Betty Kellenberger Makes History as the Oldest Woman to Thru Hike the AT
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February in Georgia brings unpredictable weather, muddy trails, and the kind of cold that seeps into bones. Most hikers who begin their Appalachian Trail journey in late winter are decades younger than retirement age. Yet one woman laced up her boots, adjusted her pack, and started walking north with 2,190 miles ahead of her. Betty Kellenberger had a plan. She also had a history of setbacks that would have sent most people home for good. Lyme disease. A concussion. Fractured bones. A hurricane. Four years of attempts that ended in hospital rooms and forced evacuations. None of it stopped her from returning to the trail in 2025. On September 12, an 80-year-old retired school teacher from Michigan reached Katahdin’s summit and claimed a record six years beyond the previous holder. Her trail name, earned through years of persistence, fits perfectly. Fellow hikers call her Legend.A Dream That Waited Six Decades
Betty first encountered the Appalachian Trail in the pages of her Weekly Reader during elementary school. Something about that long ribbon of wilderness stretching from Georgia to Maine captured her imagination. She tucked the dream away, letting it hibernate through decades of teaching, cycling, and everyday life. COVID changed her calculus. Quarantine and uncertainty forced a question she had been avoiding. How much time did she really have left to attempt something so demanding? Waiting another decade seemed foolish. Waiting at all seemed like a waste of whatever years remained. She started training. At an age when many people settle into routines designed around comfort and caution, Betty prepared her body for one of the most grueling endurance challenges in American hiking. Only about one in four hikers who attempt an AT thru-hike actually complete it. Many of those who fail are young, fit, and experienced on trails far less punishing than the rocky, root-covered path that winds through 14 states.View this post on Instagram
When Georgia Tried to Stop Her
Losing a Partner, Finding a Purpose
Stubbornness runs deep in successful thru-hikers. Betty returned to the trail, picking up where she left off and adding a hiking partner to the journey. Together they planned to tackle the notoriously difficult northern sections, where New Hampshire and Maine humble even seasoned backpackers with their steep climbs and technical terrain. Her partner, a wounded warrior from the Navy who stood well over six feet tall, became both companion and motivation. His gear expertise helped Betty rethink every item in her pack. His presence made the lonely miles feel less isolating. Then tragedy struck on Katahdin itself. He fell coming down from the summit, injuring himself badly enough to end his hike. Betty pressed on alone, determined to honor his influence on her journey. What followed was a cascade of medical problems that would define her 2023 season. A fractured ankle. A fractured knee. A torn shoulder. Each injury adding to the accumulated toll on her body.Hurricane Helene and an Unexpected Deal
Finding Gear That Fits a Five-Foot Frame
A Mantra for the Hard Days
Physical preparation carries hikers only so far. Mental fortitude separates those who finish from those who quit when rain falls for the fifth straight day or when a mountain refuses to end. Betty adopted a mantra that became as essential as her trekking poles. “Rise up. Take courage and do it.” Borrowed from Ezra 10:4, those seven words carried her up climbs that seemed impossible and through valleys where loneliness pressed harder than any blister. She repeated them when her body screamed for rest. She whispered them when doubt crept in during the predawn darkness before another long day. Humor helped too. Betty considered a sense of humor required gear for any thru-hike. Days would come that challenged every assumption about personal limits. Pain would arrive, both physical and emotional. Food choices made before a particularly brutal climb would seem like personal betrayals from her past self. Without the ability to laugh at absurdity, the trail would break even the strongest hikers.September Summit and an Unexpected Record
Her 2025 attempt started in February and continued through spring rains, summer heat, and the approaching chill of New England autumn. Fellow hikers began asking her age more frequently as she moved north. Whispers about a possible record spread through the trail community. Betty dismissed the speculation at first. Records had never motivated her journey. Walking through the wilderness, proving something to herself about what remained possible at 80, connecting with the dream that had waited since elementary school, those reasons kept her moving forward. But as Maine’s brutal terrain gave way to the final approach toward Katahdin, reality set in. If she could survive the last section, she would become the oldest woman ever to complete an AT thru-hike. Six years older than the previous record holder. September 12 brought clear skies and a summit within reach. Betty climbed the final miles knowing that decades of dreaming and four years of failed attempts were about to end in triumph. Coming down from Katahdin, she let the accomplishment wash over her at last. “Yeah! I’m done. I’m done. I’m done.”Defying Expectations, One Step at a Time
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