The idea that Moroni wandered from Central America to what is now upstate NY is slightly absurd. Not saying this to be offensive. I'm just stating it as a point of fact. The area that I have heard most LDS scholars point to for most Book of Mormon battles and stories is an area just north of and just south of Panama.
We all know where upstate New York is.
The difference between these areas is 4,500 miles if Moroni didn't wander and took as straight of shot as possible. During this journey he traveled alone. The elements and effects on the human body would surely kill a man traveling even half that distance by himself. This doesn't take into account the fact that he would travel through eastern Mexico, an area we know contained large and powerful Mayan and Aztec civilizations. Maybe these areas where laminites as some people suggest, he would have had to travel past these areas. Eventually getting into modern day USA. Assuming he is still somehow finding food and water despite the change in fauna and wildlife that he would be unfamiliar with, he would also be traveling through various climate zones that he would again be unfamiliar with. He would pass through areas that contained Native American tribes, and he would also find himself confronted with numerous diseases as he traveled to this new world. Remember that the number one cause of death to native Americans was disease when Columbus first traveled to America (1500 years later I know, but the principles of disease contagion would not have changed during that time).
Moroni would eventually have to cross the Appalachian mountains, hopefully not crossing it during winter time as that would surely kill any mortal man of that era as it can still kill even modern people of this era who have advanced gear and knowledge.
Moroni survives all foreign bacteria contained in all of the food and water he consumes everyday even bacteria that is a world away from where he grew up that he was never exposed to. Even in the deepest parts of the wilderness he survives.
Moroni continues to travel for years. Still thousands of miles from his last lamenite sighting yet he continues over large mountain ranges. He crosses the missippi river, and he continues traveling north east against all the signs otherwise.
We know the toll that 1000 miles had on pioneers millennia later with relatively (compared to moronic time) advanced gear and resources and knowledge. Yet Moroni traveled 4+ times this amount for years by himself.
Finally he finds a small hill and hides it under a rock almost on the border of soon to be Canada.
While technically as the luckiest man alive he could have theoretically survived it's so highly unlikely. Weather would have killed him. He grew up on the equator and now traveled north through various climates and eventually into what is almost modern day Canada. With no knowledge or training and no experience on these environments. He somehow survived all incredible amounts of illness he would have encountered, all dangerous and foreign groups of people, all manner of new animals that he has no experience with or had ever seen before, and all manner of environmental factors like rivers, lakes, mountains, and so forth. He survived this for many years as this journey would have taken 5+ years on foot give. The conditions he faced.
Yes one could argue that the spirit led and protected him and I can't say anything to try to disprove that. It's a solid fallback and honestly the only explanation that would allow a man to make a solo journey like that in that era. Without the magical "free pass" that this argument provides, it would be impossible otherwise.
Trust me I say this out of love to point out the argument. I have thought long and hard about this and have come to the conclusion that it wouldn't be possible. Nor would it make much sense (hiding the books under a random rock 50 miles from his home around Panama during 80AD would have been just as impossible to find as traveling 4,500 miles to upstate NY to do the same thing.
While many scholars have been happy to point out explanations for where the Book of Mormon took place, I've never heard a good explanation about this journey. It is basically assumed that if you believe the book to be true that you must make the logical leap that this journey just happened.
I've always had problems with it. I'd love for it to be true more than anything. But I don't see this being something I'll ever see an explanation for.