In 2019, singer Mike Posner walked from New Jersey to California; after a rattlesnake bite put him in intensive care, he recovered and finished the 2,851-mile journey
In 2019, singer Mike Posner traded concert stages for highways and began a six-month journey across the United States on foot. He left Asbury Park, New Jersey, on April 15 with the aim of reaching the Pacific Ocean in California. According to Time, the journey covered about 2,851 miles and took him through a changing landscape of roads, small communities, deserts and tribal lands. Halfway through the trek, however, a rattlesnake bite in Colorado forced him into the hospital and temporarily stopped the walk. After recovering, Posner returned to the route and reached Venice Beach, California, on October 18.
From New Jersey to the open road
Posner announced the challenge months before setting off, describing it as a personal undertaking rather than a conventional endurance record. At the time, he was already known internationally for songs including Cooler Than Me and I Took a Pill in Ibiza. Instead of travelling between venues, he decided to spend much of his 31st year walking across the country.
He began his journey in Asbury Park, where the ocean acted as the starting point, while the destination would be the Pacific. The journey was not entirely solo; Posner had support ahead of him, so he did not need to carry a backpack. He usually started early in the morning, around 5:10 a.m., and covered about 26 miles a day, sometimes as many as 30.
This routine was demanding and highly repetitive. According to Posner, it began with meditation and stretching in the morning before hitting the road and dividing the daily mileage into segments. The first eight miles were a silent walking meditation followed by smaller portions and frequent breaks. The route allowed him to explore parts of America that might otherwise have been overlooked because of their remoteness from urban areas. One of the most impressive stretches was the 189 miles through the Navajo Nation, which took him about a week to cover. This stretch, he later explained, changed his attitude toward America and its people.
The rattlesnake that stopped the journey
However, the biggest disruption happened in eastern Colorado in August when, after many hours of hiking, Posner was attacked by a baby rattlesnake. It was serious enough to require a helicopter evacuation and hospitalisation. It brought his journey to a halt. Later, Posner said he spent five days in intensive care and, for a time, could not even get to the bathroom on his own. The incident also exposed the physical risks of attempting such a journey. Posner was not simply covering a long distance over prepared walking trails. Much of his route involved roads and exposed terrain, and he described dealing with hazards ranging from traffic to extreme weather and wildlife.
Research on endurance suggests the body adapts to repeated physical demands over time. A study in the Journal of Applied Physiology examined physiological responses to prolonged endurance activity, providing broader context for the physical demands faced by people undertaking sustained journeys on foot. For Posner, though, the snake bite became part of a larger lesson he attached to the journey. Rather than treating the hospital stay as the end of the attempt, he returned to the route once he had recovered.
2,851 miles to the Pacific
He later resumed walking, continued through Arizona and Nevada, and eventually reached California. On October 18, 2019, roughly six months after leaving New Jersey, he finally arrived in Venice Beach, Los Angeles, where he walked into the Pacific Ocean. His total distance covered in this trip was about 2,851 miles. The route crossed a diverse cross-section of the U.S. He began near the Atlantic and crossed the U.S., passing through both densely populated and sparsely populated areas.
The process made him view the goal of his travel differently as well. Progress became a set of checkpoints rather than one huge finishing point. He began near the Atlantic and crossed the U.S., passing through both densely and sparsely populated areas, finally reaching Kansas as a milestone, only to learn that thousands of miles remained. For Posner, reaching the Pacific Ocean mattered less than understanding how he responded to the difficult moments along the way.
From New Jersey to the open road
Posner announced the challenge months before setting off, describing it as a personal undertaking rather than a conventional endurance record. At the time, he was already known internationally for songs including Cooler Than Me and I Took a Pill in Ibiza. Instead of travelling between venues, he decided to spend much of his 31st year walking across the country.
He began his journey in Asbury Park, where the ocean acted as the starting point, while the destination would be the Pacific. The journey was not entirely solo; Posner had support ahead of him, so he did not need to carry a backpack. He usually started early in the morning, around 5:10 a.m., and covered about 26 miles a day, sometimes as many as 30.
This routine was demanding and highly repetitive. According to Posner, it began with meditation and stretching in the morning before hitting the road and dividing the daily mileage into segments. The first eight miles were a silent walking meditation followed by smaller portions and frequent breaks. The route allowed him to explore parts of America that might otherwise have been overlooked because of their remoteness from urban areas. One of the most impressive stretches was the 189 miles through the Navajo Nation, which took him about a week to cover. This stretch, he later explained, changed his attitude toward America and its people.
The rattlesnake that stopped the journey
However, the biggest disruption happened in eastern Colorado in August when, after many hours of hiking, Posner was attacked by a baby rattlesnake. It was serious enough to require a helicopter evacuation and hospitalisation. It brought his journey to a halt. Later, Posner said he spent five days in intensive care and, for a time, could not even get to the bathroom on his own. The incident also exposed the physical risks of attempting such a journey. Posner was not simply covering a long distance over prepared walking trails. Much of his route involved roads and exposed terrain, and he described dealing with hazards ranging from traffic to extreme weather and wildlife.
Research on endurance suggests the body adapts to repeated physical demands over time. A study in the Journal of Applied Physiology examined physiological responses to prolonged endurance activity, providing broader context for the physical demands faced by people undertaking sustained journeys on foot. For Posner, though, the snake bite became part of a larger lesson he attached to the journey. Rather than treating the hospital stay as the end of the attempt, he returned to the route once he had recovered.
He later resumed walking, continued through Arizona and Nevada, and eventually reached California. On October 18, 2019, roughly six months after leaving New Jersey, he finally arrived in Venice Beach, Los Angeles, where he walked into the Pacific Ocean. His total distance covered in this trip was about 2,851 miles. The route crossed a diverse cross-section of the U.S. He began near the Atlantic and crossed the U.S., passing through both densely populated and sparsely populated areas.
The process made him view the goal of his travel differently as well. Progress became a set of checkpoints rather than one huge finishing point. He began near the Atlantic and crossed the U.S., passing through both densely and sparsely populated areas, finally reaching Kansas as a milestone, only to learn that thousands of miles remained. For Posner, reaching the Pacific Ocean mattered less than understanding how he responded to the difficult moments along the way.
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