photograph by karen pulfer focht
Dale Sanders begins his expedition.
In our November 2025 issue, editor-in-chief Anna Traverse introduced readers to Bartlett resident Dale Sanders, now age 91, who was embarking on a grueling adventure: He planned to hike the entire 2,193-mile length of the Appalachian Trail.
His trail name: Grey Beard, and readers following his adventures on his Instagram posts.
On Monday, August 31, Sanders completed the journey that he first began last September. Appalachian Trail Conservancy rules don't require a non-stop journey; the long trek can be completed in sections, as long as they are finished in a year.
What's especially remarkable is that Sanders was actually breaking his own record, which he had set in 2017 at age 82. When that record was broken by another, slightly older hiker, he set out to reclaim it.
It wasn't an easy journey. According to CNN, Sanders took a few hard falls along the way, “but I just wiped off the blood and kept going."
At trail’s end, Mt. Kahahdin in Maine, Sanders told reporters, “I had to thank God, and to all my supporters who helped get me here.”
You can read more about this amazing gentleman in our November 2025 cover story here.
