80-year-old becomes oldest woman to complete Appalachian Trail
After Hurricane Helene upended her plans, Betty Kellenberger completed the 2,200-mile hike from Georgia to Maine, setting a new age record on the legendary trail.
The summit sign on Maine's Mount Katahdin seen at sunrise. Katahdin is the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. (Getty Images/Chris Bennett)
The Appalachian Trail is one of the ultimate endurance tests for hikers, a 2,200-mile-long journey that winds through 14 states from northern Georgia to central Maine. Completing it requires careful planning, months of trekking over rugged terrain and enduring extreme weather.
That didn't stop Betty Kellenberger, who completed the trail at the age of 80.
"On September 12, Kellenberger made history by becoming the oldest woman to complete a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail," The Trek explained on its website. "The women’s age record previously belonged to Linda 'Nana' Vanderloop, who finished the trail last year at age 74."
Unlike most thru-hikers who complete the trail in one continuous journey, Kellenberger’s path to the finish was far from typical. She began her hike in August 2024 but was forced to pause when Hurricane Helene barreled into North Carolina.
She told The Trek that, given the extreme weather, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy altered its policies and allowed her to carry over any miles hiked in 2024 into 2025. Kellenberger then hiked the trail in sections, completing some stretches last year before completing the rest this year.
On Sept. 12, she reached the summit of Mount Katahdin in Maine, the northernmost point of the Appalachian Trail, marking the end of her journey and a new entry in the record books.
“The age record was incidental. In fact, I was nearly done before people started asking my age and suggesting I could be breaking the record,” she said.
The weather often dictates when people attempt to hike the entire 2,200-mile-long trail. Most hikers plan their trips on the trail between March and October to avoid the harshest weather, but even in that window, conditions can be brutal, including springtime snow, summer thunderstorms, drought and heat, and everything in between.
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