Move & Explore
Extraordinary Effort
7-12
Plymouth 10-year-old Completes 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail
Photo and reporting by
Mountain Times
Forest Holland was ten years old when he finished walking all 2,200 miles of the Appalachian Trail, Georgia to Maine, in 172 days. Most of those days meant ten hours on the trail with his father Dola beside him.
The parent said yes
Dola brought it up once, picking Forest up from soccer practice, the way you'd mention a movie. Forest said yes, so Dola cleared seven months and walked every one of the 2,200 miles next to him.
Why we picked this one
The whole thing turns on one line in a car after soccer practice, not a training plan or a spreadsheet. Forest said yes, and Dola didn't build in an exit.
Dola didn't sit on it for a year, he said it out loud once and then didn't take it back. What's the sentence you're rehearsing instead of saying?
Forest walked to Maine before some kids finish arguing about bedtime. Start smaller: tent in the backyard, sleeping bags, breakfast outside, and no coming inside overnight for any reason.
Read the full story at
Mountain Times
Where it happened:
Plymouth, Vermont; Appalachian Trail