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grandma gatewood's walk

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    • grandma gatewood's walk

      the book about grandma gatewood - grandma gatewood's walk - comes out april 1. the book was written by ben mongomery, a distant relative.

      the book is given 1/4 page in this weeks sports illustrated - she was written about in sports illustrated in 1955 and this is an "update".

      [IMG:http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51IrKJL8SIL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-v3-big,TopRight,0,-55_SX278_SY278_PIkin4,BottomRight,1,22_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg]
      2,000 miler
    • grandma gatewood's walk

      october 1955 sports illustrated article (ain't the internet great!)

      PIONEER GRANDMOTHER

      Mrs. Emma Gatewood of Gallipolis, Ohio, the 67-year-old great-grandmother (SI, Aug. 15) who elected to hike the entire 2,050 miles of the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine, reached her goal, the summit of mile-high Mt. Katahdin in wild and rugged northeastern Maine. At the top she sang a verse from America the Beautiful, signed the register in a wind that nearly blew her off the summit and said: "I did it. I said I'd do it and I've done it." After 146 days, her dream of being the first woman ever to walk the Appalachian Trail was realized, not without hardships that were overcome only with tremendous courage, ingenuity and will power.

      During her trip Grandma Gatewood inched her way over great ledges of shelf rock made slick with sleet, waded across hip-high, 30-foot-wide mountain streams swollen with the rains of Hurricane Diane, whacked with her cane at dense underbrush, pushed her denim sack through holes in the rock formations and then crawled through those holes on her hands and knees. She measured distances between stepping-stones in a swift-moving stream with her cane because she "couldn't see so good" with broken glasses. All this to put "one foot in front of the other and just get there any way I could." She slept "anywhere I could lay my bones down," in people's houses when they didn't slam the door in her face, in porch swings, on porch floors, under picnic tables when it rained and on top of them when it was a clear night. She spent many nights in broken-down lean-tos, abandoned fishermen's camps and often just on a pile of leaves.

      Fortunately Grandma is not afraid of being alone in the woods or of the animals in the forest. She says, "Most people get scared when they come up against an animal and right away think they have to make a fight out of it. Animals won't attack you unless you corner them. Fiddlesticks, I never even saw a bear—I made so much racket crashing and thumping through the woods."

      Out on the trail, without seeing a soul for days at a time and with no recourse to the "corner store," Grandma met problems of the woods with pioneer ingenuity. Badly in need of an arch support, she picked up the discarded rubber heel from a man's shoe and taped it to the bottom of her instep. Her hair snarled and, with no opportunity to buy a comb, she poked around a campsite, found a plastic picnic fork, broke off the handle, and the five tines made a workable comb. On bitter cold nights she heated large flat stones and lay on them to keep from freezing.

      Asked why she undertook the trip, Grandma answered, "Because I wanted to,"—and because of the alluring things she had read about the Appalachian Trail. The reality was a disillusionment. The trail is actually not so much a single trail as a succession of links—largely designed by local hiking groups who want stiff and stimulating courses for Sunday bursts of exercise. The result is often a succession of obstacle courses not unsuited to Army basic training. Moreover, local groups are responsible for maintenance of most trails and campsite facilities; some have fallen into scandalous neglect. But let Grandma tell it:

      "I read about this trail three years ago in a magazine and the article told about the beautiful trail, how well marked it was, that it was cleared out and that there were shelters at the end of a good day's hike. I thought it would be a nice lark. It wasn't. There were terrible blow downs, burnt-over areas that were never re-marked, gravel and sand washouts, weeds and brush to your neck, and most of the shelters were blown down, burned down or so filthy I chose to sleep out of doors. This is no trail. This is a nightmare. For some fool reason they always lead you right up over the biggest rock to the top of the biggest mountain they can find. I've seen every fire station between here and Georgia. Why, an Indian would die laughing his head off if he saw those trails. I would never have started this trip if I had known how tough it was, but I couldn't and I wouldn't quit."

      Once before, Grandma had been forced to quit. In the summer of 1954 she started the trail in Maine but after a few days she broke her glasses, got lost and ran out of food. When authorities caught up with her and persuaded her to go home, the populace breathed a sigh of relief. Grandma went to California to work at a practical nursing job. She walked up and down three flights of stairs in answer to every patient's call in addition to walking 30 blocks a day to get in trim. She saved her money out of her $25-a-week job. In May she flew down to Georgia without telling anyone, including her family, of her plans.

