A five-year-old boy who is starting kindergarten in Virginia this month has become one of the youngest people ever to hike the entire Appalachian Trail after completing the full 2,193-mile trek with his family this year.

Harvey Sutton — or 'Little Man,' as he is known on the Appalachian Trail — is one 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.

Harvey told the AP that it was hard work, but he had fun checking out frogs, lizards, and other wildlife — and also enjoyed sprinkling Skittles onto peanut butter tortillas as fuel for the walk.

Harvey was four years old in January when he and his parents began their walk at Springer Mountain, in Georgia, the start of the 2,193-mile (3,530 kilometers) trail.

He turned five before the family completed the journey on August 9 on the top of Mount Katahdin, Maine's highest mountain.  

For Harvey's hike, his parents decided to take a 'mini retirement' from their real estate jobs in Lynchburg, Virginia. They'd been hiking with Harvey since he was two, so the Appalachian Trail made sense to them.

It was mostly smooth sailing after a snowstorm in the Smoky Mountains forced them to backtrack more than 30 miles (48 kilometers) to safety over two-and-a-half days.