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Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite History & Biography (2014)Winner of the 2014 National Outdoor Book Awards for History/Biography
Emma Gatewood told her family she was going on a walk and left her small Ohio hometown with a change of clothes and less than two hundred dollars. The next anybody heard from her, this genteel, farm-reared, 67-year-old great-grandmother had walked 800 miles along the 2,050-mile Appalachian Trail. And in September 1955, having survived a rattlesnake strike, two hurricanes, and a run-in with gangsters from Harlem, she stood atop Maine’s Mount Katahdin. There she sang the first verse of “America, the Beautiful” and proclaimed, “I said I’ll do it, and I’ve done it.”
Grandma Gatewood, as the reporters called her, became the first woman to hike the entire Appalachian Trail alone, as well as the first person—man or woman—to walk it twice and three times. Gatewood became a hiking celebrity and appeared on TV and in the pages of Sports Illustrated. The public attention she brought to the little-known footpath was unprecedented. Her vocal criticism of the lousy, difficult stretches led to bolstered maintenance, and very likely saved the trail from extinction.
Author Ben Montgomery was given unprecedented access to Gatewood’s own diaries, trail journals, and correspondence, and interviewed surviving family members and those she met along her hike, all to answer the question so many asked: Why did she do it? The story of Grandma Gatewood will inspire readers of all ages by illustrating the full power of human spirit and determination. Even those who know of Gatewood don’t know the full story—a story of triumph from pain, rebellion from brutality, hope from suffering.
Emma Gatewood told her family she was going on a walk and left her small Ohio hometown with a change of clothes and less than two hundred dollars. The next anybody heard from her, this genteel, farm-reared, 67-year-old great-grandmother had walked 800 miles along the 2,050-mile Appalachian Trail. And in September 1955, having survived a rattlesnake strike, two hurricanes, and a run-in with gangsters from Harlem, she stood atop Maine’s Mount Katahdin. There she sang the first verse of “America, the Beautiful” and proclaimed, “I said I’ll do it, and I’ve done it.”
Grandma Gatewood, as the reporters called her, became the first woman to hike the entire Appalachian Trail alone, as well as the first person—man or woman—to walk it twice and three times. Gatewood became a hiking celebrity and appeared on TV and in the pages of Sports Illustrated. The public attention she brought to the little-known footpath was unprecedented. Her vocal criticism of the lousy, difficult stretches led to bolstered maintenance, and very likely saved the trail from extinction.
Author Ben Montgomery was given unprecedented access to Gatewood’s own diaries, trail journals, and correspondence, and interviewed surviving family members and those she met along her hike, all to answer the question so many asked: Why did she do it? The story of Grandma Gatewood will inspire readers of all ages by illustrating the full power of human spirit and determination. Even those who know of Gatewood don’t know the full story—a story of triumph from pain, rebellion from brutality, hope from suffering.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2014
About the author
Ben Montgomery
9 books193 followersBen grew up in Oklahoma and wanted to be a farmer before he got into journalism at Arkansas Tech University, where he played defensive back for the football team, the Wonder Boys. He worked for the Courier in Russellville, Ark., the Standard-Times in San Angelo, Texas, the Times Herald-Record in New York's Hudson River Valley and the Tampa Tribune before joining the Tampa Bay Times, Florida's biggest and best newspaper, in 2006.
In 2010, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in local reporting and won the Dart Award and Casey Medal for a series called "For Their Own Good," about abuse at Florida's oldest reform school. He lives in Tampa with his wife, Jennifer, and three children.
In 2010, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in local reporting and won the Dart Award and Casey Medal for a series called "For Their Own Good," about abuse at Florida's oldest reform school. He lives in Tampa with his wife, Jennifer, and three children.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,923 reviews
April 21, 2024
This is a truly inspiring tale that touched my heart in more ways than one.
As I listened to the audiobook, narrated with warmth and reverence, I was transported to the rugged beauty of the Appalachian Trail and felt as though I was walking alongside Emma every step of the way. Her resilience and tenacity left me in awe, and her story served as a powerful reminder of the boundless potential that lies within each of us. You can get audiobook version here: Grandma Gatewood's Walk Audiobook Version
In this captivating biography, Montgomery paints a vivid portrait of Emma Gatewood, a remarkable woman whose courageous journey along the Appalachian Trail captivated the nation and forever changed the course of history.
What struck me most about this book is Emma's indomitable spirit and unwavering determination. Despite facing countless obstacles and societal expectations, she fearlessly embarked on her solo trek, proving that age and gender are no barriers to adventure and achievement.
As I listened to the audiobook, narrated with warmth and reverence, I was transported to the rugged beauty of the Appalachian Trail and felt as though I was walking alongside Emma every step of the way. Her resilience and tenacity left me in awe, and her story served as a powerful reminder of the boundless potential that lies within each of us. You can get audiobook version here: Grandma Gatewood's Walk Audiobook Version
In this captivating biography, Montgomery paints a vivid portrait of Emma Gatewood, a remarkable woman whose courageous journey along the Appalachian Trail captivated the nation and forever changed the course of history.
What struck me most about this book is Emma's indomitable spirit and unwavering determination. Despite facing countless obstacles and societal expectations, she fearlessly embarked on her solo trek, proving that age and gender are no barriers to adventure and achievement.
September 9, 2017
Buddy read with my wonderful friend, Candi ❤️
This book was a great inspiration!
For those of you that actually read my reviews =) there will be some spoilers on down the line because I just have to talk about Emma's horrific husband for a minute.
Anyway, at one time me, my dog, my dad, my ex-boyfriend and dog were going to hike a portion of the trail and I wanted to spend one night and hike back. But, we never did and then I became home bound so that's never going to happen. We used to pass this sign showing the trail when we were going to one of our places down the road.
There were so many references in the book to some of my old stomping grounds, Fort Oglethorpe, Gatlinburg and others.
I CAN'T believe this woman set out at 67 years old and did a thru-walk all by herself for 2,050 miles on the AT. She just had some tennis shoes, a sack and a walking stick. Dude, she was hardcore! She was a pioneer woman that was brought up with hard work all of her life so this was nothing.
Here are some of her things at the AT museum.
Emma didn't tell her children where she was going. They never worried about her because she was a tough woman. She was a pioneer woman. She was raised on a farm where she worked hard.
She got married to a jerk of a man who beat her all of the time and at times she was unrecognizable. He needed a bullet to the head in my opinion. She finally divorced him years later. She had 11 kids and tons of grandkids and great-grandkids.
She was the first woman to do a thru-hike of the trail. And she walked it again. She also did it a third time in sections. She also walked the 2,000 mile Oregon Trail. She was 77 years old and still hiking. God, I miss hiking and I would have loved to have met this woman. She was born Oct. 25, 1887 and died June 4, 1973. I was only a year old.
She has different monuments about her. I'm sure glad for that because she is a warrior/trouper/inspiration for women.
This woman had all of these children by an abusive man, she worked their farm and took care of the kids and everything else that had to be done.
I loved that her kids were started out working at a young age. I think all kids should have to do this and maybe the world would be a bit better. I soooooooooooo wish my parents would have done that with me. We had a house and they could have figured something out but when we traveled to my grandmother's farm we could have worked hard in their acres of gardens. But none of us kids were made to do that.
And that's not all, they worked on the farm with their mom too. Dad worked sometimes. He did some teaching jobs too. Weird that.
The story tells about Emma's time on the trails, things she ran into, people, the weather, etc. But the book also tells the story of her home life and other little tidbits.
This woman was amaze balls and she's an inspiration to me. I hope she's an inspiration to many more. Well, she was as she got many woman, kids and even some men to hiking more. I just love her. She's going in my book of people I look up to.
Mel ♥
MY BLOG: Melissa Martin's Reading List
This book was a great inspiration!
For those of you that actually read my reviews =) there will be some spoilers on down the line because I just have to talk about Emma's horrific husband for a minute.
Anyway, at one time me, my dog, my dad, my ex-boyfriend and dog were going to hike a portion of the trail and I wanted to spend one night and hike back. But, we never did and then I became home bound so that's never going to happen. We used to pass this sign showing the trail when we were going to one of our places down the road.
There were so many references in the book to some of my old stomping grounds, Fort Oglethorpe, Gatlinburg and others.
I CAN'T believe this woman set out at 67 years old and did a thru-walk all by herself for 2,050 miles on the AT. She just had some tennis shoes, a sack and a walking stick. Dude, she was hardcore! She was a pioneer woman that was brought up with hard work all of her life so this was nothing.
Here are some of her things at the AT museum.
She pulled from the box a drawstring sack she'd made back home from a yard of denim, her wrinkled fingers doing the stitching, and opened it wide. She filled the sack with other items from the box: Vienna Sausage, raisins, peanuts, bouillon cubes, powered milk. She tucked inside a tin of Band-Aids, a bottle of iodine, some bobby pins, and a jar of Vicks salve. She packed the slippers and a gingham dress that she could shake out if she ever needed to look nice. She stuffed in a warm coat, a Swiss Army knife, a flashlight, candy mints, and her pen and a little Royal Vernon Line memo book that she bought for twenty-five cents at Murphy's back home.
Emma didn't tell her children where she was going. They never worried about her because she was a tough woman. She was a pioneer woman. She was raised on a farm where she worked hard.
She got married to a jerk of a man who beat her all of the time and at times she was unrecognizable. He needed a bullet to the head in my opinion. She finally divorced him years later. She had 11 kids and tons of grandkids and great-grandkids.
She was the first woman to do a thru-hike of the trail. And she walked it again. She also did it a third time in sections. She also walked the 2,000 mile Oregon Trail. She was 77 years old and still hiking. God, I miss hiking and I would have loved to have met this woman. She was born Oct. 25, 1887 and died June 4, 1973. I was only a year old.
She has different monuments about her. I'm sure glad for that because she is a warrior/trouper/inspiration for women.
"After the hard life I have lived," she said, "this trail isn't so bad."
This woman had all of these children by an abusive man, she worked their farm and took care of the kids and everything else that had to be done.
I loved that her kids were started out working at a young age. I think all kids should have to do this and maybe the world would be a bit better. I soooooooooooo wish my parents would have done that with me. We had a house and they could have figured something out but when we traveled to my grandmother's farm we could have worked hard in their acres of gardens. But none of us kids were made to do that.
The children all worked hard, too. By two years old, they were sweeping floors and gathering eggs. By three they were collecting kindling for the potbellied stove. By four they were washing and drying dishes. By five they knew how to wash their own clothes.
And that's not all, they worked on the farm with their mom too. Dad worked sometimes. He did some teaching jobs too. Weird that.
The story tells about Emma's time on the trails, things she ran into, people, the weather, etc. But the book also tells the story of her home life and other little tidbits.
This woman was amaze balls and she's an inspiration to me. I hope she's an inspiration to many more. Well, she was as she got many woman, kids and even some men to hiking more. I just love her. She's going in my book of people I look up to.
Mel ♥
MY BLOG: Melissa Martin's Reading List
April 21, 2021
Emma Gatewood is many things - a wife, a mother, a grandmother and a world-renowned walker.
Her chest full of crisp air and inspiration, her feet atop a forgettable mountain where the stars make you feel insignificant and important all at once.
When she was sixty-seven years old, she told her family she would be going out for a walk, packed a change of clothes, two hundred dollars and set off to the Appalachian Trail.
The sum of the whole is this: Walk and be happy; Walk and be healthy.The Appalachian Trail clocks in at 2,050 miles and is known for its treacherous terrain and dangerous animals.
But when Emma Gatewood puts her mind to something, nothing can deter her.
And so she walked - one foot in front of the other.
I did it. I said I'd do it and I've done it.This book was simply adorable. This slice of life was really well done - I loved being able to peek into grandma Gatewood
I loved the tone of the author as he speaks of Gatewood and the snippets from her journal really enhanced the book.
