Armed with only a backpack and walking stick, an upstate ex-Navy man trekked 2,866 miles across the country on foot to raise money for veterans — braving snowstorms, shedding toenails and hearing from comrades-in-arms along the way.

Former Navy nuclear electrician Tommy Zurhellen, 50, took off from Portland, Oregon April 15 and walked 22 miles nearly every day for four months in an effort to raise awareness about the scourge of veteran homelessness and suicide.

“Two sprained ankles, two missing toenails, dropped 40 pounds, bad sunburn, four snow storms and bad Google Maps directions later,” Zurhellen reached Poughkeepsie Friday, the Marist College English professor told The Post.

“This whole walk was borne out of frustration … of not being able to help everybody in Poughkeepsie,” said Zurhellen, who was stationed in the Persian Gulf from 1991 to ‘97.

For part of his journey, Zurhellen, commander of the Poughkeepsie Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 170, made do with a tent — but he was also hosted at local VFWs, the American Legion or other organizations.

Though at times he spent days without seeing another soul, he tried to speak to as many vets as he could while on the road.

In Casper, Wyoming Zurhellen met Misael, an Iraq-war Army soldier who gifted him a bracelet engraved with the name of his best buddy, who died in Afghanistan at 21. “I carried it the rest of the way,” Zurhellen posted on Facebook.

While camping in Prineville, Oregon he met a man named “Roy” who’s lived on the top of a mountain for 30 years and was “really suspicious of my trip.” After convincing him of his motives, Zurhellen said Roy, clad in a big cowboy hat and sunglasses, revealed he was a Vietnam War veteran.

He also met a Santa Claus-lookalike biker named Bob, also a Vietnam vet, who stopped Zurhellen in the middle of the road to tell him about his best friend who died overseas.

“He now rides his best friend’s bike,” said Zurhellen.

In Idaho and Wyoming, Zurhellen got caught in four snowstorms and was forced to camp out in treacherous weather, when he wasn’t lucky enough to find a cabin for rent. He also had to take two snow days off.

In Bear Lake, Utah, a sheriff’s deputy who was also a veteran, took one look at Zurhellen’s skimpy gear — and gave him a cold weather rain jacket, balaclava and hat from his cop car. Zurhellen averaged 22 miles a day on his trek to represent the daily average of veteran suicides in America, according to a 2015 VA study. That number is down to 20, following a 2018 report.

In the end, Zurhellen surpassed his fundraising goal of $40,387 — the average number of homeless vets in the US — reaching nearly $45,000, in donations for local organizations, including Vet 2 Vet Dutchess and Hudson River Housing.

“The walk has ended, but the journey is just beginning,” said Zurhellen, who started the VetZero service project in January to highlight the struggles vets face. “There’s so much work is to be done but that money is just a start.”

Additional reporting Tamar Lapin