A 91-year-old Tennessee man has reclaimed his former title as the oldest person to complete the Appalachian Trail. It wasn’t easy. By his own count, Dale “Grey Beard” Sanders fell 71 times along the way.
The Appalachian Trail stretches 2,193 miles from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine. Sanders did not hike it in one straight trip.
He started in West Virginia on Sept. 6, 2025, then completed different sections with breaks in between. That still counts as a thru-hike under Appalachian Trail Conservancy rules, as long as every section is completed within one year.
WCYB reported that Sanders reached the top of Mount Katahdin on Monday, Aug. 31. After nearly a year on the trail, he finished just a few days before time would have run out.
Six of the Falls Were Hard Falls
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Sanders said six of his 71 falls were hard falls. In June, he fell forward while climbing down Killington Mountain in Vermont and scraped his arms, hands and legs on the rocks.
Thankfully, nothing was broken, and Sanders continued hiking. However, his left arm went numb several weeks later, and he ended up in a hospital in Maine.
Doctors initially thought he may have suffered a stroke. It turned out to be a pinched nerve, and Sanders was eventually cleared to return to the trail. One of his final falls happened just 200 yards from the finish. Once again, Sanders got back up and kept going.
He First Set the Record at 82
Sanders first became the oldest person to complete the Appalachian Trail in 2017, when he was 82. His friend M.J. “Nimblewill Nomad” Eberhart broke the record four years later at age 83.
After reaching the summit this time, Sanders paused to pray. He told The Associated Press, “I had to thank God, and I had to thank my support team and everybody that got me here.” At 87, Sanders also became the oldest person to paddle the entire length of the Mississippi River.
The Trek reported that Sanders also wants Guinness World Records to confirm his latest achievement. He collected GPS records, videos and witness statements during the hike, but Guinness still needs to review the evidence.