Even though this seems like a straightforward book, we end up weaving back and forward in Emma's life - from her simple childhood to her time married to an abusive man to her journey on the trail.
All in all, this is a fabulous slice-of-life book and I'm so happy to have read it!
A huge thank you to Angela's Booked who suggested this fabulous read.
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June 10, 2015
A cool story told by a mediocre author. I have no idea how this guy was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. The writing is ok but the book jumps back and forth between Gatewood's past and her hike. The jumps happen without warning and make little sense in terms of flow. The bulk of the book is devoted to her first thru-hike with the others mentioned only in passing. I found the amount of detail and lack of balance a little odd.
One chapter in the last third of the book consists of the author's account of retracing Grandma Gatewood's steps up the last portion of the trail in Maine. Like many male authors, Montgomery felt the need to unnecessarily insert himself into what is a woman's story. Rather than using Gatewood's own descriptions of her experience, he decided it was more important to experience it himself (since women's experiences aren't real unless men can have them too). The angry feminist in me spent this chapter alternating between barfing and skimming (while simultaneously dreading the rest of the book).
If this hadn't been written by a stereotypical dude author, the star rating would be a lot higher. But I couldn't get into it. I don't give a shit about your pondering of what Grandma Gatewood would have thought about the way you hike. Given that she seemed to give no fucks about other hikers when she was alive, it follows that you're nothing special.
One chapter in the last third of the book consists of the author's account of retracing Grandma Gatewood's steps up the last portion of the trail in Maine. Like many male authors, Montgomery felt the need to unnecessarily insert himself into what is a woman's story. Rather than using Gatewood's own descriptions of her experience, he decided it was more important to experience it himself (since women's experiences aren't real unless men can have them too). The angry feminist in me spent this chapter alternating between barfing and skimming (while simultaneously dreading the rest of the book).
If this hadn't been written by a stereotypical dude author, the star rating would be a lot higher. But I couldn't get into it. I don't give a shit about your pondering of what Grandma Gatewood would have thought about the way you hike. Given that she seemed to give no fucks about other hikers when she was alive, it follows that you're nothing special.
September 27, 2017
"She stood, finally, her canvas Keds tied tight, on May 3, 1955, atop the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail, the longest continuous footpath in the world, facing the peaks on the blue-black horizon that stretched toward heaven and unfurled before her for days. Facing a mean landscape of angry rivers and hateful rock she stood, a woman, mother of eleven and grandmother of twenty-three. She had not been able to get the trail out of her mind."
So began Emma Gatewood’s remarkable 2,050 mile journey through thirteen states stretching from Mount Oglethorpe in Georgia to Mount Katahdin, Maine. More affectionately known as Grandma Gatewood, she would distinguish herself as being the first woman to ever hike the Appalachian Trail alone. She would be celebrated further as being the first person, male or female, to complete the hike three times.
What an uplifting story! I read this with my awesome Goodread’s friend, Melissa, and I’m so glad that we chose this book to share together. Grandma Gatewood lived a hard life to say the least. She toiled away on a farm for most of her life, while caring for loads of children and a creep that wasn’t ashamed to abuse her whenever he felt the urge. The family suffered from financial setbacks, and hardships were a part of the daily routine. After reading about the trail in a National Geographic magazine, she received no formal training for a hike such as the one she decided to tackle. Instead, she relied on determination, instinct, and the skills she acquired after years of struggle and sweat. Grandma didn’t pack up more than she felt necessary for this five month trek. I was shocked to hear that she didn’t even bring along what I would have considered totally essential – a sleeping bag and tent. Instead, she laid her weary body down wherever she could find sanctuary from the elements. Sometimes she slept in shelters along the way; other times she rested right outside with only heated rocks and her own clothing for warmth. On occasion, she would knock on doors along the way and get a little added comfort for the night if the resident happened to feel hospitable. Ironically, "it seemed the bigger the house, the less likely she would be welcome."
Letters, journal entries, newspaper articles, and interviews with family members and folks Grandma Gatewood met along the way were all pieced together by author Ben Montgomery to reproduce her incredible adventure. I loved the many anecdotes of the people she came across on her hike. Some made me laugh and others were endearing. Eventually, despite the fact she had not even told her children where she was headed on that day in May, reporters caught wind of her astonishing voyage and tracked her down on the trail. More often than not, these newshounds were intent on uncovering Grandma’s motive for such an undertaking. After several minutes of chatting, the reporters often walked away as baffled as they had been before meeting her. The book alternates between Emma Gatewood’s past and her hike, providing the reader with an opportunity to not only learn about this woman, but to also give us the chance to reach our own conclusion as to her motivation. I learned quite a bit about the trail itself – the development, its history, other notable hikers, as well as the pastime of walking in general. "The rise of the car in the 1950s was accompanied by the rise of television. At the beginning of the decade, only 9 percent of American households had a TV set. More than half had one by 1954, and 86 percent would own one by the end of the decade. Americans began to experience life not by the soles of their feet, but by the seat of their pants."
I highly recommend this book to anyone that enjoys inspirational non-fiction or those that have an interest in learning more about the Appalachian Trail. It is well-researched, very readable, and highly entertaining. I do believe her journey was not just a physical one, but one to heal the spirit as well.
"So much was behind her. So many memories and trials and miles."
So began Emma Gatewood’s remarkable 2,050 mile journey through thirteen states stretching from Mount Oglethorpe in Georgia to Mount Katahdin, Maine. More affectionately known as Grandma Gatewood, she would distinguish herself as being the first woman to ever hike the Appalachian Trail alone. She would be celebrated further as being the first person, male or female, to complete the hike three times.
What an uplifting story! I read this with my awesome Goodread’s friend, Melissa, and I’m so glad that we chose this book to share together. Grandma Gatewood lived a hard life to say the least. She toiled away on a farm for most of her life, while caring for loads of children and a creep that wasn’t ashamed to abuse her whenever he felt the urge. The family suffered from financial setbacks, and hardships were a part of the daily routine. After reading about the trail in a National Geographic magazine, she received no formal training for a hike such as the one she decided to tackle. Instead, she relied on determination, instinct, and the skills she acquired after years of struggle and sweat. Grandma didn’t pack up more than she felt necessary for this five month trek. I was shocked to hear that she didn’t even bring along what I would have considered totally essential – a sleeping bag and tent. Instead, she laid her weary body down wherever she could find sanctuary from the elements. Sometimes she slept in shelters along the way; other times she rested right outside with only heated rocks and her own clothing for warmth. On occasion, she would knock on doors along the way and get a little added comfort for the night if the resident happened to feel hospitable. Ironically, "it seemed the bigger the house, the less likely she would be welcome."
Letters, journal entries, newspaper articles, and interviews with family members and folks Grandma Gatewood met along the way were all pieced together by author Ben Montgomery to reproduce her incredible adventure. I loved the many anecdotes of the people she came across on her hike. Some made me laugh and others were endearing. Eventually, despite the fact she had not even told her children where she was headed on that day in May, reporters caught wind of her astonishing voyage and tracked her down on the trail. More often than not, these newshounds were intent on uncovering Grandma’s motive for such an undertaking. After several minutes of chatting, the reporters often walked away as baffled as they had been before meeting her. The book alternates between Emma Gatewood’s past and her hike, providing the reader with an opportunity to not only learn about this woman, but to also give us the chance to reach our own conclusion as to her motivation. I learned quite a bit about the trail itself – the development, its history, other notable hikers, as well as the pastime of walking in general. "The rise of the car in the 1950s was accompanied by the rise of television. At the beginning of the decade, only 9 percent of American households had a TV set. More than half had one by 1954, and 86 percent would own one by the end of the decade. Americans began to experience life not by the soles of their feet, but by the seat of their pants."
I highly recommend this book to anyone that enjoys inspirational non-fiction or those that have an interest in learning more about the Appalachian Trail. It is well-researched, very readable, and highly entertaining. I do believe her journey was not just a physical one, but one to heal the spirit as well.
"So much was behind her. So many memories and trials and miles."
March 23, 2024
Wow! Simply amazing! True story about Emma Gatewood who chose to walk the entire 2,000+ miles on the Appalachian Trail at age 67. She had 11 children and 23 grandchildren. She carried a homemade knapsack that did NOT include a tent or sleeping bag. She was the first woman to thru-hike the entire trail.
Three years later, at age 70, she hiked the entire Appalachian Trail again and became the first person (woman or man) to walk the entire trail twice. She is an incredibly independent woman who suffered tremendous spousal abuse while raising her 11 children.
Self-reliant, determined, humble, frugal, and filled to the brim with grit.
Three years later, at age 70, she hiked the entire Appalachian Trail again and became the first person (woman or man) to walk the entire trail twice. She is an incredibly independent woman who suffered tremendous spousal abuse while raising her 11 children.
Self-reliant, determined, humble, frugal, and filled to the brim with grit.
May 12, 2014
A gentle and nearly perfect tracing of steps of a determined woman who was among the first to simply walk the Appalachian Trail from one end to the other, in the middle of the 20th century, when she was 67 years old. It's also a book about the emotional and physical journey that was her disastrously abusive married life and the solace she found in nature as an independent old lady. There's a little something in here for everyone -- people who love nature and hiking (epic or simple) and people who love old ladies, but also people who are interested in the way society changed. As Grandma Gatewood was walking in 1955, America was building the interstate road system that would radically alter our ideas of mobility and distance. There's just a little bit of that kind of historical/cultural context -- not too much and not too preachy. Ben Montgomery (disclosure: he's a friend of mine) found just the right tone here. It's interesting to hold "Grandma Gatewood's Walk," in which the motivations of the central subject remain so stubbornly elusive (what made Grandma Gatewood decide to do the trail? How did it make her feel?) against a memoir like Cheryl Strayed's "Wild," in which the reader is never _not_ aware of the autobiographical hiker and her emotional travails with each step.
I was struck by two things that I wanted to know a little more about: What in Grandma Gatewood led her to assume that so many strangers would offer her food, sleeping space, etc. when she knocked on their doors? If Americans forgot how to walk long distances, it seems clearer to me that they also forgot how to open their doors and cupboards to strangers. Also, I'm curious about the rise of "REI" culture and the hippy hiker culture that now defines the world of the AT, which made me also wonder about the present-day culture of boutique outdoorsmanship, but my sense is that line of inquiry would probably get in the way of a book that turned out to be beautifully spare. The book is just really terrific at blending biography and armchair-travel -- two of my favorite genres. At the end of it, you'll wish you walked more. I walk a minimum of 2.8 miles a day (to work and back), usually more, so I didn't feel too inert.
Finally, the thing that made me happiest about this book is that one of America's finest male feature writers took on a book project that was about a woman. It's an incredibly rare thing -- most of the men I know who work at magazines and newspapers almost always (I mean always) write stories about men.
I was struck by two things that I wanted to know a little more about: What in Grandma Gatewood led her to assume that so many strangers would offer her food, sleeping space, etc. when she knocked on their doors? If Americans forgot how to walk long distances, it seems clearer to me that they also forgot how to open their doors and cupboards to strangers. Also, I'm curious about the rise of "REI" culture and the hippy hiker culture that now defines the world of the AT, which made me also wonder about the present-day culture of boutique outdoorsmanship, but my sense is that line of inquiry would probably get in the way of a book that turned out to be beautifully spare. The book is just really terrific at blending biography and armchair-travel -- two of my favorite genres. At the end of it, you'll wish you walked more. I walk a minimum of 2.8 miles a day (to work and back), usually more, so I didn't feel too inert.
Finally, the thing that made me happiest about this book is that one of America's finest male feature writers took on a book project that was about a woman. It's an incredibly rare thing -- most of the men I know who work at magazines and newspapers almost always (I mean always) write stories about men.
