at the bottom of a trash heap at the Trump rally, or lounging lost on the Syracuse University quad during weekend festivities. Rather, he bought it online with the purpose of strapping it to his backpack during a multi-week hike through the High Peaks.

The Vestal, New York, native is a marketing and magazine dual major, as well as the treasurer and backpacking leader of the Syracuse University Outing Club. He fell in love with the High Peaks last summer, scaling 17 summits beginning with the Dix Range. After the end of the spring semester in May, he returned to finish his quest – only this time with Sanders strapped atop his backpack. Bernie remained in a black garbage bag to protect from trees, wind and rain when Bleir wasn’t taking photos at points of interest or atop mountains with his 3-foot-long, jury-rigged selfie stick.

The trek began at the Upper Works trailhead in the eastern High Peaks. Bleir and college friend Kevin Van Hine then hiked the McIntyre Range. Near the first summit of the trip, Mount Marshall, Bleir surprised Van Hine with what was in the bag.

“I thought it would be funnier to just keep everything secret, so I really didn’t tell anyone about it,” he said. “My friend didn’t even know till he got there. I stood up the cardboard cutout, he turned the corner and died laughing.”

After summiting Wright, Iroquois and Algonquin – where 60-mile-per-hour gusts made Bernie act like a sail at times – they woke up at 4:30 a.m. for the most difficult 18-mile portion of their trip. They hit Redfield, Cliff, Gray and Skylight in succession before summiting Marcy for sunset. Atop Marcy, Bleir posed for a photo of the giant red sun behind and between him and Bernie.

“It was a really amazing experience to behold,” he said.

Bleir and company then descended Marcy and hammocked at the bottom of Tabletop before scaling Tabletop, Colden and walking through Avalanche Pass the following day.

In total, Bleir’s trip took 23 days in May and June. SU Outing Club friends joined him for weekend trips. A few times, he returned to his car at Marcy Field in Keene to restock supplies.

Along the trail, Bleir encountered fellow hikers who laughed at Bernie, some delving into political conversations. Hiking up Nye Mountain, Bleir ran into a Trump supporter on the trail. They spoke for a bit. Then, closer to summit, Bleir set up Bernie around a bend for the Trump supporter to stumble across.

“He ended up having a really good sense of humor about it,” Bleir said. “He ended up taking his picture with it, too.”

Bernie got a bit battered as Bleir and Bernie traveled from the High Peaks Wilderness to Whiteface Mountain, to Cascade and Porter mountains, to the Seward range, to the Colvin range, to the Santanoni range and ultimately to a conclusion at Allen Mountain. Bernie was soaked by rain several times and suffered scratches while bushwhacking. When Bleir set Bernie down to filter water after summiting Blake Peak, the cardboard senator accidentally fell into a creek and began to peel a bit at the knees.

“I had some packaging tape, so luckily I was able to repair him a bit there,” Bleir said. “He made it down to the Philly (Democratic National Convention) protests.”

Before the duo left the Adirondacks for the Philly protests, they made a pit stop at a Stewart’s Shop in Long Lake. It was there that Bleir and Bernie received the most blowback about their political beliefs.

“In the mountains, everyone is pretty good humored about it,” Bleir said. “But when I brought him into the gas station, I got some funny comments and looks. Some people wanted to use him for firewood.”

As for the dilemma facing many Sanders supporters as Nov. 8 nears – whether to vote for Hilary Clinton or someone else – Bleir is still undecided between the Democratic nominee and Green Party nominee Jill Stein. What he has figured out is just what the Adirondack High Peaks mean to his life.

“I definitely found inner peace and happiness out in the Adirondacks,” Bleir said. “It feels like another home – or the home.”

To find out more about Bleir and Bernie’s hikes through the High Peaks and to see photos from each mountain they hiked, visit Bleir’s website, www.karunaoutdoor.com.