Daily Weird News Report
Dale Sanders has completed the Appalachian Trail at 91, reclaiming the record for the oldest person to finish the more than 2,000-mile route, according to reporting by The Guardian and the Associated Press.
Sanders began his hike in West Virginia on September 6, 2025, and completed it Monday at the summit of Mount Katahdin in Maine. The trail stretches 2,193 miles between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Katahdin. Under the Appalachian Trail Conservancy’s definition, a thru-hike can include pauses, provided the hiker completes every section within a year.
The journey was physically punishing. Sanders said he fell 71 times, with six falls causing serious impacts. One fall required a short hospital stay, while another occurred only about 200 yards from the finish. In June, he fell in a boulder field while descending Vermont’s Killington Mountain, scraping his arms, legs and hands. Later, numbness in his left arm led to treatment in Maine for a pinched nerve.
After being cleared to continue, Sanders briefly considered abandoning the effort. He returned home to Tennessee in early August to be with his wife after the death of her mother, but said she encouraged him to resume the hike.
At the summit, Sanders paused to pray and thanked God, his support team and others who had helped him. He also credited people who followed his progress online with helping him persist. Regaining the record, he said, had become less important than the encouragement his effort provided to others.
Sanders first set the age record in 2017, when he completed the trail at 82. Four years later, his friend MJ Eberhart—known on the trail as Nimblewill Nomad—surpassed him at age 83. Sanders subsequently announced plans to reclaim the distinction.
Among the more welcome moments for Sanders were stretches in Pennsylvania, where he said well-maintained paths and snacks from trail supporters made the difficult terrain easier to bear.
Born in Kentucky in 1935, Sanders later served in the Navy and worked in parks and recreation before retiring in 2002. He also holds other age-related endurance records, including completing the length of the Mississippi River by paddle in 2022 at age 87.