September 25, 2017
5 Stars for Grandma Gatewood's Inspirational Story
“MAY 2—9, 1955”
“She packed her things in late spring, when her flowers were in full bloom, and left Gallia County, Ohio, the only place she’d every really called home.”
”She stood, finally, her canvas Keds tied tight, on May 3, 1955, atop the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail, the longest continuous footpath in the world, facing the peaks on the blue-black horizon that stretched toward heaven and unfurled before her for days. Facing a mean landscape of angry rivers and hateful rock she stood, a woman, mother of eleven and grandmother of twenty-three. She had not been able to get the trail out of her mind. She had thought of it constantly back home in Ohio, where she tended her small garden and looked after her grandchildren, biding her time until she could get away.
“When she finally could it was 1955, and she was sixty-seven years old.”
The only survival training she’d had came surviving her years of marriage to a violent and abusive man. She’d been walking for years, out in the country with no driver’s license, for years, just to get from place to place, with walks in the woods with no real destination in mind. She just enjoyed being outside, surrounded by woods. Nature. As time went by, she began to add more each day until she gradually was up to ten miles a day.
She hadn’t wanted to tell anyone of her plans, and over time, she had saved a bit of money here and there out of her twenty-five dollar a week paycheck until she qualified for the minimum in social security. Then she trained some more, and prepared some things, gathered some things for her walk.
So when she stood before these mountains that comprised the Appalachian Trail, from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine, she was not only trying to fulfill a promise she’d silently made to herself, she was doing so with a hand-sewn backpack carrying some bouillon cubes, Vienna Sausage, raisins, peanuts, powered milk, Band-Aids, bobby pins, iodine, Vicks, one pair of slippers, and one gingham dress – just in case she ever had to dress nice, the keds she was wearing and the clothes on her back. Only two people knew she was there, the cab driver that dropped her off and her cousin. She told her grown children she was “going for a walk.”
”There were a million heavenly things to see and a million spectacular ways to die.”
Why? She would be asked that hundreds of times, if not thousands of times. She had a handful of answers: “For a lark” was repeated often.
She was hooked from the time she read an August, 1949 National Geographic magazine that she found containing nineteen pages devoted to the Appalachian Trail with color photographs. It was a “window to another place,” showing a bear cub, teenage hikers in Vermont, a lichen-speckled boulder in Maine, and more. They referred to it as “a soul-cheering, foot-tempting trail,” where food was easy to find, with plenty of shelters and well-spaced for a day’s walk, one from another.
She read that only one man had officially walked the trail’s entire length in a single, continuous journey. Since then, only five others had achieved the same, and all were men.
”Emma intended to change that.”
I have spent much of my life living near the Appalachian Trail, and have spent lots of days walking it, collectively. I’d always lived with woods behind my house, exploring trails was a big part of my childhood, and when my oldest was young, a part of our days.
I wanted to read this after reading my goodreads friend Melissa’s excellent, heartfelt review. There’s so much we put off, or our family obligations or work obligations force us to put off such ideas as taking a walk on the Appalachian Trail, and then one day it’s too late. Health problems, concerns prevent it, or other things keep us from being able to commit to walking the entire A.T., or maybe even for very long. Maybe this goes beyond a specific dream Grandma Gatewood’s story is so inspirational it will undoubtedly move you. So find your dream, and follow it.
”I did it, she said.I said I’d do it and I’ve done it.”
Melissa’s review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Thank you, Melissa!
My eternal thanks to the Public Library for providing me, yet again, with a copy to read.
“MAY 2—9, 1955”
“She packed her things in late spring, when her flowers were in full bloom, and left Gallia County, Ohio, the only place she’d every really called home.”
”She stood, finally, her canvas Keds tied tight, on May 3, 1955, atop the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail, the longest continuous footpath in the world, facing the peaks on the blue-black horizon that stretched toward heaven and unfurled before her for days. Facing a mean landscape of angry rivers and hateful rock she stood, a woman, mother of eleven and grandmother of twenty-three. She had not been able to get the trail out of her mind. She had thought of it constantly back home in Ohio, where she tended her small garden and looked after her grandchildren, biding her time until she could get away.
“When she finally could it was 1955, and she was sixty-seven years old.”
The only survival training she’d had came surviving her years of marriage to a violent and abusive man. She’d been walking for years, out in the country with no driver’s license, for years, just to get from place to place, with walks in the woods with no real destination in mind. She just enjoyed being outside, surrounded by woods. Nature. As time went by, she began to add more each day until she gradually was up to ten miles a day.
She hadn’t wanted to tell anyone of her plans, and over time, she had saved a bit of money here and there out of her twenty-five dollar a week paycheck until she qualified for the minimum in social security. Then she trained some more, and prepared some things, gathered some things for her walk.
So when she stood before these mountains that comprised the Appalachian Trail, from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine, she was not only trying to fulfill a promise she’d silently made to herself, she was doing so with a hand-sewn backpack carrying some bouillon cubes, Vienna Sausage, raisins, peanuts, powered milk, Band-Aids, bobby pins, iodine, Vicks, one pair of slippers, and one gingham dress – just in case she ever had to dress nice, the keds she was wearing and the clothes on her back. Only two people knew she was there, the cab driver that dropped her off and her cousin. She told her grown children she was “going for a walk.”
”There were a million heavenly things to see and a million spectacular ways to die.”
Why? She would be asked that hundreds of times, if not thousands of times. She had a handful of answers: “For a lark” was repeated often.
She was hooked from the time she read an August, 1949 National Geographic magazine that she found containing nineteen pages devoted to the Appalachian Trail with color photographs. It was a “window to another place,” showing a bear cub, teenage hikers in Vermont, a lichen-speckled boulder in Maine, and more. They referred to it as “a soul-cheering, foot-tempting trail,” where food was easy to find, with plenty of shelters and well-spaced for a day’s walk, one from another.
She read that only one man had officially walked the trail’s entire length in a single, continuous journey. Since then, only five others had achieved the same, and all were men.
”Emma intended to change that.”
I have spent much of my life living near the Appalachian Trail, and have spent lots of days walking it, collectively. I’d always lived with woods behind my house, exploring trails was a big part of my childhood, and when my oldest was young, a part of our days.
I wanted to read this after reading my goodreads friend Melissa’s excellent, heartfelt review. There’s so much we put off, or our family obligations or work obligations force us to put off such ideas as taking a walk on the Appalachian Trail, and then one day it’s too late. Health problems, concerns prevent it, or other things keep us from being able to commit to walking the entire A.T., or maybe even for very long. Maybe this goes beyond a specific dream Grandma Gatewood’s story is so inspirational it will undoubtedly move you. So find your dream, and follow it.
”I did it, she said.I said I’d do it and I’ve done it.”
Melissa’s review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Thank you, Melissa!
My eternal thanks to the Public Library for providing me, yet again, with a copy to read.
October 3, 2014
Grandma Emma Gstewood was an amazing woman who, at the age of 67 and with no long distance hiking experience, hiked the entire Appalachian Trail. First woman to hike the AT alone, she returned and hiked it several more times. That she did this without advance preparation, without the "essential" gear, and apparently without any fear is just amazing. Of course, she had the truly essential gear -- determination, courage, and good health.
A moderately interesting book about a fascinating inspiring woman. The writing was mostly just a recitation of facts as taken from Emma's diaries and/or newspaper articles. A five star lady portrayed in a 3 star book.
A moderately interesting book about a fascinating inspiring woman. The writing was mostly just a recitation of facts as taken from Emma's diaries and/or newspaper articles. A five star lady portrayed in a 3 star book.
Read
November 23, 2016A huge debt of gratitude is wished to my GR friend Julie for recommending Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail to me.
Though I have hid one part of my review as a spoiler, my enthusiasm for this book may contain others. It's a case of told more rather than less but I'm certain you'll still find insights of your own to take away from this read.
It was the spring of 1955, May to be exact when Emma Gatewood set out from her home in Galliapolis, Ohio on a walk. Not just any walk, but one-step in front of the other, 5 million of these on the 2,000 plus mile journey from Georgia to Maine, to become the first recognized woman thru-hiker on The Appalachian Trail.
Most people would ask why and many did as this mother of eleven, and grandmother of twenty-three hiked the trail. She gave the usual answers, including the simple Because, I wanted to.” As you read Emma’s story you many draw your own conclusions as to her motivation. Mine are contained in this
Emma first heard of the trail while reading an article at the dentist describing the trail in The August 1949 issue of The National Geographic. You can easily find this article by searching for Grandma Gatewood, her trail name and the issue. It is well worth reading. This makes me wonder at the challenges people will set for themselves when something like this story sparks a flame that must be tried. In my own life I have found new adventures not only from reading non-fiction but fiction as well. Grandma Gatewood’s story clearly inspired me. I am just a bit older than the 67 she was when she took on this goal. Though I have no direct plans to hike the trail, I might very well hike a stretch of it in honor of her spirit.
Well-written non-fiction often sends me off in search of more. In addition to The National Geographic Article I wanted to find a picture book of a beautiful Cherokee Native creation story that was part of this book.
“In the beginning, as the native creation story had it, the earth hung from the heavens by four cords and the surface of the earth covered by water until a beetle dived down and brought up mud, crating land, which spread in every direction. One by one, emissaries visited from the sky realm to see if the earth was inhabitable, great vulture made an exploratory trip. When he tired, he flew so low his wings brushed the earth, punching valleys on the down thrust and bringing forth mountains, these mountains, on the updraft.
When the land finally dried and plants and animals came they were given instruction to stay awake for seven nights, to keep watch over their new habitat. Nearly all were awake the first night, but several had fallen asleep by the next, and more by the third and then others. By the seventh night, only the pine, spruce, laurel, holly, and cedar plants had stayed awake to the end, and they were rewarded medicinal properiesa and evergreen foliage; the rest were punished and made to lost their “hair” each winter. Of the animal, only the panther, owl, and a few others remained alert; they received the power to see in the dark, to own the night.”
I actually found several and will check them out soon.
I looked up plants mentioned, read book reviews and even compared Grandma’s 10lb denim pack of supplies with that of other thru hikers.
Consider what Grandma Gatewood took:
“She pulled from the box a drawstring sack she’d made back home from a yard of denim, her wrinkled fingers dong the stitching, and opened I wide. She filled the sack with other items from the box: Vienna Sausage, raisins, peanuts, bouillon cubes, powdered mil. She tucked inside a tin of Band-Aids, a bottle of iodine, some bobby pins, and a jar of Vicks salve. She packed the slippers and a gingham dress that she cold shake out if she ever needed to look nice. She stuffed in a warm coat, a shower curtain to keep the rain off, some drinking water, a Swiss Army knife, a flashlight, candy mints, and her pen and a l Royal Vernon Line memo book that she bought for twenty-five cents at Murphy’s back home.”
Compare this to that other well-known author/hiker, Bill Bryson, who couldn’t leave home without the following:
“I ended up with enough equipment to bring full employment to a vale of sherpas—a three-season ten, self-inflating sleeping pad, nested posts and pans, collapsible eating utensils, plastic dish and cup, complicated pump-action water purifier, stuff sacks in a rainbow of colors, seam sealer, patching kit, sleeping bag, bungee cords, water bottles, waterproof poncho, waterproof matches, pack cover a rather nifty compass/thermometer key ring, a little collapsible stove that looked frankly like trouble, gas bottle and spare gas bottle, a hands-free flashlight that you wore on your head…” You get the picture.
Of course Bryson was going for humor and really only hiked 39.5 percent or so of the trail while Grandma Gateway wanted the bear necessities, keeping it light and concentrating on making it all the way. It surprised me how little water and food she actually carried and yet the kindness of strangers and other hikers she met kept her sheltered, hydrated and fed. That she often walked miles off the trail and back for these was amazing.
