Suzanne's Mom's Blog

Photo: Robert F Bukaty/AP.
Appalachian Trail hiker Dale Sanders wades across Big Wilson Stream on the 100-Mile Wilderness north of Monson, Maine, on 29 July 2026. 

I have started using two sticks for walks. My daughter-in-law gave them to me for my birthday this past summer, and I think they’re great. But would I try doing what this 91-year-old just did with his sticks? Not on your life! We all have different ambitions.

Lucy Campbell (and various new agencies) have the story at the Guardian.

“A 91-year-old hiker has reclaimed his record as the oldest person to complete the more than 2,000-mile Appalachian Trail.

“By his count, Dale Sanders, of Tennessee, fell 71 times during the feat, six of which he said were hard falls and one which required a brief hospitalization and another just 200 yards from the end. The 2,193-mile trail runs between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine.

“The Appalachian Trail Conservancy defines a thru-hike as completing all of the trail’s sections in any order within a year, allowing for pauses. Sanders began his hike on 6 September 2025 in West Virginia and, allowing for some brief breaks, he completed his journey on [31 August 2026] atop Maine’s highest peak, where he paused to pray at the sign marking the summit.

“ ‘I had to thank God, and I had to thank my support team and everybody that got me here,’ Sanders, whose trail name is Grey Beard, told the Associated Press.

“Also pushing him to keep going were his thousands of followers on social media. ‘I wanna get [my record] back, but right now, that’s secondary,’ he told the AP. ‘Right now, what’s the most important thing – and it’s one of the things that surprised me – is that people are motivated and given encouragement by my efforts.’

Read about his other accomplishments at the Guardian, here. No paywall. Also, a July article at the New York Times, here, had more background, if you’re interested.