GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- A brother and sister living in West Michigan has traveled across the country, reaching the highest peaks in the continental 48 states. They said that they broke a world record.
Josh and Lindsay Sanders took off with their father and a photographer on June, 23, 2015, and now claim the U.S High Pointing world record.
In just 19 days, they said, that they drove 14,000 miles and hiked 300 miles.
A Lindsay, 23, a teacher in Kalamazoo started hiking with her brother as a bonding experience and grew to love it.
After 15 months of planning, the family took off with the goal of breaking the world record for speed in reaching the highest points in all the continental 48 states, a goal they said that they accomplished with plenty of time to spare.
"As you can see around, it is rather mountainous. It is rather crazy and there she is, there's Lindsay," said Josh Sanders in their YouTube video.
"Rented a van to be cheap with all of our things, because obviously, our budget was a little short," said Sanders. "The van smelled surprisingly good after 19 days. It was not as bad as you might think."
The highest point on their trip was California's Mt. Whitney, at more than 14,000 feet.
The siblings did have some close calls along the way.
"At one point, a large rock dislodged ahead of me, and I had to jump it, or it would have knocked me 800 feet down," said Sanders.
Other stops however, were not so dangerous, such as the highest spot in Louisiana. "As you can see," said Sanders in their Youtube video, "it is a short mountain. Quite franklym, I don't know the technical definition of a mountain, but this is not one."
The views at the top, Sanders said, made it all worth it.
"The Wind River Range: I mean, taking a photograph is almost pointless. It's just not going to capture the full scenery of what you are seeing out there. That was the most beautiful and the hardest."
Finally, on day 19, they reached their final destination, Mt. Katahdin, the highest point in Maine.
The siblings said that the previous record was 23 days 19 hours. Sanders said that they beat that with a time of 19 days 7 hours. To do it, they didn't stop much along the way and slept in their van taking shifts driving.
And, get this, they only stopped to eat one time, for a total of 35 minutes.