“In 1955, she was the first woman to thru-hike alone. In 1957, she became the first person—man or woman—to walk the worlds’ longest trail twice.” She did this with 7 pairs of plain ol’ shoes, often keds, with broken glasses, a bum knee, a twisted ankle, against the elements of rain, sleet, freezing cold and floods, all with determination and a lot of guts. She had run-ins with dogs, a rattler or two, vermin and porcupines and finally saw a bear, shouted at it and it ran off.
You’d think after this Grandma Gateway might have been content to sit on her porch and rock. No way. She continued to walk, covering the whole Oregon Trail. This idea came to her when she read about it in the Oregon Centennial Exposition. She climbed 57 mountains by the age of 70 and walked the trail in sections making it the third time.
Grandma Gatewood’s Walk is my kind of book, one filled with vicarious adventure. Much of what Ben Montgomery has written has come from the diary Emma kept, interviews with her children and news articles. It reads more like a serial news piece than narrative non-fiction but was still a hit with me.
I’ll close with one of the epigraphs from the book:
Now or Never
Henry David Thoreau
Though I have hid one part of my review as a spoiler, my enthusiasm for this book may contain others. It's a case of told more rather than less but I'm certain you'll still find insights of your own to take away from this read.
It was the spring of 1955, May to be exact when Emma Gatewood set out from her home in Galliapolis, Ohio on a walk. Not just any walk, but one-step in front of the other, 5 million of these on the 2,000 plus mile journey from Georgia to Maine, to become the first recognized woman thru-hiker on The Appalachian Trail.
Most people would ask why and many did as this mother of eleven, and grandmother of twenty-three hiked the trail. She gave the usual answers, including the simple Because, I wanted to.” As you read Emma’s story you many draw your own conclusions as to her motivation. Mine are contained in this
Emma first heard of the trail while reading an article at the dentist describing the trail in The August 1949 issue of The National Geographic. You can easily find this article by searching for Grandma Gatewood, her trail name and the issue. It is well worth reading. This makes me wonder at the challenges people will set for themselves when something like this story sparks a flame that must be tried. In my own life I have found new adventures not only from reading non-fiction but fiction as well. Grandma Gatewood’s story clearly inspired me. I am just a bit older than the 67 she was when she took on this goal. Though I have no direct plans to hike the trail, I might very well hike a stretch of it in honor of her spirit.
Well-written non-fiction often sends me off in search of more. In addition to The National Geographic Article I wanted to find a picture book of a beautiful Cherokee Native creation story that was part of this book.
“In the beginning, as the native creation story had it, the earth hung from the heavens by four cords and the surface of the earth covered by water until a beetle dived down and brought up mud, crating land, which spread in every direction. One by one, emissaries visited from the sky realm to see if the earth was inhabitable, great vulture made an exploratory trip. When he tired, he flew so low his wings brushed the earth, punching valleys on the down thrust and bringing forth mountains, these mountains, on the updraft.
When the land finally dried and plants and animals came they were given instruction to stay awake for seven nights, to keep watch over their new habitat. Nearly all were awake the first night, but several had fallen asleep by the next, and more by the third and then others. By the seventh night, only the pine, spruce, laurel, holly, and cedar plants had stayed awake to the end, and they were rewarded medicinal properiesa and evergreen foliage; the rest were punished and made to lost their “hair” each winter. Of the animal, only the panther, owl, and a few others remained alert; they received the power to see in the dark, to own the night.”
I actually found several and will check them out soon.
I looked up plants mentioned, read book reviews and even compared Grandma’s 10lb denim pack of supplies with that of other thru hikers.
Consider what Grandma Gatewood took:
“She pulled from the box a drawstring sack she’d made back home from a yard of denim, her wrinkled fingers dong the stitching, and opened I wide. She filled the sack with other items from the box: Vienna Sausage, raisins, peanuts, bouillon cubes, powdered mil. She tucked inside a tin of Band-Aids, a bottle of iodine, some bobby pins, and a jar of Vicks salve. She packed the slippers and a gingham dress that she cold shake out if she ever needed to look nice. She stuffed in a warm coat, a shower curtain to keep the rain off, some drinking water, a Swiss Army knife, a flashlight, candy mints, and her pen and a l Royal Vernon Line memo book that she bought for twenty-five cents at Murphy’s back home.”
Compare this to that other well-known author/hiker, Bill Bryson, who couldn’t leave home without the following:
“I ended up with enough equipment to bring full employment to a vale of sherpas—a three-season ten, self-inflating sleeping pad, nested posts and pans, collapsible eating utensils, plastic dish and cup, complicated pump-action water purifier, stuff sacks in a rainbow of colors, seam sealer, patching kit, sleeping bag, bungee cords, water bottles, waterproof poncho, waterproof matches, pack cover a rather nifty compass/thermometer key ring, a little collapsible stove that looked frankly like trouble, gas bottle and spare gas bottle, a hands-free flashlight that you wore on your head…” You get the picture.
Of course Bryson was going for humor and really only hiked 39.5 percent or so of the trail while Grandma Gateway wanted the bear necessities, keeping it light and concentrating on making it all the way. It surprised me how little water and food she actually carried and yet the kindness of strangers and other hikers she met kept her sheltered, hydrated and fed. That she often walked miles off the trail and back for these was amazing.
“In 1955, she was the first woman to thru-hike alone. In 1957, she became the first person—man or woman—to walk the worlds’ longest trail twice.” She did this with 7 pairs of plain ol’ shoes, often keds, with broken glasses, a bum knee, a twisted ankle, against the elements of rain, sleet, freezing cold and floods, all with determination and a lot of guts. She had run-ins with dogs, a rattler or two, vermin and porcupines and finally saw a bear, shouted at it and it ran off.
You’d think after this Grandma Gateway might have been content to sit on her porch and rock. No way. She continued to walk, covering the whole Oregon Trail. This idea came to her when she read about it in the Oregon Centennial Exposition. She climbed 57 mountains by the age of 70 and walked the trail in sections making it the third time.
Grandma Gatewood’s Walk is my kind of book, one filled with vicarious adventure. Much of what Ben Montgomery has written has come from the diary Emma kept, interviews with her children and news articles. It reads more like a serial news piece than narrative non-fiction but was still a hit with me.
I’ll close with one of the epigraphs from the book:
Now or Never
Henry David Thoreau
August 26, 2015
I so wanted to like this book. So I waited on writing my review for a few days, sometimes when a book marinates in your brain once you finish it, it gets better. This one did not.
I knew when the book was a third of the way in and she had hiked more than half of the trail that it really was not about hiking the trail. It was mostly about any topic the author could find to tie in.
The first flashback was incredibly jarring. The rest of them were only a bit less.
The author told a story, I'll give him that, turns out it was not the story I was promised when I picked up the book. Most of the book felt like filler, and I don't feel like I know much more about her walk than when I first started reading. Hopefully I will be able to use some of the filler topics at trivia night.
I wish I had been able to put this one back down instead of doggedly trudging through it.
I knew when the book was a third of the way in and she had hiked more than half of the trail that it really was not about hiking the trail. It was mostly about any topic the author could find to tie in.
The first flashback was incredibly jarring. The rest of them were only a bit less.
The author told a story, I'll give him that, turns out it was not the story I was promised when I picked up the book. Most of the book felt like filler, and I don't feel like I know much more about her walk than when I first started reading. Hopefully I will be able to use some of the filler topics at trivia night.
I wish I had been able to put this one back down instead of doggedly trudging through it.
July 5, 2016
Although it seems wholly inadequate, the only word I can think of to describe this book -- and this woman -- is "WOW!"
Author Ben Montgomery tells the story of Emma "Grandma" Gatewood, the first woman to ever through hike the 2,050 Appalachian Trail in 1957 at the age of 67. She then became the first person -- male or female -- to hike the trail two, and then three times. She was first inspired to hike the trail while reading about it in an article in National Geographic magazine. The article claimed that any person in reasonable health should be able to hike the trail and wouldn't need any special equipment. (This was in a time when even those who created the trail didn't imagine that anyone would hike it all the way through. It was intended for day or weekend hikes). Emma hiked it with a hand-sewn back satchel which carried only the essentials (omitting a tent) and went through numerous pairs of flimsy shoes in her journey.
Using her journals, newspaper articles, letters, and interviews with children and others who knew her as sources, Montgomery gives us a picture of this extraordinary woman. He not only brings readers along on Emma's journey, but also tries to discover her motivation for making such a quest.
Emma spent her married life on a farm in southern Ohio, which had much more in common with Appalachian West Virginia than the rust belt cities of the northern part of the state. Her married life was miserable. Her husband was mercilessly abusive, and the author implies that at least some of her 11 children were conceived via instances of marital rape. In that era and in that place, a husband's word was gospel, and after one particularly bad fight although Emma was left with a bludgeoned face, 4 broken teeth, and broken ribs, the local sheriff came and arrested *her* because her husband, with hardly a scratch, claimed Emma was being uncooperative.
Decades after being in a horrible marriage Emma finally divorced her husband. Once her children were finally grown she was ready to live life on her terms. All she told her children was that she was going for a walk, and that's all they heard from her until she had walked more than 800 miles of the Appalachian Trail.
Emma had much to say about the "lazy" attitudes of people of her day. Those who would rather jump in the car than walk a few blocks to run an errand (and this was in the 50s and 60s -- God only knows what she'd have to say today!) She also had a deep reverence for the outdoors . Although she's not a household name today, she gained quite a bit a fame during her journey, and as a result of her hike she brought much-needed attention to the inadequacies of the Appalachian Trail as it was in her day -- from poorly maintained trails, to missing blazes, to falling-down shelters.
Even after her Appalachian Trail hikes, Emma continued making long-distances walks throughout the rest of her life, including walking the 2,000+ mile Oregon trail among others.
If you're looking to be inspired, or for a reminder that age is just a number, look no further than this book.
5 enthusiastic stars.
Author Ben Montgomery tells the story of Emma "Grandma" Gatewood, the first woman to ever through hike the 2,050 Appalachian Trail in 1957 at the age of 67. She then became the first person -- male or female -- to hike the trail two, and then three times. She was first inspired to hike the trail while reading about it in an article in National Geographic magazine. The article claimed that any person in reasonable health should be able to hike the trail and wouldn't need any special equipment. (This was in a time when even those who created the trail didn't imagine that anyone would hike it all the way through. It was intended for day or weekend hikes). Emma hiked it with a hand-sewn back satchel which carried only the essentials (omitting a tent) and went through numerous pairs of flimsy shoes in her journey.
Using her journals, newspaper articles, letters, and interviews with children and others who knew her as sources, Montgomery gives us a picture of this extraordinary woman. He not only brings readers along on Emma's journey, but also tries to discover her motivation for making such a quest.
Emma spent her married life on a farm in southern Ohio, which had much more in common with Appalachian West Virginia than the rust belt cities of the northern part of the state. Her married life was miserable. Her husband was mercilessly abusive, and the author implies that at least some of her 11 children were conceived via instances of marital rape. In that era and in that place, a husband's word was gospel, and after one particularly bad fight although Emma was left with a bludgeoned face, 4 broken teeth, and broken ribs, the local sheriff came and arrested *her* because her husband, with hardly a scratch, claimed Emma was being uncooperative.
Decades after being in a horrible marriage Emma finally divorced her husband. Once her children were finally grown she was ready to live life on her terms. All she told her children was that she was going for a walk, and that's all they heard from her until she had walked more than 800 miles of the Appalachian Trail.
Emma had much to say about the "lazy" attitudes of people of her day. Those who would rather jump in the car than walk a few blocks to run an errand (and this was in the 50s and 60s -- God only knows what she'd have to say today!) She also had a deep reverence for the outdoors . Although she's not a household name today, she gained quite a bit a fame during her journey, and as a result of her hike she brought much-needed attention to the inadequacies of the Appalachian Trail as it was in her day -- from poorly maintained trails, to missing blazes, to falling-down shelters.
