Photo: Betty Kellenberg
At 80 years old, Betty Kellenberger has become the oldest woman to hike the entire Appalachian Trail, more than 2,000 miles from Georgia to Maine. During a teaching career of more than four decades, she took on cross-country bicycling trips and extended hiking trips in the Canadian Rockies and Peru. She was recovering from a knee replacement surgery when she began hiking her way into shape in 2024. She battled dehydration, a concussion from a nasty fall and Lyme disease before Hurricane Helene forced her to change her route. As she worked through New England during the 2025 hiking season, Kellenberger began to hear rumblings that she was set to become the oldest woman to complete the trail. The women’s age record previously belonged to Linda Vanderloop, who finished the trail in 2024 at age 74. Kellenberger, who says the hike has her in the best shape of her life, now has her sights set on hiking in Iceland and perhaps taking on the North Country Trail.
|
|
More:
