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Grey Beard Reclaims Record
Dale Sanders, known as "Old Man Grey Beard" and "Grey Beard," reclaimed the record as the oldest person to complete the Appalachian Trail by finishing Monday atop Maine’s highest peak after starting Sept. 6 in West Virginia.
“Sanders started Sept. 6 in West Virginia, hopscotched around with some brief breaks and finished Monday atop Maine’s highest peak”
By his count, Sanders fell 71 times during the feat, with six described as hard falls and one requiring a brief hospitalization, while the Appalachian Trail Conservancy defines a thru-hike as completing all sections in any order within a year, allowing for pauses.
The trail he completed runs between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and Sanders paused to pray at the sign marking the summit.
In June, he was descending Killington Mountain in central Vermont when he fell forward in a boulder field, scraping his legs, arms and hands, and he later said, "Thank God nothing got broken, but I was banged up."
Falls, Hospital, and Support
Sanders said he faced injuries and mishaps during the comeback, including a left arm going numb that sent him to a hospital in Maine after doctors initially feared a stroke but determined it was a pinched nerve.
He told the Associated Press, "I had to thank God, and I had to thank my support team and everybody that got me here," as he described the role of his support team in getting him through the out-of-order sections.
The Associated Press also quoted Meredith Ewenson, who met Sanders in June while leading a hike in New Hampshire for 10 other women, saying, "Seeing it in real life is something that I’ll definitely remember forever."
Ewenson said her group spotted Sanders early in the morning, then caught up with him that night at an Appalachian Mountain Club hut, arriving around 4 p.m., and she described her first reaction as, "My first thought was ‘Wow, his mobility is insane,’".
A Record and a Wider Mission
Sanders first set the Appalachian Trail record in 2017 at age 82, and four years later his 83-year-old friend M.J. Eberhart, aka Nimblewill Nomad, took the title before Sanders announced a comeback plan.
““I wanna get it back, but right now, that’s secondary,””
While he reclaimed the record by his count after falling 71 times, the Associated Press said his mission changed along the way as thousands of followers on social media surprised him and he expanded beyond reclaiming the record.
Sanders told the Associated Press, "I wanna get it back, but right now, that’s secondary," adding that "people are motivated and given encouragement by my efforts."
The Guardian reported that the Appalachian Trail is "more than 2,000-mile" and that Sanders completed the 2,193-mile trail between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, pausing to pray at the summit sign.