Even after her Appalachian Trail hikes, Emma continued making long-distances walks throughout the rest of her life, including walking the 2,000+ mile Oregon trail among others.
If you're looking to be inspired, or for a reminder that age is just a number, look no further than this book.
5 enthusiastic stars.
July 30, 2016
Grandma Gatewood earns five stars; this book, only two. The writing is completely lackluster.
The author interweaves the story of Gatewood's life, pre-hike, with an accounting of her hike. That approach was okay, I wasn't disconcerted by it, but I think I would have preferred a straight, chronological approach to the telling. As written, there was nothing to support or link the diversion from the hike diary to the pieces of Gatewood's life before the hike.
I felt the author was a little melodramatic at times in an attempt to insinuate tension or excitement. First of all, there is the title, including calling Gatewood "the woman who saved the Appalacian Trail". I think that is a stretch. Then there is the hike diary section that is described as the day Emma "faced death". The author included a tremendous amount of information about two hurricanes hitting the coast and wreaking havoc and causing death there. On the coast, not on the AT. Overblown (pun intended).
Also, occasionally the author included tidbits of history about the AT or automobiles and highways and byways. These felt more like an interruption than a complement to the story. In her book, "Unbroken", Laura Hillenbrand was a master of including background information to surround and provide context to the main story.
Much of the recounting of the hike, especially of Gatewood's encounters with others, just fizzle out. I'm fabricating this bit to make a point, but I felt like I was continually reading entries along the lines of, "Emma saw a man in a field. She asked him for water. He said 'no'. She walked on."
Toward the end of the recounting of Gatewood's first AT hike the author inserts himself and talks about his own hike up Mt. Katahdin. This was just a strange thing to include in the book.
Those are the things I didn't like about the book.
What I did like: Emma Gatewood! What a lady! So independent and persevering. I really enjoyed reading actual correspondence between Emma and her family (especially those having to do with her family life, off the trail). I liked learning about all of the hiking she continued to accomplish after her first AT thru-hike at the age of 67.
I think Gatewood's story might have been better told by other hands. and, I think it might have been more appropriate for a lengthy entry in, say, an issue of "Outside" magazine than as an almost 300 page book. There was too much repetition.
The author interweaves the story of Gatewood's life, pre-hike, with an accounting of her hike. That approach was okay, I wasn't disconcerted by it, but I think I would have preferred a straight, chronological approach to the telling. As written, there was nothing to support or link the diversion from the hike diary to the pieces of Gatewood's life before the hike.
I felt the author was a little melodramatic at times in an attempt to insinuate tension or excitement. First of all, there is the title, including calling Gatewood "the woman who saved the Appalacian Trail". I think that is a stretch. Then there is the hike diary section that is described as the day Emma "faced death". The author included a tremendous amount of information about two hurricanes hitting the coast and wreaking havoc and causing death there. On the coast, not on the AT. Overblown (pun intended).
Also, occasionally the author included tidbits of history about the AT or automobiles and highways and byways. These felt more like an interruption than a complement to the story. In her book, "Unbroken", Laura Hillenbrand was a master of including background information to surround and provide context to the main story.
Much of the recounting of the hike, especially of Gatewood's encounters with others, just fizzle out. I'm fabricating this bit to make a point, but I felt like I was continually reading entries along the lines of, "Emma saw a man in a field. She asked him for water. He said 'no'. She walked on."
Toward the end of the recounting of Gatewood's first AT hike the author inserts himself and talks about his own hike up Mt. Katahdin. This was just a strange thing to include in the book.
Those are the things I didn't like about the book.
What I did like: Emma Gatewood! What a lady! So independent and persevering. I really enjoyed reading actual correspondence between Emma and her family (especially those having to do with her family life, off the trail). I liked learning about all of the hiking she continued to accomplish after her first AT thru-hike at the age of 67.
I think Gatewood's story might have been better told by other hands. and, I think it might have been more appropriate for a lengthy entry in, say, an issue of "Outside" magazine than as an almost 300 page book. There was too much repetition.
September 18, 2016
A mile or so from my house is the Tuscobia, a 70-mile recreational trail that cuts through the western half of Northern Wisconsin. On its way, it passes through a half-dozen small towns, none more than a few hundred people in size, as well as the Chequamegon National Forest, a massive swathe of land that has largely been left to the animals, of which there are many. There is nothing spectacular about the trail besides the occasional railroad spike sticking out of the ground--no landmarks, no great natural landscapes, no fluctuations in terrain, its flatness bespeaking its former use--and yet, a few years ago, I began walking it. At first I covered only a few miles, making sure I turned back before it became too dark, or before my domesticated knees threatened to give out. As the summer progressed, however, the walks became longer, until I was covering 15 to 20 miles in a given day, all without water or food; my supplies consisted of a camera, which would go virtually unused, a baseball cap to block out the sun, and a few dollars in case I needed to stop at one of the few gas stations along the way. The entire experience, stretched out over one long summer, was nothing short of unpleasant, and at the last five miles I gave up: the horse-flies were too vicious, the distance from home too far. To this day, I have no desire to go back and hike that final portion. The Tuscobia era of my life is, thankfully, closed.
And yet I persisted, forcing myself to cover one section after the next, for no reason other than to walk. I knew there would be nothing to see, no great scenes to photograph, no milestones to reach, but I kept on, driving out further and further, parking along narrow backroads and disappearing for hours at a time. (I never expected to walk the entire trail in one go, for the simple reason that there were no lodgings along the way.) The trail, used mainly for ATV riders in the summer and snowmobilers in the winter, isn't designed for hikers, and yet I found a strange comfort in those hours on the trail--a trail on which I could vanish without ever having to worry about being lost. In those long stretches of time away from people, phones, televisions, traffic, and other distractions, other refuges, I was able--forced--to not only push myself further but also think through my life as it was and could be. After all, when you're alone on a 70-mile trail that snakes its way through one of the least populated places in the country, you have a lot of time to think.
This paradox--of disappearing to find oneself--has made the simple act of walking a serious object of study and reflection, advocated by men and women for centuries. Henry David Thoreau wrote a heavily reprinted essay on the subject, philosophizing that walking fulfills man's inner need to reconnect with and rejoin nature--a need that modern society has done its best to suffocate away, to excise and devalue. Similarly, the world's greatest thinkers--Rousseau, Nietzsche, Kant, Rimbaud--all took to walking for their own individual purposes, though each would remark on how beneficial the experience was, not only to them personally but to mankind entirely. Others have transformed walking into a symbolic experience--an exercise in strength, protest, and reform. Gandhi walked to the waters for equality, just as civil rights activists walked to Montgomery for rights, the third time joined by Martin Luther King himself, and always under the threat of violence. Men and women have walked across countries, up the world's highest mountain, across the planet's coldest and emptiest continent, into the hearts of forgotten empires, down caves that were refuges for our ancestors, and even across the surface of the moon. And with every walk, marked into dirt and soil and dust by the feet and shoes of average people, our world has become a better place--more knowledgeable, more aware, more connected.
Sometimes, however, a great walk occurs by accident, simply because the path is somewhere to be when there's nowhere else to go. In 1955, a grandmother from Ohio named Emma Gatewood made her way south to George where, with few provisions and no guide, she began to walk the Appalachian Trail, a 2,168-mile path that crossed through 14 states and had only ever been walked from start to finish--uninterrupted, in one season--by a half-dozen others before her, at most, and all of them men. At age 67, she was an unlikely candidate for such an adventure; wearing only Keds on her feet and with scant supplies--some raisins for food, a blanket, a raincoat, an extra pair of glasses, money and identification--she was also impossibly optimistic about her chances. At the time, the Appalachian Trail was in sorry disrepair. Virtually ignored by the federal government, not to mention state agencies, the trail was tended at intervals by local groups and volunteers, all of whom worked without recognition or pay to preserve what they viewed as a national treasure. Had it not been for their dedication, hikers like Emma Gatewood could never have made the months-long trek; and had it not been for hikers like Emma Gatewood--and especially Emma Gatewood--the trail itself may have faded into obscurity, reclaimed by the very wilderness the path was created to embrace.
What makes the story of Emma Gatewood--dubbed Grandma Gatewood by writers at the time--so enthralling, especially when written out by Ben Montgomery, is that the accounts of her Appalachian walk are interspersed with stories of the world Emma Gatewood left behind, if only temporarily. She had been a dutiful wife and mother, the kind of woman--a turn-of-the-century housewife--who labored 20 hours a day making sure her children were fed, her husband was taken care of, the house was clean, the pantry was well-stocked, and the farm ran smoothly while the men were out working the fields and tending to the cattle. She could butcher and fry a hog single-handedly, wrote poetry, never complained about the tribulations of farm life, and kept connected to her family through detailed letters, even when they spread across the country. But her husband was abusive, often beating her until she was no longer recognizable. At times she would want to leave, but her husband watched her obsessively, and she didn't want to leave without the children, whom he never struck but had no problems being violent in front of. Plus, this was an era when women were still expected to submit in certain parts of the country, and where a beaten wife's story didn't matter when the husband was friends with the law. It was a secret she carried with her, even after they separated and she was given control over the farm and custody of the children--an unheard-of judgment for a woman in the early twentieth century. Still, decades later, when the newspapers learned of her solitary walk and caught up with her to ask her questions--she was always available to journalists, even though they slowed her down--she would tell them she was a widow, that her husband was dead, and she'd say nothing more. She didn't like to talk about herself all that much, brushing off their condescending surprise that she would embark on something so difficult and at her advanced age, and she especially didn't want to tell them that her husband was still alive somewhere, though she didn't particularly care where.
As Montgomery's book approaches its close, the two halves of Gatewood's life--her past, her present, all written in honest, beautiful prose--converge into the story of a woman who did something on her own, even when all of the evidence and much of the popular opinion, as unspoken as it may have been, said she wouldn't or couldn't. In fact, she would return to the trail twice more, each time for no other reason than because it was there and because there was nothing stopping her, not anymore. Later, she would walk the Oregon Trail, a 2,000-mile trek from Missouri to Portland, though the treeless roadways meant the sun beat down on her for months, merciless. And yet she prevailed there, too. She would be given credit for pioneering the practice of "ultra-light hiking," in which a hiker carries as little as possible--though she did so out of expedience, practicality, and an overriding trust in her fellow people, most of whom did all they could to help out this old, soft-spoken women on her journey. They fed her, gave her a place to sleep--in one case, she eschewed a bed for a chair on the family's front porch--and returned her to the place where she'd been picked up, guaranteeing that she did not miss a single step of the trail. What these kind-hearted samaritans didn't realize--what they couldn't have realized at the time--was that her mission transcended the mountainous path she would eventually conquer. As is the case with most people, Emma Gatewood was on two journeys: one she walked publicly, and one she walked privately, on her own and for only herself.
This review was originally published at There Will Be Books Galore.
And yet I persisted, forcing myself to cover one section after the next, for no reason other than to walk. I knew there would be nothing to see, no great scenes to photograph, no milestones to reach, but I kept on, driving out further and further, parking along narrow backroads and disappearing for hours at a time. (I never expected to walk the entire trail in one go, for the simple reason that there were no lodgings along the way.) The trail, used mainly for ATV riders in the summer and snowmobilers in the winter, isn't designed for hikers, and yet I found a strange comfort in those hours on the trail--a trail on which I could vanish without ever having to worry about being lost. In those long stretches of time away from people, phones, televisions, traffic, and other distractions, other refuges, I was able--forced--to not only push myself further but also think through my life as it was and could be. After all, when you're alone on a 70-mile trail that snakes its way through one of the least populated places in the country, you have a lot of time to think.
