Garden Stater Becomes Oldest Woman Ever To Hike Appalachian Trail Within One Year

A 78-year-old woman breathed a well-deserved sigh of relief after summiting Mount Katahdin in Maine on November 21.

Or, maybe, sigh of exhaustion.

Susan Juronics of Hightstown, N.J., walked 2,190 miles from Georgia to Maine in the last year in what Appalachian Trail gurus call a “thru-hike.”

Juronics hiked the grueling distance with her daughter, Gretchen Stokes, who posted video of their trek on her Facebook page.

Not for nothing, Stokes is glad to point out that another, older woman who recently completed the same distance took more than a year to do it.

Betty Kellenberger, 80, completed the trail two months ago but it took her three years to do it so it didn’t meet the definition of a “thru-hike.”

A thru-hike is defined as completing the entire Appalachian Trail within 12 months, although it can be done in sections within that time span.

Stokes takes nothing from Kellenberger but heck, she is more than glad to point out her mom pulled off the stunt in 12 months, not 36.

“My mom has terrible hearing, her sight is getting worse, the feeling in her fingers is not great, and she did have a shoulder replacement in order to complete the Maine portion of the trail, prior to the thru hike,” Stokes told The Maine Wire.

“She is looking forward to a big meal, a shower and a bed indoors,” Stokes said.

When Stokes told her mother the oldest previous female thru-hiker was 74, Juronics replied, “I was surprised it wasn’t older. I knew I could do that!”

Juronics takes walking seriously, even if she’s not as fast as she used to be – hence her trail name: “Turtletoe.”