One of the best endurance kayakers on the Great Lakes stopped in Erie County, part of what is hoped will be a 4,200 mile attempt to kayak around all five of the Great Lakes.

Nurse Traci Lynn Martin stopped at Shades Beach in Harborcreek. She started her year long trip in Buffalo on March 1st.

If she is successful, she will be the only woman to circumnavigate all five Great Lakes in less than a year. That’s particularly amazing given that she suffers from rheumatoid arthritis that sometimes leaves her walking with a cane. Her message is to get out and live.

“I want to show people that maybe you can’t do what you used to and maybe you’re still going to hurt but you don’t have to be in that rut of depression and hopelessness. There is still life.” Martin said.

Traci rates Lake Erie as the hardest of the five Great Lakes to get around. She hopes to set her new record by Christmas.