This paradox--of disappearing to find oneself--has made the simple act of walking a serious object of study and reflection, advocated by men and women for centuries. Henry David Thoreau wrote a heavily reprinted essay on the subject, philosophizing that walking fulfills man's inner need to reconnect with and rejoin nature--a need that modern society has done its best to suffocate away, to excise and devalue. Similarly, the world's greatest thinkers--Rousseau, Nietzsche, Kant, Rimbaud--all took to walking for their own individual purposes, though each would remark on how beneficial the experience was, not only to them personally but to mankind entirely. Others have transformed walking into a symbolic experience--an exercise in strength, protest, and reform. Gandhi walked to the waters for equality, just as civil rights activists walked to Montgomery for rights, the third time joined by Martin Luther King himself, and always under the threat of violence. Men and women have walked across countries, up the world's highest mountain, across the planet's coldest and emptiest continent, into the hearts of forgotten empires, down caves that were refuges for our ancestors, and even across the surface of the moon. And with every walk, marked into dirt and soil and dust by the feet and shoes of average people, our world has become a better place--more knowledgeable, more aware, more connected.
Sometimes, however, a great walk occurs by accident, simply because the path is somewhere to be when there's nowhere else to go. In 1955, a grandmother from Ohio named Emma Gatewood made her way south to George where, with few provisions and no guide, she began to walk the Appalachian Trail, a 2,168-mile path that crossed through 14 states and had only ever been walked from start to finish--uninterrupted, in one season--by a half-dozen others before her, at most, and all of them men. At age 67, she was an unlikely candidate for such an adventure; wearing only Keds on her feet and with scant supplies--some raisins for food, a blanket, a raincoat, an extra pair of glasses, money and identification--she was also impossibly optimistic about her chances. At the time, the Appalachian Trail was in sorry disrepair. Virtually ignored by the federal government, not to mention state agencies, the trail was tended at intervals by local groups and volunteers, all of whom worked without recognition or pay to preserve what they viewed as a national treasure. Had it not been for their dedication, hikers like Emma Gatewood could never have made the months-long trek; and had it not been for hikers like Emma Gatewood--and especially Emma Gatewood--the trail itself may have faded into obscurity, reclaimed by the very wilderness the path was created to embrace.
What makes the story of Emma Gatewood--dubbed Grandma Gatewood by writers at the time--so enthralling, especially when written out by Ben Montgomery, is that the accounts of her Appalachian walk are interspersed with stories of the world Emma Gatewood left behind, if only temporarily. She had been a dutiful wife and mother, the kind of woman--a turn-of-the-century housewife--who labored 20 hours a day making sure her children were fed, her husband was taken care of, the house was clean, the pantry was well-stocked, and the farm ran smoothly while the men were out working the fields and tending to the cattle. She could butcher and fry a hog single-handedly, wrote poetry, never complained about the tribulations of farm life, and kept connected to her family through detailed letters, even when they spread across the country. But her husband was abusive, often beating her until she was no longer recognizable. At times she would want to leave, but her husband watched her obsessively, and she didn't want to leave without the children, whom he never struck but had no problems being violent in front of. Plus, this was an era when women were still expected to submit in certain parts of the country, and where a beaten wife's story didn't matter when the husband was friends with the law. It was a secret she carried with her, even after they separated and she was given control over the farm and custody of the children--an unheard-of judgment for a woman in the early twentieth century. Still, decades later, when the newspapers learned of her solitary walk and caught up with her to ask her questions--she was always available to journalists, even though they slowed her down--she would tell them she was a widow, that her husband was dead, and she'd say nothing more. She didn't like to talk about herself all that much, brushing off their condescending surprise that she would embark on something so difficult and at her advanced age, and she especially didn't want to tell them that her husband was still alive somewhere, though she didn't particularly care where.
As Montgomery's book approaches its close, the two halves of Gatewood's life--her past, her present, all written in honest, beautiful prose--converge into the story of a woman who did something on her own, even when all of the evidence and much of the popular opinion, as unspoken as it may have been, said she wouldn't or couldn't. In fact, she would return to the trail twice more, each time for no other reason than because it was there and because there was nothing stopping her, not anymore. Later, she would walk the Oregon Trail, a 2,000-mile trek from Missouri to Portland, though the treeless roadways meant the sun beat down on her for months, merciless. And yet she prevailed there, too. She would be given credit for pioneering the practice of "ultra-light hiking," in which a hiker carries as little as possible--though she did so out of expedience, practicality, and an overriding trust in her fellow people, most of whom did all they could to help out this old, soft-spoken women on her journey. They fed her, gave her a place to sleep--in one case, she eschewed a bed for a chair on the family's front porch--and returned her to the place where she'd been picked up, guaranteeing that she did not miss a single step of the trail. What these kind-hearted samaritans didn't realize--what they couldn't have realized at the time--was that her mission transcended the mountainous path she would eventually conquer. As is the case with most people, Emma Gatewood was on two journeys: one she walked publicly, and one she walked privately, on her own and for only herself.
This review was originally published at There Will Be Books Galore.
January 25, 2020
4/5
This is a well-written story about Emma Gatewood, a sixty-seven year old mother of eleven and grandmother from rural Ohio, who decided to walk the entire length of the Appalachian Trail from Oglethorpe Mountain in Jasper, Georgia to Mount Katahdin, in Baxter State Park in Maine. She set out on May 10, 1955 and completed the 2,050 mile journey when she arrived at Mount Katahdin on September 11, 1955. Because Montgomery published his book in 2014, and Emma died at the age of 85 on June 4, 1973, he had no opportunity to speak with his subject. But as she was the first woman to complete the entire walk in a single trip (rather than in sections over different time periods), her journey was well documented in the press. Gatewood made two more complete journeys of the Trail (in 1960 and 1963), as well as walking the complete Oregon Trail (in 1959) from Independence, Missouri to Portland, Oregon, another two thousand mile hike. Additional, and especially personal, information was contributed by Emma’s four surviving children.
Emma “Grandma” Gatewood was a unique hiker, even for her time. She was very much a loner, although she was friendly enough with people she met along the Trail. She was far from the well-equipped sort of hiker more common on the trail, even in those earlier days. She did not have the right shoes, she kept breaking her eyeglasses, she did not carry camping equipment or a sleeping bag, nor did she use a backpack. Instead, she tossed about 20 pounds of blanket, clothing, some cash, and food in a sack she made herself and carried it by tossing it over her shoulder. She stopped along the way to replenish supplies. She wore out seven pairs of shoes along the way. She slept where she could: in shelters, on picnic tables, on heated rocks on the ground, and occasionally, in a real bed in a motel (off the trail) or in someone’s home. She had not even told her children that she was going to walk the trail; she just got on a bus in Ohio and headed to Georgia. She finally let them know about a month or so into her journey by dropping them postcards. At that point the first newspaper article appeared and she worried they might hear about her journey from the press instead of from her. None had worried; they were used to their mother’s independent nature. Her story is unique and worth your time to read about it.
In addition to the main narrative about Grandma Gatewoods’ hikes, Montgomery inserts a background section inside each chapter. Sometimes, he tells the story of Emma’s past and present life; other times, he includes information about hiking, the development of the trail, the history of the time period and so on. You never know exactly what you’ll get, nor exactly what will interest you. I found the section in Chapter Four about the history of US highways particularly interesting. I learned that at the beginning of the twentieth century, the United States had just one hundred miles of paved roads . . . in the entire country! And then by mid-century (when Grandma is hiking), we began building our huge Interstate system, starting with the Pennsylvania Turnpike. In the present (120 years later than 1900) there are well over four million miles of paved roads. Clearly, this country can do infrastructure when we want to. We need to want to again, looking this time (as we did then) at what we will need in the future.
This is a well-written story about Emma Gatewood, a sixty-seven year old mother of eleven and grandmother from rural Ohio, who decided to walk the entire length of the Appalachian Trail from Oglethorpe Mountain in Jasper, Georgia to Mount Katahdin, in Baxter State Park in Maine. She set out on May 10, 1955 and completed the 2,050 mile journey when she arrived at Mount Katahdin on September 11, 1955. Because Montgomery published his book in 2014, and Emma died at the age of 85 on June 4, 1973, he had no opportunity to speak with his subject. But as she was the first woman to complete the entire walk in a single trip (rather than in sections over different time periods), her journey was well documented in the press. Gatewood made two more complete journeys of the Trail (in 1960 and 1963), as well as walking the complete Oregon Trail (in 1959) from Independence, Missouri to Portland, Oregon, another two thousand mile hike. Additional, and especially personal, information was contributed by Emma’s four surviving children.
Emma “Grandma” Gatewood was a unique hiker, even for her time. She was very much a loner, although she was friendly enough with people she met along the Trail. She was far from the well-equipped sort of hiker more common on the trail, even in those earlier days. She did not have the right shoes, she kept breaking her eyeglasses, she did not carry camping equipment or a sleeping bag, nor did she use a backpack. Instead, she tossed about 20 pounds of blanket, clothing, some cash, and food in a sack she made herself and carried it by tossing it over her shoulder. She stopped along the way to replenish supplies. She wore out seven pairs of shoes along the way. She slept where she could: in shelters, on picnic tables, on heated rocks on the ground, and occasionally, in a real bed in a motel (off the trail) or in someone’s home. She had not even told her children that she was going to walk the trail; she just got on a bus in Ohio and headed to Georgia. She finally let them know about a month or so into her journey by dropping them postcards. At that point the first newspaper article appeared and she worried they might hear about her journey from the press instead of from her. None had worried; they were used to their mother’s independent nature. Her story is unique and worth your time to read about it.
In addition to the main narrative about Grandma Gatewoods’ hikes, Montgomery inserts a background section inside each chapter. Sometimes, he tells the story of Emma’s past and present life; other times, he includes information about hiking, the development of the trail, the history of the time period and so on. You never know exactly what you’ll get, nor exactly what will interest you. I found the section in Chapter Four about the history of US highways particularly interesting. I learned that at the beginning of the twentieth century, the United States had just one hundred miles of paved roads . . . in the entire country! And then by mid-century (when Grandma is hiking), we began building our huge Interstate system, starting with the Pennsylvania Turnpike. In the present (120 years later than 1900) there are well over four million miles of paved roads. Clearly, this country can do infrastructure when we want to. We need to want to again, looking this time (as we did then) at what we will need in the future.
September 24, 2022
Certainly not great literature, but an excellent job of telling the story of an amazing woman who hiked the entire Appalachian Trail in 1955, the first woman to do so. She was 67, had raised eleven children, survived (barely) an abusive husband and decided to walk the Trail after reading about it in a National Geographic article. She had nothing but a small knapsack carrying a few necessities, no tent or sleeping bag or special equipment, no maps, not even hiking boots. She wore Keds! By the end of her walk, she was on her 7th pair of shoes and had broken 2 pair of glasses, so she climbed her last mountain almost blind. Her persistence and ability to endure pain and hunger and fear was incredible. She did meet people along the way who helped, by feeding her or giving her a bed for the night, especially after the press learned of her progress and told her story. She once shared a rough cabin with a group of black teenagers and their leaders, who she later found out were from rival gangs in New York City. Those boys took her across a swollen river on their backs the next day, which she couldn't do on her own because she couldn't swim.
When I say Grandma Gatewood was inspiring, that's not the half of it. I may have one of those bracelets made, "What would GG do?", just to keep me going when things get tough.
When I say Grandma Gatewood was inspiring, that's not the half of it. I may have one of those bracelets made, "What would GG do?", just to keep me going when things get tough.
July 10, 2022
Inspiring story of putting one foot in front of the other no matter how old you are! Truly inspiring.
Ironically this is a great staycation book.
Ironically this is a great staycation book.
January 2, 2023
I loved reading about 'Grandma' Emma Gatewood and her walks on the Appalachian Trail as the first woman to have achieved this. The book is detailed because the author was allowed to use her diaries.
It also tells about her difficult life with 11 children and an abusive husband and the times she lived in.
