Grandma Gatewood

Grandma Gatewood’s Walk: the inspiring story of the woman who save the Appalachian Trail by Ben Montogmery

Emma Gatewood, mother of eleven and grandmother of many more, left her family one day and set out to walk the 2168 mile length of the Appalachian Trail. She had divorced her abusive husband, who had almost beat her to death on several occasions, and her children were all now adults. She told them she was going for a walk in the woods, and when they next heard from her she had walked 800 miles of the trail.

She had read about the trail in an issue of National Geographic and thought it sounded like a pleasant walk. The impression she received from the article is that it was easy hiking and there were clean cabins at the end of each day’s journey. It wasn’t and there weren’t. She wore inexpensive Keds tennis shoes, and carried a homemade denim bag with a blanket, a plastic shower curtain, a change of clothes, and less than $200.

It’s an amazing story. Emma Gatewood hiked the trail three times in her life, the last time in stages. She also hiked 2000 miles of the Oregon Trail, from Missouri to Oregon, averaging 22 miles a day. She was widely interviewed by local and national newspapers, and because of the attention she brought to the Trail, improvements and better signage came to be. A book that will inspire you to go take a hike!