80-Year-Old Becomes Oldest Woman to Finish Appalachian Trail

If anyone proves that age is just a number, it’s 80-year-old Betty Kellenberger. On September 12, 2025, she made history as the oldest woman to complete a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. She trekked a gruelling 2,200 miles across 14 states, from Maine to Georgia, completing a goal she first set for herself as a child.

Kellenberger—a retired school teacher—first came across the famous Appalachian Trail while reading about it during elementary school. The adventure immediately sparked her interest, and she decided she wanted to hike it one day. However, life got in the way, and she never found the right time to face the challenge until later.

Kellenberger has been active throughout her life, and previously hiked the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, as well as the Canadian Rockies. However, the Appalachian Trail was the real test. The trail’s elevation gain rivals climbing Mount Everest 16 times, and roughly three-quarters of thru-hikers never reach the finish. However, that didn’t stop Kellenberger. “I remember thinking, ‘How long do you think you have to think about it? You know, I’m pushing 80,” Kellenberger recalls. “Am I going to wait until I’m pushing 90?’ So yeah, it sort of pushed me into action.”

In 2022, Kellenberger began researching the trail and made her first attempt with trail partner Joe Cox. Unfortunately, Cox suffered a serious fall on Mount Katahdin in Maine and was forced to leave the trail the following day. Betty pushed on for a few more days, but ongoing dehydration, Lyme disease, and a concussion ultimately made it impossible to continue. In 2023, a determined Kellenberger tried again, starting at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, and heading north. She made it all the way to Massachusetts, but unfortunately, a bad fall forced her to abandon the route.

After Cox passed away, Kellenberger decided it was time to lace up her hiking boots once more and return to the Appalachian Trail in his honor. “I chose to dedicate my hike to honor him. His service to his country and to the hiking community and to me as a novice hiker became my raison d’être,” she says. “I set out to do a thru-hike because that is what Joe wanted for me.”

In 2024, after her knee replacement surgery, Kellenberger set off again from Harpers Ferry, this time heading south. But in September, Hurricane Helene brought down trees across the southern trail, forcing officials to halt sections of the route. Hikers were offered the opportunity to pause their hike and carry their completed miles into the next year—an unusual exception from the trail’s strict 12-month completion rule.

After more training, Kellenberger returned to the trail in March 2025. However, when faced with the notoriously difficult Maine and New Hampshire mountains, Kellenberger questioned whether she could keep going. Fortunately, she met a fellow hiker who gave her the encouragement she needed. “I was hiking alone, and I just thought, if I have to do this alone, I’m not sure I can do it. And he says, ‘Well, you can quit, and nobody will point fingers at you and blame you or anything. But you’ll never know whether you could have done it or not. If you go and you take it on and you try it, then you’ll at least know.’”

Despite her aching feet, heavy backpack, bad weather, and endless piles of rocks, Kellenberger finally did it. On September 12, at age 80, Kellenberger completed the trail’s northern end, surpassing the previous record by six years and becoming the oldest woman to finish the Appalachian Trail. “I’ve had a ‘series of unfortunate events’, I call them. But each one, I learned something,” Kellenberger says. “Each one, I got a little stronger. Each one, I got a better story. And so then, this year, I was able to do it.”

And for anyone holding back on a dream because they think they’re too old, Kellenberger has some wise advice. “Get out, move, set a goal, and work toward it,” she says. “The bigger the goal, the greater the reward. Don’t let society or friends and family set your limitations.”