Betty Kellenberger became the older woman through the 80s to 80s

«BEning healthier at 80 than your doctor expects is a great joy, «Betty» Legend «Kellenberger tells me by email. That could be euphemism. On September 12, Kellenberger made history by becoming the oldest woman to complete a trip of the apalaches. With 2,200 miles under her belt, she admits that she is tired and need Time to answer my questions.

The age record of women previously belonged to Linda «Nana» Vanderloop, who ended the path last year at age 74. Like Vanderloop, Kellenberger did not go to the AT with the aim of becoming the oldest woman through Hker. «The age record was incidental. In fact, I almost ended before people started asking my age and suggested that I could be breaking the record,» she says.

She had been dreaming with childhood from childhood. «Keep in mind that the path was only 20 years old when I was born. I read about it in primary school. Georgia A Maine and everything else. Pure magic. It caught my attention and my imagination.»

He was quite active throughout his life, although more of his energy entered cycling instead of walking, with some notable exceptions such as Inca Trail to Macchu Picchu and some trekking in the Canadian rock mountains. However, that AT childhood dream stayed with her.

A trip years in manufacturing

Kellenberger first arrived at the path in 2022 with the hiking partner, Joe «tracks» Cox, a veteran of the US Navy. And an injured warrior. In the middle of the way, the couple turned north to Katahdin with the intention of walking south to complete the path.

Unfortunately, Cox suffered a fall in Katahdin and left the path the next day. Kellenberger herself came out several days later due to a combination of Lyme disease, dehydration and a brain shock.

Cox could not join her in the following year, but she encouraged her to leave and finish her trip on her own. «I wanted this to me,» Kellenberger tells me. Then, in 2023, it started again north from Harpers Ferry and walked to Massachusetts before a bad fall forced her again to leave the path.

Shortly after, Cox died and Kellenberger decided to make a new attempt in his honor. «I chose to dedicate my walk to honor it. His service to his country and the hiking community and for me as a rookie hiker became my reason for being,» she says. «I set out to make a walk because that’s what Joe wanted for me.»

A legend is born

After having to delay its start date until August 2024 due to knee replacement surgery, Kellenberger broke out once again from the Harpers ferry and began walking south, until nature intervened. “Helene’s uproar hit me in the Damascus region. The ATC (APPALACHIAN TRAIL CONSERVANCY) He loved us outside the south and made an offer. «Go now, when you return in ’25, your first day will be the first day and you can bring your mileage.»

This contrasts with the standard formula of the ATC to recognize a walk. Normally, hikers must complete all trail miles within 12 months to be considered through hikers. Given the seriousness of the interruption of Hurricane Helene to the region last year, the organization modified its policies to give 2024 hikers a fighting opportunity.

After the announcement of the hurricane and the ATC, Kellenberger returned to Harpers Ferry. She walked north as far as she could cool too much to continue. When stopping for the winter, everything was over between Damascus, VA and the Massachusetts-Vermont border and only the two «extremes» had left to complete when he returned to the path in March 2025.

«I know this sounds confused,» Kellenberger acknowledges about his Flip-Flop itinerary, «but when I finished this year he had already walked a large part of the path twice.»

Kellenberger had met a Boy Scout troop in Pennsylvania that offered a path name: Legend. «I didn’t feel I could use it until I won it,» she says. «When I was in the whites of New Hampshire, I felt justified and became Betty the Legend.» It is a name that seems appropriate.

On September 12, 2025, Betty The Legend arrived once more on the MA-VT border, the 80s, and officially completed it through it.

An effort that changes life

When I wrote to Kellenberger, I asked him about the challenges he had faced along the way. «Challenges? Oh, my God. Foot pain, heavy packages, cold rain, mud swamps and swamp boards, coatings that can be too high and not high enough, tree roots, endless piles of rocks. At first I decided that the man should love the rocks because he made many of them.» I laughed when I read that part; It is very identifiable.

But despite the adversity, Kellenberger found the richly gratifying path. She admits that it is difficult to choose a «favorite» memory in a trail with so many outstanding aspects.

«Very often, it’s people,» he writes. «The fellow hikers, who create a community while dragging along the way or sharing stories in a shelter, drivers of transfers, owners of shelters, angels of trails, people who know in the supermarket who absorb everything you share with them. Their generosity towards a stranger, their consideration, their willingness to give their time and energy without a payment request.»

Like many hikers, she has feelings found on leaving the way. It is good to return to the comforts of normal life. But, on the other hand, «leaving the peace and serenity of the path, knowing a group of new friends who share a common goal with you, jumping on rocks in a current, sleeping deeply and eating everything that can be eaten are sweets that will be lost.»

She is considering walking in Iceland below, or otherwise address North Country Trail. But for now, it is time to rest and savor the memories of AT.

A word of wisdom

He had asked Kellenberger if he had any advice for older women who were interested in reaching the paths. «It would coincide with what I would say to anyone,» she replies. «Stay active. Start your training where you are physically. Go out, move, set a goal and work towards it. The greater the objective, the more the reward is. Do not allow society or your friends and family to establish its limitations.»

I reflect these words while I move through photos of a snowy hair that cliffs and cheers on the remote mountain peaks. Near the end of our correspondence, Kellenberger summarizes for me the key points of the philosophy of her life, which she also guides her walk. They seem a perfect way to close this story, so I will leave you with their words of wisdom:

1. It is the important trip. Your memories are what you will have when it ends. Don’t hurry to get to the end. Instead, live every day.
2. Stay active so you can continue doing the fun adventures you dream of doing. A healthy mind and body require that the activity remain healthy.
3. Do not let other people’s fears stop you. There will always be someone who thinks you should stay on the couch where you will be safe.

All images, including the outstanding image, courtesy of Betty Kellenberger