Imagination, Skittles help boy, 5, conquer Appalachian Trail

PORTLAND, Maine – Harvey Sutton, oregon “Little Man,” arsenic helium is known connected the Appalachian Trail, won’t person agelong to bask successful the glory of hiking its afloat length. After all, helium starts kindergarten Friday.

At 5 years old, Harvey is 1 of the youngest — and the latest of respective youngsters successful caller years — to implicit the trail, aft tagging on with his parents implicit much than 2,100 miles successful 209 days.

It was hard work, but it was amusive checking retired frogs, lizards and different wildlife. So was sprinkling Skittles onto peanut food tortillas arsenic substance for the walk, helium said.

“The stone scrambles were truly amusive and hard. We were not bored,” helium said cheerfully successful a telephone interrogation from Virginia, wherever helium lives with his parents, Josh and Cassie Sutton.

His parents were truthful engaged keeping him engaged and entertained that it distracted them from the carnal symptom of trudging implicit truthful galore miles.

“It gave america a enslaved and a spot that we hadn’t realized before,” Cassie Sutton said.

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Other youngsters person hiked the 2,193-mile (3,530 kilometers) way that starts astatine Springer Mountain, Georgia, and ends atop Maine’s Mount Katahdin. Some babies person adjacent been carried successful backpacks by their determined parents.

Harvey was 4 years aged erstwhile helium and his parents began their locomotion successful January and helium turned 5 earlier the household completed the travel past week successful Maine.

He's respective months younger than “Buddy Backpacker,” a lad who held the grounds for youngest to implicit the way successful 2013, Harvey’s parents say.

But the youngest of each whitethorn beryllium Juniper Netteburg, who finished the way astatine property 4, wearing a Wonder Woman costume, with her parents and 3 siblings connected Oct. 13, 2020, said her parents, who are missionary doctors.

Her household hiked sections implicit a play of months, but that inactive counts arsenic agelong arsenic they didn't skip immoderate portion of the trail, said Ken Bunning, president of Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Association.

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It whitethorn look utmost for a kid, but a pediatrician sees nary harm.

Kids are resilient capable to grip the acquisition arsenic agelong arsenic parents support their societal and affectional improvement successful caput and standard the hike to kids' abilities, said Dr. Laura Blaisdell, a pediatrician and aesculapian advisor to the American Camp Association.

For Harvey's hike, his parents decided to instrumentality a “mini retirement” from their existent property jobs successful Lynchburg, Virginia. They’d been hiking with Harvey since helium was 2, truthful the Appalachian Trail made consciousness to them.

It was mostly creaseless sailing aft a snowstorm successful the Smoky Mountains forced them to backtrack much than 30 miles (48 kilometers) to information implicit 2 1/2 days.

The household became accustomed to sleeping successful a tent, waking astatine 5:30 a.m. and hiking each day. There was a simplicity to the regular and a camaraderie with different "thru hikers" that kept it from getting boring, Josh Sutton said.

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Karl Donus Sakas, a hiker known arsenic “Sugar Man” who accompanied the Suttons from Pennsylvania to the extremity successful Maine, said Harvey had boundless energy.

“He’s beauteous beardown and tough. So often we’d get to campy and I'd beryllium beaten and tired. And Little Man would say, ‘Let’s play frost tag!’” helium said.

The parents said the biggest situation was keeping their son’s imaginativeness engaged. Harvey made plans to physique homes, conception abstraction ships and big a lava enactment successful discussions implicit miles and hours of hiking, Sakas said.

Sakas helped retired by mounting up a treasure hunt with faux maps, hidden toys and glow sticks connected the way implicit respective days successful New Jersey.

Some different thru hikers gave Little Man toys, including a favored rock, Hot Wheels and a pouch watch. At a Dollar General store, the lad bought a calculator to support way of the miles.

The hike showed the spot of teamwork and further solidified the Suttons’ relationship, Cassie Sutton said. “We’re person than ever before,” she said.

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They completed the hike Aug. 9 atop Mount Katahdin. Now it's disconnected to kindergarten for Little Man and backmost to enactment for his parents.

Harvey’s travel earned accolades from different hiking legend, Dale “Greybeard” Sanders, the oldest idiosyncratic to hike the trail, astatine property 82 successful 2017.

“It’s going to alteration his beingness forever, and his parents’ life, too. The kid went done immoderate hardships, but don’t we all? Hardships marque america stronger,” said Sanders, present 86, of Bartlett, Tennessee. “That kid is going to grin done life.”

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This communicative has been corrected to amusement the past sanction of the kid believed to beryllium the Appalachian Trail’s youngest hiker is spelled Netteburg, not Netteberg.

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Follow David Sharp connected Twitter astatine https://twitter.com/David_Sharp_AP

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