Think about the longest walk you have ever taken. Maybe it was a charity walk, a day on a hiking trail, or a slow loop around the neighborhood after a big holiday dinner.
Now picture stringing enough of those walks together to cover nearly 2,200 miles, from Georgia all the way to Maine.
That is what Dale Sanders finished on August 31, on top of Mount Katahdin, the highest peak in Maine. Hikers know him as Grey Beard. He is 91.
With that last climb, Sanders reclaimed his place as the oldest hiker to complete the Appalachian Trail, according to The Associated Press.
Who Is Grey Beard?
Sanders was born in Kentucky in 1935, two years before the Appalachian Trail was completed. Bullied as a child for his small size, he found confidence in solo sports like acrobatics and swimming.
He later served in the Navy and retired in 2002 after a long career in parks and recreation. He also holds the record as the oldest person to paddle the full length of the Mississippi River, an 87-day trip he started on his 87th birthday.
He first set the Appalachian Trail record in 2017, at 82. Four years later, his friend M.J. Eberhart, known on the trail as Nimblewill Nomad, took the title at 83. Within months, Sanders announced a comeback plan.
How Does Someone Hike It Twice?
The Appalachian Trail Conservancy counts a thru-hike as finishing every section of the trail within one year, in any order, with pauses allowed. Sanders set out last September 6 in West Virginia and hopscotched from section to section, with brief breaks along the way.
He trained for six months first. Even so, the AP reported, this trip was considerably harder than his first one.
“There’s a huge, huge difference between hiking the trail at 82 years old or at 91, huge difference,” he told PBS NewsHour. “But it is possible, because I’m proving that.”
By his own count, he fell 71 times. Six were what he calls hard falls, one of them just 200 yards from the finish.
In the summer, numbness in his left arm landed him in a hospital in Maine. It turned out to be a pinched nerve, and he was soon cleared to hike again. He considered giving up.
He went home to Tennessee in early August. His wife convinced him to press on.
Who Kept Him Going?
Here is the part worth knowing: he did not get there alone.
Some of his best days came in Pennsylvania, where the trails were well kept and “trail angels” (kind strangers who look after passing hikers) delivered treats.
“When people are taking care of you and bringing you caramel frappes on the trail, the rocks don’t matter,” he said.
The encouragement ran both ways. Thousands of people follow him on social media, and that surprised him. Reclaiming the record became secondary, he said, to seeing others find motivation and encouragement in his effort.
Meredith Ewenson met him in June while leading a hike for 10 other women in New Hampshire. Her group spotted him early one morning. Hours later, he blazed past them, and they noticed the Grey Beard logo on his T-shirt.
Later that day, the women reached an Appalachian Mountain Club hut around 4 p.m. and caught up with him. “I got here at noon,” he told them.
The next morning, he did a “victory dance” before setting off again. “Seeing it in real life is something that I’ll definitely remember forever,” Ewenson said.
He also knows when to rest. Near the end of one 12-mile day, he felt a bit wobbly, lay down on the trail and said he needed a power nap. He dozed off. Two minutes later, he got up and kept hiking.
“It’s not a sport normally participated in by older people,” Sanders told PBS NewsHour. “But maybe they will start coming out now after I’m setting the example.”
Think back to that longest walk of yours. Grey Beard made it to Katahdin on six months of training, a two-minute nap when he needed one, and strangers bearing caramel frappes.
You can lace up for your own next walk this week. Or you can be the one who shows up with the frappe.
