Dale Sanders completed the Appalachian Trail on 31 August, reaching the summit of Katahdin in Maine at 11:40 p.m. to become the oldest person to thru-hike the trail. The Dale Sanders Appalachian Trail record comes at age 91, after 359 days of walking, 71 falls, and one hospitalisation that at several points looked likely to end the attempt.
Sanders, who was born in Kentucky in 1935, has been known on the trail by the nickname ‘Grey Beard’. According to The Trek, he began this attempt on 6 September 2025, aged 90, though the route itself started from Harpers Ferry, Virginia. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy sets a demanding standard: to be officially recognised as a thru-hike, a hiker must cover all 2,198 miles of the trail within 12 months of their start date. Sanders finished with time to spare.
A Record That Belonged to a Lifelong Friend
The previous record was held by someone Sanders knows well. MJ Eberhart, trail name ‘Nimblewill Nomad’ and Sanders’ lifelong friend, completed his thru-hike at age 83 in 2021, a mark that had stood until now. Sanders himself had first completed the trail in 2017 at 82 years of age, one year younger than Eberhart’s eventual record. Now, at 91, he has gone well past both.
The route Sanders took was anything but straightforward. He started by heading south from Harpers Ferry to Georgia, following warmer weather to reach the trail’s southern terminus. After pausing for winter, he returned to Harpers Ferry and began walking north towards Maine. That plan was interrupted in June when the accumulated effect of several bad falls left him with a pinched nerve serious enough to require a hospital stay. Around the same time, his mother-in-law died, and he returned home to Tennessee.
His wife persuaded him to go back and finish. He did, retracing steps to complete an unhiked stretch in the Great Smoky Mountains before returning to his pause point in the north and continuing on to Katahdin.
Dale Sanders Appalachian Trail: What Kept Him Going
Along the way, Sanders credited what trail culture calls ‘trail angels’, people who appear at intervals with supplies and, in his case, caramel frappes. ‘When people are taking care of you and bringing you caramel frappes on the trail, the rocks don’t matter,’ he told the AP. The appetite for sweet things is part of his public persona. His advice, as communicated to the Stein Institute for Research on Aging, is that ‘it’s OK to eat doughnuts if you also exercise.’
Sanders also spoke to the New York Times, who accompanied him on part of his route in New Hampshire, on what draws him outdoors. ‘I love the outdoors. When I’m in the woods and the Sun is shining, I’m in my best mood,’ he said. ‘I’m not knocking the gym, but you have to get outside.’
The Appalachian Trail is not a trivial undertaking at any age. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy recognises a thru-hike completed in sections, with any chosen start and stop points, provided the full 2,198 miles are walked within a single calendar year. Sanders’ non-linear approach, beginning in the middle, going south, pausing, going north, backtracking to fill a gap in the Smokies, then finishing on the mountain in Maine, all qualifies under those rules.
The AT is not new territory for Sanders. He has hiked across the country and recently completed a rim-to-rim hike in the Grand Canyon, becoming the oldest person to do so. The Appalachian Trail completion in 2017 at 82 was already a record at the time. His age-91 return, crossing Katahdin’s summit just before midnight, pushes that number well beyond what had previously seemed possible.
On the summit, hands raised, Sanders thanked what he called ‘the glorious Creator’ for the strength to finish. The 12-month clock, set from his September 2025 start date, gave him until September 2026 to complete all 2,198 miles. He crossed the finish line eight days into the final month with enough of the year left to breathe.
