Bolingbrook Hiker Slowik First To Finish Forest Preserve 95-Mile Quest

BOLINGBROOK, IL — At 62, Mike Slowik is no stranger to fitness and has never been one to steer clear of a challenge.

The Bolingbrook resident once decided to bike the nearly 4,000-mile route between his home and Alaska. When the coronavirus pandemic set in, Slowik started to walk since he figured he had nowhere else to go — and ended up logging nearly 3,315 miles over an 11-month period by "doing the Forrest Gump thing" and dropping 22 pounds in the process.

So maybe it should come as a surprise that Slowik was shocked to discover that he recently became the first Will County resident to complete the forest preserve district's spring 95-miler challenge. Forest district officials announced that county residents had four months to walk, run or bike 95 miles on forest preserve property as part of the challenge.

Slowik finished in just 20 days.

Slowik told forest district officials that he often tackled big chunks of the challenge at a time. He walked 15.27 miles on the Wauponsee Glacial Trail on March 5. While he often walked along the DuPage River Trail, which is closest to his home, Slowik said he also did hikes along the Normantown Trail, Centennial/Veterans Memorial Trail, Plum Creek Greenway Trail, Spring Creek Greenway Trail, Joliet Junction Trail, Rock Run Greenway Trail and Old Plank Road Trail.

"There are some surprisingly really cool trails in Will County," Slowik told the forest district in an interview. "It's amazing.

The challenge was created to celebrate the forest district’s 95th anniversary this year, and it runs through June 30.

Jen Guest, the forest district's recreation coordinator, said she loved how Slowik tackled this quest.

"His submission was so great because you could see he set goals for himself to finish the challenge," she said in a news release. "He went above and beyond to track his miles using percentages left of the 95 miles until he met his goal of 100 percent. My favorite part of his submission was how he learned about new trails to walk and hike in Will County."

While getting outside to explore was all part of Slowik's motivation for taking on the 95-miler challenge, the secret to his success, he said, was a common body fuel. While he was helped along by the walking stick his wife, Diane, got for him as a gift, along with the medical kid, spare cell phone charger, water and clothing appropriate for that day's hike, Slowik said he never started his day without caffeine.

“Life doesn’t exist without coffee,” Slowik told forest district officials. "When I’m out on the trail, enjoying a good cup of coffee adds so much to the enjoyment and the experience. And it helps warm you up when first starting out on a chilly morning, as well as giving you a nice energy boost."

When he submitted his mileage, Slowik thanked the district for organizing the program, which he said allowed him to enjoy a "dirt cheap" form of recreation and allowed him to get out and see parts of the county he had never experienced.

“Thanks for doing this,” he wrote in submitting his finishing mileage for the challenge. “It was great! I hike in many forest preserves throughout northeastern Illinois and ours here in Will County are some of the best! This challenge gave me motivation to get out and visit our trails and (preserves), some of which I didn’t know existed. This was lots of fun — keep up the great work!”

Registration to participate in the 95-miler challenge is not required. Participants are asked to record their walking, running or biking miles on forest preserve trails through June 30 and submit them. Finishers will receive a small wallet with a zippered pouch to commemorate their accomplishment. An online form is available for submissions, as well as a downloadable paper submission log at ReconnectWithNature.org.

Submissions must be received by July 15 to be eligible for the giveaway, officials said.