California teenager Liam Garner cycled from Alaska to Argentina in just eight months

A California teen cycled 20,000 miles from Alaska to Argentina in 17 months, enduring extreme heat and cold, spending a month in the hospital after falling and hitting his head and being robbed five times during the arduous journey.

Liam Garner, 19, from Long Beach, began his journey in August 2021, shortly after graduating from high school at age 17. He spent a month preparing for the trip, during which time he bought a bicycle and began to map out his route.

Garner said CNN in an interview that his mother did not want him to make the journey and that his father only knew after the teen landed in Alaska to begin the journey. Despite this, he says his parents are now his biggest supporters.

The journey began in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, the northernmost point in the United States accessible by road. It ended in January 2023 in the southern Argentine city of Ushuaia.

He took the Pan-American Highway that connects North, Central and South America, it is the longest motorable road in the world. Garner said he visited family in Mexico during the highlights of his trip, despite being robbed several times in the country. Another low point saw him fall off his bicycle in Colombia, requiring him to be hospitalized for a month.

A celebratory Garner pictured at Volcán Chimborazo, the furthest point from the center of the Earth

Ahead of his epic journey, Garner said the farthest he’d cycled from Los Angeles to San Francisco was just 380 miles.

‘There is an official route and there are unofficial routes. I actually made my own [route] as I went along. As long as I went south every day, I knew I was going in the right direction,” he told CNN.

One thing Garner said he had no intention of doing was stopping locations, instead deciding to go to bed when the sun set, regardless of where he was.

Garner told the network that he needed 40 stitches and some plastic surgery on his ear after his fall in Colombia. He said he blacked out after the fall and couldn’t even speak for a few hours.

It was in Colombia where Garner’s companion, Logan, left the trip and headed back to the US, leaving the teen alone for the duration.

A few weeks earlier, Garner said that during a leg through southern Mexico in over 100-degree heat, he went without a phone and was thus unable to make contact with the outside world.

After going through that ordeal, Garner said he toyed with the idea of ​​taking a bus back to the US.

The highlight of the trip, the Argentine city of Ushuaia, which Garner said was too touristy

Garner pictured himself with his girlfriend Chloe accompanying him as he travels home from Argentina

“There’s no point in tormenting ourselves. This is not fun,” Garner said at the time. He decided to continue after reaching cooler temperatures in Guatemala.

The cyclist went on to tell CNN that he is a first-generation Mexican immigrant, adding, “I’m not rich.” Garner met family in Mexico and Panama along the way.

One of the skills Garner said he gained while traveling was the ability to speak Spanish.

“When I started in Mexico I spoke practically zero Spanish… Now I am proud to say that I speak Spanish quite fluently. I can carry on a conversation with anyone,” Garner said Now this.

Another highlight was El Salvador, which Garner describes as “one of the most peaceful, beautiful, quietest countries.”

Garner said he was disappointed in the city of Ushuaia, due to the high number of tourists, leaving him with “no alone time.”

“I realized I didn’t care what the last city was. It just arrived. And I know it’s very cliche, but that’s really where I came to the conclusion,” Garner told CNN when he got over his initial disappointment.

The cyclist told CNN he is a first-generation Mexican immigrant, adding, “I’m not rich.” Garner met family in Mexico and Panama along the way

He self-funded the trip with donations, but the teen insisted it didn’t take much money to complete the expedition

As for his cycling skills, Garner told Insider that he hadn’t even ridden a bike in the six months before his departure

He self-funded the trip through donations, but the teen insisted it didn’t take much money to complete the expedition. His goal had been to spend $450 or less a month.

Garner earned thousands of followers on Instagram and TikTok during the journey.

In terms of his cycling skills, Garner shared Insider who had not even ridden a bicycle in the six months before his departure.

“I hadn’t cycled in over six months and I didn’t even have a bike until the month I left. It’s good to have blind faith in yourself sometimes,” he told the website.

The teen is going backpacking to California with his partner Chloe, where he plans to write a book about his adventures.

Garner told CNN he first met Chloe while traveling through San Francisco. Their relationship started as friends but has since become more intimate.

“We were hoping to be home for the summer in July. But it’s open-ended. We have about four to five months left, and that’s enough time to backpack home,” he said in his CNN interview.

He told Inside that his next cycling adventure will likely take him across Asia or Europe.