PORTLAND, Maine (AP) – Harvey Sutton, or “Little Man,” as he is known on the Appalachian Trail, won’t have long to bask in the glory of hiking its full length. After all, he starts kindergarten Friday.
At 5 years old, Harvey is one of the youngest – and the latest of several youngsters in recent years – to complete the trail, after tagging along with his parents over more than 2,100 miles in 209 days.
It was hard work, but it was fun checking out frogs, lizards and other wildlife. So was sprinkling Skittles onto peanut butter tortillas as fuel for the walk, he said.
“The rock scrambles were really fun and hard. We were not bored,” he said cheerfully in a phone interview from Virginia, where he lives with his parents, Josh and Cassie Sutton.
His parents were so busy keeping him engaged and entertained that it distracted them from the physical pain of trudging over so many miles.