Aging is one cold hard truth of life that no one can escape. But while many of us give up on things we love, crippled by this undeniable truth, others embrace it and keep on doing what they love. One such individual is 82-year old Dale Sanders who has just become the oldest person ever to hike the 2190-mile Appalachian Trail in just one year. This is his story.
About a couple of months ago, Dale Sanders, who is fondly referred to as ‘Grey Beard’, had almost made up his mind to give up. This seems justifiable and reasonable considering that fact that most people he had met on the trail were about 50 to 60 years younger than him. That is when he called up his wife in Bartlett, Tennessee urged him to keep moving forward. After the thumbs up from his doctors, he continued the trail, becoming the oldest person to complete the entire length of the Appalachian Trail within 12 months.
Born in 1935, Sanders is himself two years older than the Appalachian Trail which was only officially connected in 1937. What is even more impressive is that this is not his only accomplishment and the 82-year-young man has also achieved several other amazing feats. His tryst with adventure and records began back in 1959 when he broke the record for holding breath underwater. About six years later, in 1965, he was the IUSA Spearfishing Athlete of the Year. Around a couple of years ago, he added another thing to the list of his achievements when he paddled the entire length of the Mississippi River.
However, even after having indulged in so many adventures throughout his life, what he had never done was a hike that lasted for more than two weeks. The trail was not that easy to complete for him either. Being someone who likes or perhaps enjoys the company of other people, he went through several periods of depression while hiking on the trail alone. Coming as a ray of joy and great support were people he calls ‘trail angels’ who recognized him from the internet and called out ‘Grey Beard,' even hiking through some stretches of the trail alongside him.
While trekking through the dense forests, Sanders had to keep track of his blood pressure medicine and use the two different kinds of eye drops that help him manage his glaucoma. Other obstacles that his courageous soul overcame to complete the trail was getting through a hip injury which he had endured while trekking on Kinsman Mountain in New Hampshire. That injury, he remembers, took him almost two complete months to just stop hurting. There were about 100 other falls that he had to endure on this trail.
After walking much of the hike alone, he was accompanied by his friends and family and a couple of dogs he found on his way for the last mile of the hike before Appalachian Trail Conservancy headquarters in Harpers Ferry in West Virginia.
Dale Sanders’ story is not just amazing, but an inspiration to all of us who let small excuses come in our way to achieve greatness. Sanders did what he loved all his life and did not let anything, not even age, come in his way and stop him from doing what he loved. Although he did think of giving up on the trail, he did complete it with a little encouragement from his loved ones. If this 82-year-old man can do something so strenuous that most people half his age cannot complete, who is to say that we cannot achieve something we put our minds to! We hope you will find motivation in Dale Sanders’ inspiring story and achieve whatever you aspire for.
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