90-Year-Old Paddling Legend Goes For New Appalachian Trail Record (Video)

Dale “Greybeard” Sanders is something of a legend, wracking up age records for long-distance paddles and hikes throughout North America. At age 80, Sanders became the oldest person to canoe the Mississippi River from source to sea. In 2022 at age 87, Sanders did it again. Now, Sanders has set out to reclaim his Appalachian Trail age record in 2025 at age 90.

Age record-smasher Greybeard goes for Appalachian Trail record at age 90

Sanders got his start as a lifeguard and swim instructor in his younger years and became a canoe instructor in 1954.

In 2015 at age 80, Sanders set off along with a film crew and paddled the Mississippi River from its headwaters at Lake Itasca to the Gulf of Mexico. Averaging 30 miles a day, Sanders completed the journey in 80 days. At age 81, Sanders completed the MR340, a 340 mile human-powered endurance boat race across the state of Missouri.

In 2017 at age 82, Sanders became the oldest person to hike all 2,100 miles of the Appalachian Trail in one calendar year. At age 83 he hiked the 1,300 mile Florida Trail and at age 84 he tackled the Pinhole Trail, a 350-mile long trail through Alabama and Georgia. Heading from the southeast to southwest, in 2020 Sanders became the oldest person at age 85 to hike Rim to Rim to Rim in the Grand Canyon.

By 2022, Sanders set out to reclaim his Mississippi River source to sea age record in a journey documented in film GREYBEARD: The Man, The Myth, The Missississippi. At 89, Sanders became the oldest person to compete in a national-level spearfishing competition and one a third place team award. Now at age 90, after his Appalachian Trail age record was “borrowed” by Nimblewill Nomad in 2021, Sanders has set out to reclaim that record as well.

“Greybeard” leaves symbolic final mile unhiked in Harpers Ferry

Sanders began his mission to reclaim the Appalachian Trail age trail record on September 6, 2025 headed southbound from Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia toward Springer Mountain, Georgia. As of the morning of September 24, Sanders had reached mile marker 834.8 | 1362.7, having hiked 15.5 miles the previous day. Sanders aims to complete the southern half of the trail before December 10, then take a break for the winter before flipping northbound in the spring and hiking from Harpers Ferry to Mount Katahdin.

Sanders has left a single mile southbound through Harpers Ferry unhiked, and will return for that final mile after summiting Mount Katahdin. He will conclude the hike and that symbolic final mile in Harpers Ferry.

Follow Sanders’ adventure on Facebook or through his website.

Feature Image: Dale “Greybeard” Sanders. Adventureitus Productions | YouTube