US News
Dale Sanders becomes oldest person to thru-hike Appalachian Trail at age 91
The 91-year-old hiker reclaimed the age record after completing the roughly 2,200-mile trail in 359 days.
The short version
- Dale 'Grey Beard' Sanders completed a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail at age 91 atop Maine's Mount Katahdin.
- The 359-day journey spanned approximately 2,200 miles across 14 states.
- Sanders reclaimed the record he previously set at age 82 in 2017, which had been broken in 2021 by an 83-year-old hiker.
Key facts
- Dale Sanders finished his thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail atop Mount Katahdin at age 91, reclaiming the record for the oldest person to finish the route.[Fox News]
- Sanders began his trek on September 6, 2025, in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, hiked south to Georgia, paused for the winter, and completed the northern section to Maine in the spring.[Fox News]
- The entire trek took Sanders 359 days, staying within the Appalachian Trail Conservancy's one-year window for a recognized thru-hike.[Fox News]
- Sanders recorded 71 falls along the trail, including an incident on Vermont's Killington Mountain that resulted in a brief hospitalization for a pinched nerve.[Fox News]
- Sanders originally set the record in 2017 at age 82, before M.J. 'Nimblewill Nomad' Eberhart surpassed it in 2021 at age 83.[Fox News]