Blue Ridge Country Jan/Feb 2025 - 67

Family Strong on the AT
In the face of personal, family and business challenges, Nikki Bettis
gathered her 13 children, convinced them to walk the Maine-to-Georgia
Appalachian Trail and then went out and did it.
BY ERIC J. WALLACE | PHOTOS COURTESY BETTIS FAMILY
N
ikki Bettis stood on the
stone
at
the
viewing platform
4,049-foot summit
of Hawksbill Mountain
awed by 360-degree
views of Shenandoah National Park, its
namesake valley and a seemingly endless
horizon of Alleghany Mountains hilling
off to the west. Tears streaked her cheeks
as her 13 kids shouldered their packs and
fell into a motley single-file line heading
north on the connector that would bring
them back to the Appalachian Trail.
" That's when I felt sure that we were
really going to finish, " says Bettis, a
49-year-old single mom from Danville,
Virginia. " I realized we were going to
accomplish something major-and we
were going to do it as a family. "
The 4- to 19-year-old troop had by
then been on the AT for nearly five
months and hiked about 930 miles from
Springer Mountain, Georgia. Reading
tales in online forums about trying to thru-hike
long distances with even one or
two kids in tow had brought serious worries.
But with the now-seasoned trekkers
crushing miles like nobody's business?
" I felt so much pride, " says Bettis. " It
was like, 'Are these the same kids?' Their
confidence was through-the-roof. "
The family rode the momentum to
the summit of Mount Katahdin in Maine
and a flip-finish through Tennessee's
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
on October 19, 2023. Bettis says they
came away feeling validated in taking on
an adventure some called impossible.
" The idea was to use the trip to get
ABOVE: " Reaching the quarter-way sign in southwest Virginia was a huge milestone, " says Nikki
Bettis (left). " We felt like we'd finally found our groove. "
LEFT: The Bettis family fanned out across the famed Dragon's Tooth rock formation at the
summit of 2,684-foot Cove Mountain in Virginia.
away, help each other heal and have a
great time, " she says. The close-knit family
had been through a contentious divorce
and the closure of two small businesses
within three years. Bettis figured
they'd finish at least half of the trail, but
the outcome eclipsed her wildest hopes.
" It was a transformative experience, "
she says. " We came in feeling pretty
bleak. But the journey helped us recharge
and build the confidence to meet the future
with optimism and open arms. "
Bettis grew up in Texas prairie
country where thousand-mile chains of
lush green mountains seemed as alien as
Jupiter. A National Geographic article
about the AT inspired dreams of thruhikes
at age 12-but her parents weren't
outdoorsy and adult life comes on quick.
Within a few years Bettis had gone
to work, married and had her first child.
More came soon thereafter. Parenting,
housekeeping and careers took precedent.
Hiking reentered the picture when a job
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2025 67
13 Kids,
2,044
Miles

Blue Ridge Country Jan/Feb 2025

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