Annually, over 14 million older adults in the U.S. experience falls, with none perhaps doing so as frequently as 91-year-old Dale Sanders.

According to his tally, Sanders fell 71 times while reclaiming his status as the oldest hiker to complete the Appalachian Trail.

Six of those were what he calls hard falls, including one that led to a brief hospital stay and another just 200 yards from the finish.

But none were enough to permanently divert him from the 2,193-mile (3,530-kilometer) trail that runs between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine.

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy defines a thru-hike as completing all sections of the trail in any order within a year, with breaks allowed.

Sanders began on September 6 in West Virginia, moved around with short pauses, and finished on Monday at the top of Maine's highest peak, where he stopped to pray at the summit marker.

“I owed a debt of gratitude to God, as well as to my support team and everyone who played a part in bringing me to this point,” he remarked.

Sanders, known on the trail as Grey Beard, initially established the Appalachian Trail record in 2017 at the age of 82.

Four years later, his 83-year-old companion M.J. Eberhart, also recognized as Nimblewill Nomad, claimed the title.

However, within a matter of months, Sanders declared his intention to make a comeback.

While Sanders’ first journey proved less arduous than anticipated, the latest one posed considerably greater challenges.

Despite six months of preparation, he conceded that he was far from peak physical condition upon his return to the trail.

“And even now, I feel that I should probably be in better shape than I am,” he said last month.

“But I just have to always go back and say, ‘But I am 91, so I’m blazing new ground hiking long distances like this.’”

In June, Sanders was making his descent down Killington Mountain in central Vermont when he pitched forward across a boulder field, lacerating his legs, arms, and hands.

"Thank God nothing got broken, but I was banged up," he said.

"I didn't wipe the blood off—I just carried on hiking."

Several weeks later, his left arm went numb, leading to a hospital visit in Maine.

Although the initial concern was a stroke, it turned out to be a pinched nerve; despite being cleared to hike again soon after, he seriously considered giving up the activity.

He returned to Tennessee in early August to be with his wife, whose mother had just passed away, and she persuaded him to carry on.

Some of Sanders’ most memorable days unfolded in Pennsylvania, where she relished meticulously maintained trails and treats delivered by “trail angels.”

“When people are tending to you and delivering caramel frappes along the trail, the rocks cease to matter,” he remarked.

Indeed, Sanders has emerged as something of a celebrity among his fellow hikers.

Thousands more follow him on social media, a development that took Sanders by surprise and prompted him to broaden his objective beyond merely reclaiming his record.

“I want to recover it, but at this juncture, that takes a back seat,” he said.

“What matters most right now—and this is one of the aspects that caught me off guard—is that my efforts serve as a source of motivation and encouragement for others.”

Meredith Ewenson, who met Sanders in June while leading a hike in New Hampshire for 10 other women, said he embodied not just the idea that anything is possible, but that the journey matters most.

“Experiencing it firsthand is something I will undoubtedly cherish for the rest of my life,” she said.

Ewenson recounted that her group first spotted Sanders in the early hours of the morning, yet it was only when he swept past them several hours later that they caught sight of the Grey Beard logo emblazoned on his T-shirt and discerned his identity.

They managed to catch up with him that evening at an Appalachian Mountain Club hut, arriving around 4 p.m.

"I arrived at noon," he apprised them.

The following morning, she and the others erupted in cheers as Sanders executed a celebratory "victory dance" before resuming their journey.

"My initial reaction was, 'Wow, his mobility is incredible,'" Ewenson said.

"Seeing that face on that body just doesn't add up.

I couldn't wrap my head around how he stayed so remarkably fit at that age."

Born in Kentucky in 1935, just two years before the Appalachian Trail was finished, Sanders was bullied as a child because of his small size, but he found confidence in individual sports like acrobatics and swimming.

He later joined the Navy and retired in 2002 after a long career in parks and recreation.

Sanders holds numerous other age-related records, including becoming the oldest person to paddle the entire length of the Mississippi River, an 87-day journey he embarked upon on his 87th birthday.

On his latest expedition, he confronted obstacles such as fallen trees and steep, rugged ascents with considerable vigor, though his stamina began to waver toward the conclusion of a demanding 12-mile (19-kilometer) day.

He collapsed onto the trail, announced he required a brief rest, and promptly drifted into a short sleep.

A couple of minutes elapsed before he rose to his feet and continued his ascent.

This story was amended to clarify that Sanders experienced what he describes as six hard falls, not seven, during his most recent trail hike.

Ramer filed this report from Concord, New Hampshire.