Move & Explore
Extraordinary effort
7-12
This 10-year-old just completed the Appalachian Trail
Photo and reporting by
Bangor Daily News
Liam Holland, 10, walked all 2,197 miles of the Appalachian Trail with his father Dola, from Georgia to the summit of Katahdin, in 172 days. His pack still weighed 13 pounds with winter gear on it 300 miles in, and his right foot had hurt since week two.
Two sets of hands
Dola hiked every mile beside him, but when Liam hit mile 300 with a bad foot and 1,900 to go, his father didn't make the call either way. He said he wasn't going to be the one who decided his son could or couldn't do it.
Why we picked this one
Nobody in this story tells Liam he's too young. Not the state of Vermont, which approved his homeschool plan and wished him luck, not the strangers who grilled burgers at road crossings, and not his own father, who had the veto and refused to use it. The doubt shows up exactly once, at mile 300, and it's Liam's own, worked out on a phone call with his mother. That's the part worth stealing: the adults kept clearing the path and staying out of the decision.
Pitch the tent in the backyard, not the living room. Sleeping bags, breakfast cooked outside the next morning, and once that zipper closes for the night nobody comes back in the house, no matter what they hear out there.
Read the full story at
Bangor Daily News
Where it happened:
Appalachian Trail
Somewhere near you there's a kid who thinks Mahoosuc Notch sounds like a playground. You don't have to find out if they can hike from Georgia, just whether they can make it through one night in a tent in the yard without coming back inside.