I wasn't much interested in all the other long distance walkers that were mentioned, so I found it a bit too drawn out.
It also tells about her difficult life with 11 children and an abusive husband and the times she lived in.
I wasn't much interested in all the other long distance walkers that were mentioned, so I found it a bit too drawn out.
March 17, 2018
3 stars
The story of a 67 year old Grandma who walked the Appalachian Trail. Her persistence lead to a revamping of the Trail and she has been given credit for its evolving maintenance and probably saved the Trail from extinction.
In 1955 Emma 'Grandma' Gatewood spent from May to September walking the full length of the Appalachian Trail - 2050 miles, through 13 states, from Georgia to Maine. She was the first woman to walk the whole length of the trail, by herself. Spending many nights out in the open, some in freezing weather, without a meal, she spent what she estimated to be 10 cents a mile walking this trail. She walked for 146 days at about 17 miles a day, losing 24 pounds during the walk. She carried only a blanket and small supply of rations, broke 3 pairs of glasses and wore out 7 pairs of tennis shoes. Bunking and eating with many families along the trail, she also spent a few days with two rival gangs, brought together by a priest in hopes of stopping gang wars, an opossum, and a number of field mice and rattle snakes.
Trudging on with a broken ankle, at one point, even with the mice, snakes, foxes, opossum and deteriorating trail Emma was happier then than she had ever been. Mother of 11 children, abused for years by her ex-husband, she walked this trail for herself. Mindless of a bad knee, Emma having read about the trail 3 yrs before, she just walked away. Her youngest child now out on her own, with a word to no one, Emma set out alone, taking many weeks before telling any of her children, by postcard, where she was or what she was doing.
She became a sensation and was sought after by many journalists. Many towns hosted parties for her. She continued to walk and logged many many more miles thereafter.
"I did it" she said. "I said I'd do it, and I've done it".
The story of a 67 year old Grandma who walked the Appalachian Trail. Her persistence lead to a revamping of the Trail and she has been given credit for its evolving maintenance and probably saved the Trail from extinction.
In 1955 Emma 'Grandma' Gatewood spent from May to September walking the full length of the Appalachian Trail - 2050 miles, through 13 states, from Georgia to Maine. She was the first woman to walk the whole length of the trail, by herself. Spending many nights out in the open, some in freezing weather, without a meal, she spent what she estimated to be 10 cents a mile walking this trail. She walked for 146 days at about 17 miles a day, losing 24 pounds during the walk. She carried only a blanket and small supply of rations, broke 3 pairs of glasses and wore out 7 pairs of tennis shoes. Bunking and eating with many families along the trail, she also spent a few days with two rival gangs, brought together by a priest in hopes of stopping gang wars, an opossum, and a number of field mice and rattle snakes.
Trudging on with a broken ankle, at one point, even with the mice, snakes, foxes, opossum and deteriorating trail Emma was happier then than she had ever been. Mother of 11 children, abused for years by her ex-husband, she walked this trail for herself. Mindless of a bad knee, Emma having read about the trail 3 yrs before, she just walked away. Her youngest child now out on her own, with a word to no one, Emma set out alone, taking many weeks before telling any of her children, by postcard, where she was or what she was doing.
She became a sensation and was sought after by many journalists. Many towns hosted parties for her. She continued to walk and logged many many more miles thereafter.
"I did it" she said. "I said I'd do it, and I've done it".
November 1, 2014
I won this book from a Goodreads Giveaway - thank you!
Emma Gatewood walked the 2,000+ miles of the Appalachian Trail as a thru-hiker in 1955, the first for a woman. And then did it two more times because she wanted to. She then hiked the entire Oregon Trail, and did some other hike up into Canada. She started her hiking career at age 67! That's right, you feel like a lazy SOB about now. It's OK, so did I. But in case you want to feel a little worse about yourself, consider these facts. She wore a pair of Keds, packed a shower curtain for rain, ate bullion cubes for nourishment, and had broken glasses for a large portion of her journey. She carried her possessions in a sack. Not a backpack, but a literal drawstring sack that was lumped over her shoulder. She was 5 foot 2 inches tall.
It was all well documented back in the 1950's - 1970's, and if you live on the east coast you may already know about Grandma Gatewood. This book brings her story back to life, but also adds a powerful back story of her 34 year marriage to a violently abusive husband. She endured horrific conditions while raising eleven children, but she was never broken. When she finally divorced her husband she was "happy ever since".
There are many lessons from this book. (One is leave that bad relationship. He will never change.) The main lesson to learn from Emma Gatewood is that you have to pursue your passion, no matter when, how old, or how difficult. The time will pass anyway.
Emma Gatewood walked the 2,000+ miles of the Appalachian Trail as a thru-hiker in 1955, the first for a woman. And then did it two more times because she wanted to. She then hiked the entire Oregon Trail, and did some other hike up into Canada. She started her hiking career at age 67! That's right, you feel like a lazy SOB about now. It's OK, so did I. But in case you want to feel a little worse about yourself, consider these facts. She wore a pair of Keds, packed a shower curtain for rain, ate bullion cubes for nourishment, and had broken glasses for a large portion of her journey. She carried her possessions in a sack. Not a backpack, but a literal drawstring sack that was lumped over her shoulder. She was 5 foot 2 inches tall.
It was all well documented back in the 1950's - 1970's, and if you live on the east coast you may already know about Grandma Gatewood. This book brings her story back to life, but also adds a powerful back story of her 34 year marriage to a violently abusive husband. She endured horrific conditions while raising eleven children, but she was never broken. When she finally divorced her husband she was "happy ever since".
There are many lessons from this book. (One is leave that bad relationship. He will never change.) The main lesson to learn from Emma Gatewood is that you have to pursue your passion, no matter when, how old, or how difficult. The time will pass anyway.
November 8, 2019
This woman is a hero! Eleven kids, a husband that needed leaving long before she did, and she finally gave herself permission to fly that coup! Of all the many ways to escape, the best of all is to LEAVE, and she does in a very big way. The Appalachian Trail (AT), traveling light as a feather. Her story is inspiring and encouraging to this grandma.
Along the way she had so much help, and only a little bit of trouble. . .a run in with a snake but seems to have avoided some of the larger predators. . . .her first trip was in 1955, so far removed from our day, but still what an inspiring story. I hope her posterity is proud as punch of her. I am!
5 sweaty stars for her travels, and for the author's efforts to make this story known to readers outside those who stay in the sports story genre.
Along the way she had so much help, and only a little bit of trouble. . .a run in with a snake but seems to have avoided some of the larger predators. . . .her first trip was in 1955, so far removed from our day, but still what an inspiring story. I hope her posterity is proud as punch of her. I am!
5 sweaty stars for her travels, and for the author's efforts to make this story known to readers outside those who stay in the sports story genre.
September 10, 2014
Had to read this book slowly just to savor/understand Emma Gatewood. Mr. Montgomery took great care to capture the essence of this main character, her domestic life and her inner strength of self. Highly recommend this book not so much for sparking a hiking interest but to understand the inner strength of this remarkable human being.
April 30, 2022
1 brave woman
I cannot believe that I have read halfway through this book and I'm still pushing myself to finish it. How stupid. The highlight of this book is that she wore tennis shoes while hiking the trail and did not bring a sleeping bag. It may have been better to have just read her own diary, but instead, there are a lot of fillers in this book. You get to hear what's happening in the world during the year that she walked the trail. The value of this book is that she was the 1st woman to hike the trail, and she was 67 years old. So that is a bit of history in itself. I would say that this author did the best that he could With this book due to the circumstances. The circumstances being, he had little to work with Because what she wrote in her diary was very vague. I suppose it went like this. Today I walked 8 miles and by night time I tried 8 houses before somebody offered me a bed.
Update. I wasn't stupid after all. I continued reading for the next 4 hours and found this ladder half of the book to be more interesting than the 1st part. I had heard about grandma gatewood in the 60s and thought that there was a book written about her, but I was not interested in the Appalachian trail at that time. Perhaps people just brag about her when I was living in Berkeley, and kids for hitchhiking across America, even traveling to Mexico and India and elsewhere.
The best story in this book was when she woke up and saw that porcupine was lying on her chest. I would Have freaked. The worst part of this book is that we had to listen to the author talking about her past marriage and how her husband beat her.
I also did not know that she had walked the Appalachian trail 3 times, and then walked the organ trail, which was 2000 miles. There were other walks that she took as well.
I cannot believe that I have read halfway through this book and I'm still pushing myself to finish it. How stupid. The highlight of this book is that she wore tennis shoes while hiking the trail and did not bring a sleeping bag. It may have been better to have just read her own diary, but instead, there are a lot of fillers in this book. You get to hear what's happening in the world during the year that she walked the trail. The value of this book is that she was the 1st woman to hike the trail, and she was 67 years old. So that is a bit of history in itself. I would say that this author did the best that he could With this book due to the circumstances. The circumstances being, he had little to work with Because what she wrote in her diary was very vague. I suppose it went like this. Today I walked 8 miles and by night time I tried 8 houses before somebody offered me a bed.
Update. I wasn't stupid after all. I continued reading for the next 4 hours and found this ladder half of the book to be more interesting than the 1st part. I had heard about grandma gatewood in the 60s and thought that there was a book written about her, but I was not interested in the Appalachian trail at that time. Perhaps people just brag about her when I was living in Berkeley, and kids for hitchhiking across America, even traveling to Mexico and India and elsewhere.
The best story in this book was when she woke up and saw that porcupine was lying on her chest. I would Have freaked. The worst part of this book is that we had to listen to the author talking about her past marriage and how her husband beat her.
I also did not know that she had walked the Appalachian trail 3 times, and then walked the organ trail, which was 2000 miles. There were other walks that she took as well.
April 5, 2018
I would rather have read Grandma Gatewood's unedited journals and/or book of self-published poems than slog through this plodding and unimaginative retelling of a fairly fascinating story. I found the prose with which he described Emma herself to be varying degrees of off-putting or just plain maddening (also bad, but that's a completely different complaint). The choice of cover photo (one of the more unflattering ones that exists of her, and there are many) should maybe have been a tip off that we weren't in for a particularly insightful read. The author didn't seem interested in looking Emma in the eye and telling her story. The author's male gaze, however, was felt throughout (from disparaging adverb choices, to a seemingly utter lack of interest in developing Emma or any of her friends/family into real, relatable people). He also seemed compelled to include ALL of his research in the final book. As an example, I'm sure the sheer number of quotes he found on the benefits of walking were helpful to him as he was diving into telling the story of a long-distance hiker. We, however, really didn't need to wade through what felt like every single walking-adjacent quote he'd found. With about a quarter of the book to go, he interrupts the final leg of her journey to insert HIMSELF into the narrative. If not for the fact that I was listening to the audible version, I would have finally thrown the book across the room in anger. Instead, I suffered through the author's own experiences in Maine retracing Emma's steps to the northern terminus of the trail. This woman's story deserves better than to be told by a middling dude-author. I was so infuriated by the telling and so intrigued by the story that I've spent the last few days mining the internet for other information on her. The best thing I can say about this book is that it inspired me to learn more about this formidable woman from different sources.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 6, 2021
What an amazing story about Grandma Gatewood aka Emma Gatewood. She not only gets a standing ovation for having had 11 kids, but as a great grandmother, she slips away from her family without telling anyone and goes on a very long journey (I think it was 5 months long) to hike the entire Appalachian Trail...that's 2000+ miles. And when her kids find out, they are not at all concerned. They know their mom. I loved that part.
Grandma Gatewood became a celebrity of sorts, especially with the boy scouts, the girl scouts, the locals and the media. This was a fun little read. Go Grandma Gatewood. 4 stars.
Grandma Gatewood became a celebrity of sorts, especially with the boy scouts, the girl scouts, the locals and the media. This was a fun little read. Go Grandma Gatewood. 4 stars.
