MAINE — Dale Sanders, 91, reclaimed the record as the oldest person to complete the Appalachian Trail. He completed the 2,193-mile trail on Monday atop Mount Katahdin in Maine.

Sanders' trail name is Grey Beard. He underwent six months of training before the hike. Thousands of followers follow him on social media.

He said that right now, what’s the most important thing – and it’s one of the things that surprised him – is that people are motivated and given encouragement by his efforts. He wants to get his record back, but at that moment, it was secondary.

The journey included physical challenges and medical incidents. He fell 71 times during the hike. Six of the falls were hard falls.

One fall required a brief hospitalization. One fall occurred just 200 yards from the end of the trail. In June, he fell forward in a boulder field while descending Killington Mountain in central Vermont, scraping his legs, arms, and hands. He said thank God nothing got broken, but he was banged up. He did not rub the blood off and just kept hiking.

Weeks after the June fall, his left arm went numb and he was hospitalized in Maine. Doctors initially feared he had suffered a stroke, but diagnosed a pinched nerve. He considered giving up after being cleared to resume hiking.

He returned home to Tennessee in early August to be with his wife, whose mother had just died. His wife convinced him to continue the hike.

Ewenson described her reaction to meeting the hiker. She said her first thought was that his mobility was insane. She said his face on that body just doesn’t make any sense. She said her brain couldn’t compute how he was so impossibly fit for being that age. She said seeing it in real life is something that she’ll definitely remember forever.

Upon reaching the summit, he paused to pray at the sign marking the summit of Mount Katahdin. He said he had to thank God and his support team and everybody that got him there. He took a power nap on the trail for two minutes before continuing to hike.

He said last month that even today, he feels that he should probably be in better shape than he is. But he just has to always go back and say that he is 91, so he’s blazing new ground hiking long distances like this.

Why It Matters

He reclaimed a record previously held by M.J. Eberhart, whose trail name is Nimblewill Nomad, who took the record in 2021 at age 83. He first set the Appalachian Trail record in 2017 at age 82. This achievement adds to a history of endurance feats by him, who became the oldest person to paddle the entire length of the Mississippi River in 2022. The Mississippi River paddle trip lasted 87 days and started on his 87th birthday.

The completion of the hike connects to the broader history of the trail and his personal background. The Appalachian Trail was completed in 1937. He was born in Kentucky in 1935. He was bullied as a child for his small size. He gained confidence in solo sports such as acrobatics and swimming. He served in the Navy. He retired in 2002 after a career in parks and recreation.

Timeline

He was born in Kentucky in 1935.

M.J. Eberhart, whose trail name is Nimblewill Nomad, took the record in 2021 at age 83. He became the oldest person to paddle the entire length of the Mississippi River in 2022. The official record of this event states that Sanders completed the Appalachian Trail in 359 days, starting on September 6, 2025, and finishing on August 31, 2026.

What's New

Sanders completed his hike of the Appalachian Trail at the summit of Mount Katahdin on Monday, Aug. 31, 2026.

Meredith Ewenson met him in June while leading a hike in New Hampshire. Ewenson's group caught up with him at an Appalachian Mountain Club hut around 4 p.m. He told Ewenson's group that he got there at noon. He performed a "victory dance" before setting off again the next morning.