91-Year-Old Dale Sanders Reclaims Oldest Appalachian Trail Hiker Record
Dale “Greybeard” Sanders has never seemed particularly interested in slowing down. At 91, the retired Navy veteran has just accomplished something most people half his age would find daunting: completing the entire Appalachian Trail and reclaiming the record for the oldest person to do it.
Sanders reached the summit of Mount Katahdin in Maine on Aug. 31, officially completing his latest journey and taking back a title he first earned nearly a decade ago.
“It’s harder on you physically when you get older and you simply cannot do what a 21-year-old can,” Sanders says. “Those limitations are the reason why I’m the only one in their 90s that has ever hiked the entire Appalachian Trail.”
Sanders originally set the record in 2017, when he completed the trail at 82. Four years later, fellow hiker MJ “Nimblewill Nomad” Eberhart surpassed him at age 83. Sanders eventually decided he wanted his record back.
Putting It Into Perspective
The Appalachian Trail stretches roughly 2,200 miles through 14 states, and completing it is no small undertaking at any age. Sanders chose to break up his journey rather than stay on the trail for an entire year.
“My wife didn’t want me to be gone for a year, so I did it for six months, then came home for the winter, and then went back to finish,” he explains.
The Appalachian Trail Conservancy considers a thru-hike to be the completion of every section of the trail, in any order, within a 12-month period. Taking a break during that time is allowed.
For Sanders, the final push was particularly demanding. The climb toward the top of Mount Katahdin includes about 5,200 feet of elevation change. With only two-tenths of a mile left to go, Sanders fell onto the rocks and experienced intense pain in his right thigh and knee.
“It was so bad. I was there laying on the rocks, couldn’t hike up, couldn’t hike down,” he says.
He waited for the pain to ease before continuing.
“God must have been with me because I’m in such good shape, the pain started subsiding after about 30 minutes and I was able to walk to the top.”
A Lifetime of Staying Active
Sanders, a Kentucky native who now lives in Tennessee, says his ability to take on challenges like the Appalachian Trail comes from a lifetime of staying active.
His interest in adventure began long before he became a record-setting long-distance hiker.
As a young corpsman working at the Naval Hospital in Oakland, Calif., Sanders became involved in the spearfishing community and took up competitive diving. After his first period of military service, he earned a graduate degree in Parks and Recreation from Pepperdine University and spent four years working in the field before returning to the Navy.
Sanders eventually retired from the military in 2002 after 37 years of service.
He met his wife, Meriam, while stationed in the Philippines, and the couple married in 1980. They eventually settled in Memphis and now have three children and grandchildren.
Over the years, Sanders has continued looking for new challenges. One of his most memorable adventures came when he was 80. He paddled the entire length of the Mississippi River, traveling from its source to the Gulf of Mexico in 80 days while raising money in support of Juvenile Diabetes.
He also has a Guinness World Record. At 87, Sanders became the oldest person to complete the Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim hike across the Grand Canyon — traveling from one rim to the other and then making the return journey.
And even after reclaiming the Appalachian Trail record at 91, Sanders isn't ready to call it quits.
“I have that record now, but I want to raise the age to 91,” he says of his goal to break his own Grand Canyon record.
For the moment, however, he has another adventure in mind. Sanders says he has been offered the opportunity to scuba dive with the fish at the Atlanta aquarium, an experience that would bring him back to one of his earliest passions.
“I got an offer to scuba dive with the fish in the Atlanta aquarium. And that’s a fun thing,” he says. “I’m going to pick them up on that offer. That’s my next thing to do.”
At 91, Sanders has already reclaimed one record. He clearly isn't finished making memories.
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