January 30, 2020
This was fascinating! The life of Ms. Emma from beginning to end is of strength. I have no interest in hiking but this book was amazing. I couldn’t put it down.
December 23, 2021
“It’s never too late to be what you might have been.” ~George Sand.
Emma “Grandma” Gatewood’s walk across the Appalachian Trail is an inspirational tale of determination, grit, liberation, and joyful triumph. Her homesteading folk knowledge alone (plants, herbs, cooking, gardening, farming, living off the land) was of tremendous interest to me, but sadly not especially explored in depth in this book. However, I am confident that her resourcefulness and this “living off the land” knowledge she possessed must have contributed greatly to her successful completion of the entire length of the trail, since she carried nothing but bare-minimum provisions on her historic walk. Her story made me longingly pine for an antiquated, slower paced, friendlier American society and terrain, so unlike our frenetically over-populated 21st Century one. Imagining the ever-growing industrial transition in American way of life from when Emma was born in 1887 to when she made her famous walk in 1955, made me suppose that Grandma Gatewood just might have been one of the last remaining American Frontiersman in both her spirit and her real-life experienced view of the natural American landscape. Finally, the greatest inspirational lesson that Grandma Gatewood’s story left me with, was the realization that due to the years of horrible abuse Emma suffered, she could have easily spent her twilight years with a broken-spirit, filled with resentment, insecurity, regret, but Emma never allowed herself to be pulled down by her traumas and misfortunes. Her indomitable spirit was always looking up and ever ahead, moving her constantly forward in her personal search for beauty, serenity and independence. Sadly but not surprisingly, it seemed as if most mid-twentieth century America unfairly dismissed Gatewood’s mental and physical ability and commitment due to both her advanced age and gender, and quite probably assumed she was a “bit off her nutter” and would most likely give up and quit. However, when “against all odds” she continued to persevere and achieve mile after mile success, her success story began to gather more and more media interest and attention. As she gained more press she created a bit of a buzz about the Appalachian Trails she walked. So I would have to agree with the author’s assertion that Grandma Gatewood did help save the Appalachian Trail. The popularity of her adventures and progression on the trail not only generated more interest in the great wild American outdoors, but in turn, lead to an increased interest and commitment to the preservation of many Appalachian trails that contemporary hikers continue to explore and travel on to this very day. Thank you Grandma Gatewood for paving the way!
Emma “Grandma” Gatewood’s walk across the Appalachian Trail is an inspirational tale of determination, grit, liberation, and joyful triumph. Her homesteading folk knowledge alone (plants, herbs, cooking, gardening, farming, living off the land) was of tremendous interest to me, but sadly not especially explored in depth in this book. However, I am confident that her resourcefulness and this “living off the land” knowledge she possessed must have contributed greatly to her successful completion of the entire length of the trail, since she carried nothing but bare-minimum provisions on her historic walk. Her story made me longingly pine for an antiquated, slower paced, friendlier American society and terrain, so unlike our frenetically over-populated 21st Century one. Imagining the ever-growing industrial transition in American way of life from when Emma was born in 1887 to when she made her famous walk in 1955, made me suppose that Grandma Gatewood just might have been one of the last remaining American Frontiersman in both her spirit and her real-life experienced view of the natural American landscape. Finally, the greatest inspirational lesson that Grandma Gatewood’s story left me with, was the realization that due to the years of horrible abuse Emma suffered, she could have easily spent her twilight years with a broken-spirit, filled with resentment, insecurity, regret, but Emma never allowed herself to be pulled down by her traumas and misfortunes. Her indomitable spirit was always looking up and ever ahead, moving her constantly forward in her personal search for beauty, serenity and independence. Sadly but not surprisingly, it seemed as if most mid-twentieth century America unfairly dismissed Gatewood’s mental and physical ability and commitment due to both her advanced age and gender, and quite probably assumed she was a “bit off her nutter” and would most likely give up and quit. However, when “against all odds” she continued to persevere and achieve mile after mile success, her success story began to gather more and more media interest and attention. As she gained more press she created a bit of a buzz about the Appalachian Trails she walked. So I would have to agree with the author’s assertion that Grandma Gatewood did help save the Appalachian Trail. The popularity of her adventures and progression on the trail not only generated more interest in the great wild American outdoors, but in turn, lead to an increased interest and commitment to the preservation of many Appalachian trails that contemporary hikers continue to explore and travel on to this very day. Thank you Grandma Gatewood for paving the way!
July 20, 2019
Emma Gatewood decides it’s time to start her bucket list and sets off to hike the Appalachian Trail. Mother of 11, grandmother to 23, and 67 years of age. Telling those left behind she was merely “going for a walk” she implements her years of farming, living off the multiple elements of the land, and basic survival skills, she packs a small sack and begins.
The year was 1955.
This was not your current AP of frequent shelters, food sources, or even fellow hikers. Days alone, sleeping in the wild, battling the elements and wildlife, she was a tenacious reckoning of savvy chutzpah. A small journal was mostly her only source of conversation, albeit one-sided.
Her amazing journey was inspirational in so many ways. A testament to female endurance, acceptance and overcoming pain, thrift and common sense. That she did all this with the bare minimals even further extols her superhuman traits.
The few people she conversed with on the trail, the sights, the perils, the wonder, kept briefly in her journal and shared in snippets in this book. Very much the minimalist, even her thoughts were only as needed.
Once she completes the first trek, the accolades pour in and her celebrity begins. On her second thru-hike, she is often recognized and given better hospitality and occasional “Trail magic” but she mostly shuns the hubris and goes about her way.
Add in the Oregon Trail and a 3rd A.T. hike( albeit sectional, this go) not to mention trails she instrumentally creates in Hocking Hills, Ohio (of which I hope to enjoy soon) and we have one awesome woman who sets the marker for just about anyone.
Backstory of her abuse at the hands of her then husband gives an inkling to where her perseverance originated. A loving, teaching mother, her children also grew up with her knowledge of nature and love if the outdoors.
As much a historical take of the time, creation of the Trail, and anthropological look at the denizens along the way, it’s a fascinating read in just so many ways. The first of so much we take for granted daily: paved roads, TV’s, cell phones, indoor facilities, not that long in our norm. It makes us aware of how pantywaisted we are today.
I hope they make a movie about her soon. If Bill Bryson has one for 1/3, she sure need one for 3 times.
The year was 1955.
This was not your current AP of frequent shelters, food sources, or even fellow hikers. Days alone, sleeping in the wild, battling the elements and wildlife, she was a tenacious reckoning of savvy chutzpah. A small journal was mostly her only source of conversation, albeit one-sided.
Her amazing journey was inspirational in so many ways. A testament to female endurance, acceptance and overcoming pain, thrift and common sense. That she did all this with the bare minimals even further extols her superhuman traits.
The few people she conversed with on the trail, the sights, the perils, the wonder, kept briefly in her journal and shared in snippets in this book. Very much the minimalist, even her thoughts were only as needed.
Once she completes the first trek, the accolades pour in and her celebrity begins. On her second thru-hike, she is often recognized and given better hospitality and occasional “Trail magic” but she mostly shuns the hubris and goes about her way.
Add in the Oregon Trail and a 3rd A.T. hike( albeit sectional, this go) not to mention trails she instrumentally creates in Hocking Hills, Ohio (of which I hope to enjoy soon) and we have one awesome woman who sets the marker for just about anyone.
Backstory of her abuse at the hands of her then husband gives an inkling to where her perseverance originated. A loving, teaching mother, her children also grew up with her knowledge of nature and love if the outdoors.
As much a historical take of the time, creation of the Trail, and anthropological look at the denizens along the way, it’s a fascinating read in just so many ways. The first of so much we take for granted daily: paved roads, TV’s, cell phones, indoor facilities, not that long in our norm. It makes us aware of how pantywaisted we are today.
I hope they make a movie about her soon. If Bill Bryson has one for 1/3, she sure need one for 3 times.
August 20, 2014
Interesting story, for sure, but I lost interest after awhile. Would have been a perfect long magazine article.
May 22, 2022
Parece un chiste de vascos: Un día Emma Gatewood, de 67 años, le dice a su familia que se va a dar un paseo. Y va y se hace entero el Sendero de los Apalaches, que tiene algo más de 3.500 kilómetros de longitud. En 1955, además, cuando el sendero aún estaba mal señalizado en algunos trechos y transcurría por lugares bastante más agrestes que en la actualidad.
La historia de Emma Gatewood tiene todos los ingredientes para un relato heroico, de esos en los que no puedes evitar desear con muchas ganas que la protagonista tenga éxito. No solo por la dificultad de la empresa, sino también por lo poco preparada que parece para acometerla. En estos tiempos de suelas de vibram, ropa técnica y bastones ultraligeros de aluminio, puede parecer una locura que una anciana se enfrente a una ruta tan exigente con unas zapatillas de lona y un saquito al hombro, cosido por ella misma, donde llevaba una manta y cuatro cositas más. Por si eso no bastara para suscitar la simpatía del lector, sabemos también que la vida de Emma Gatewood fue tremendamente dura desde bien joven: su marido le propinaba, ya a pocos meses de casados, unas palizas tremendas, de esas que rompen dientes y costillas.
A pesar de todos estos ingredientes, Grandma Gatewood's Walk me ha resultado un tanto decepcionante. Es como si el autor no diera con el tono adecuado para exprimir la emoción de la historia. Durante los capítulos en que contrapone las jornadas de camino con el pasado de la protagonista la cosa funciona algo mejor, pero incluso en esos momentos he echado en falta esa sensación de esfuerzo que distingue este tipo de historias. No pocas veces he pensado «¿Qué? ¿Ya ha cruzado otro estado entero?». Tengo la impresión de que Ben Montgomery ha querido ser muy fiel a los diarios de Emma Gatewood, y que quizás por ello ha olvidado sazonar la historia con una perspectiva más personal que sí se nota en algunos fragmentos finales, donde parece sentirse más liberado para desviarse de los hechos en sí. En resumen: útil para conocer los detalles de la gesta de Emma Gatewood, pero un pelín insulso para quienes estén acostumbrados a historias de superación contadas de forma más épica.
La historia de Emma Gatewood tiene todos los ingredientes para un relato heroico, de esos en los que no puedes evitar desear con muchas ganas que la protagonista tenga éxito. No solo por la dificultad de la empresa, sino también por lo poco preparada que parece para acometerla. En estos tiempos de suelas de vibram, ropa técnica y bastones ultraligeros de aluminio, puede parecer una locura que una anciana se enfrente a una ruta tan exigente con unas zapatillas de lona y un saquito al hombro, cosido por ella misma, donde llevaba una manta y cuatro cositas más. Por si eso no bastara para suscitar la simpatía del lector, sabemos también que la vida de Emma Gatewood fue tremendamente dura desde bien joven: su marido le propinaba, ya a pocos meses de casados, unas palizas tremendas, de esas que rompen dientes y costillas.
A pesar de todos estos ingredientes, Grandma Gatewood's Walk me ha resultado un tanto decepcionante. Es como si el autor no diera con el tono adecuado para exprimir la emoción de la historia. Durante los capítulos en que contrapone las jornadas de camino con el pasado de la protagonista la cosa funciona algo mejor, pero incluso en esos momentos he echado en falta esa sensación de esfuerzo que distingue este tipo de historias. No pocas veces he pensado «¿Qué? ¿Ya ha cruzado otro estado entero?». Tengo la impresión de que Ben Montgomery ha querido ser muy fiel a los diarios de Emma Gatewood, y que quizás por ello ha olvidado sazonar la historia con una perspectiva más personal que sí se nota en algunos fragmentos finales, donde parece sentirse más liberado para desviarse de los hechos en sí. En resumen: útil para conocer los detalles de la gesta de Emma Gatewood, pero un pelín insulso para quienes estén acostumbrados a historias de superación contadas de forma más épica.
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