      This time at the finish nobody joked about Grandma, and everybody within a 100-mile radius of Mt. Katahdin was pulling for her. The telephone wires hummed with daily reports of her progress and when the single-strand, tree-strung telephone wire fell down, a bush pilot flew into camps to check up on her. The game warden strapped a heavy boat on top of his car, drove ten miles over a rough washboard road and took her across a river where the bridge had washed out, thus saved her an extra 10-mile detour. But the ultimate tribute, perhaps, came from a born-and-reared Maine woodsman who said, "Got to hand it to her. Takes guts, pioneer guts."
      2,000 miler
    • grandma gatewood's walk

      august 1955 sports illustrated article:

      A 67-year-old great-grandmother, Mrs. Emma Gatewood of Gallipolis, Ohio, is determined to be the first woman to hike the entire length of the Appalachian Trail, 2,050 miles of mountain footpath from Mt. Oglethorpe, Georgia to Mt. Katahdin, Maine. Mrs. Gatewood, alone and without a map, began following the white blaze marks of the trail early in May, and this week from Connecticut's Cathedral Pines, Grandmother Gatewood could look back on 1,500 miles of the best and worst of nature. She had carefully avoided disturbing three copperheads and two rattlesnakes on the trail, flipped aside one attacking rattler with a walking stick. When caught without nearby shelter she had heated some stones and slept on them to keep from freezing. For snacks Grandma nibbled wild huckleberries, used sorrel for salad and sucked bouillon cubes to combat loss of body salt.

      Her contacts with other humans ranged from a miserly individual who refused her even a drink of water to a generous housewife who supplied fried chicken to carry on the trail.

      Mrs. Gatewood is serenely confident that she can finish her trek. "I'll get there except if I break something or something busts loose. And when I get atop Mt. Katahdin, I'll sing America, the Beautiful, 'From sea to shining sea.' "
      2,000 miler
    • max.patch wrote:

      the book about grandma gatewood - grandma gatewood's walk - comes out april 1. the book was written by ben mongomery, a distant relative.

      the book is given 1/4 page in this weeks sports illustrated - she was written about in sports illustrated in 1955 and this is an "update".

      [IMG:http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51IrKJL8SIL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-v3-big,TopRight,0,-55_SX278_SY278_PIkin4,BottomRight,1,22_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg]
      The above was written in 2014.

      I bought the book in April 2020 (based on OMO recommendation IIRC) and finally got around to reading it. I shouldn't have waited so long...it was a good read and I learned a lot about her hike(s) that I didn't know before. While my hike was different from todays hikes, her hike was waaay different than mine. Really an unbelievable story.
      2,000 miler
    • max.patch wrote:

      max.patch wrote:

      The above was written in 2014.
      I bought the book in April 2020 (based on OMO recommendation IIRC) and finally got around to reading it. I shouldn't have waited so long...it was a good read and I learned a lot about her hike(s) that I didn't know before. While my hike was different from todays hikes, her hike was waaay different than mine. Really an unbelievable story.
      What year did you hike the trail?
    • LIhikers wrote:

      max.patch wrote:

      max.patch wrote:

      The above was written in 2014.
      I bought the book in April 2020 (based on OMO recommendation IIRC) and finally got around to reading it. I shouldn't have waited so long...it was a good read and I learned a lot about her hike(s) that I didn't know before. While my hike was different from todays hikes, her hike was waaay different than mine. Really an unbelievable story.
      What year did you hike the trail?
      1988
      2,000 miler
    • max.patch wrote:

      LIhikers wrote:

      max.patch wrote:

      I bought the book in April 2020 (based on OMO recommendation IIRC) and finally got around to reading it. I shouldn't have waited so long...it was a good read and I learned a lot about her hike(s) that I didn't know before. While my hike was different from todays hikes, her hike was waaay different than mine. Really an unbelievable story.
      What year did you hike the trail?
      1988
      What are the biggest differences you see between 1988 and today?
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • Astro wrote:

      What are the biggest differences you see between 1988 and today?
      Many more hikers. The last 3 years (excluding 2020) averaged 1,200 reported 2,000 milers each year (1,159-1,197-1,254). 1988 had 161 reported 2,000 miles. This is 8 times as many hikers.

      There are many more "hostels" and they have a higher level of amenities. This is a generalization (as accommodations then and now are available at all price points) but many hostels today are profit making entities with a fixed price and a higher level of service and comfort. I spent some nights on a church basement floor in my sleeping bag almost always on a donation basis.

      I don't have to go into detail re the information and connectivity available to hikers today via cellphone.

      No organized trail feeds.

      People slack packed back in the day, but it's more prevalent now and much easier to arrange. One of the services provided by hostels and the many shuttlers (which can be found online and contacted via cell).

      A minority of hikers used a tree limb, a commercially made wooden stick, or a single ski pole. I saw no one using 2 trekking poles.

      And to lump a few obvious things together, most hikers wore boots, used an external frame pack, and carried a whole lot more weight.
      2,000 miler
    • IMScotty wrote:

      1988! Who are you kidding, you must have hiked with Grandma Gatewood :)
      I probably couldn't keep up with her. :)

      Granted, the trail was 90 miles longer, and I took plenty of days off in town, but Grandma Gatewood at age 67 started a few days after I did and finished a few days before I did. Different years, of course,
      2,000 miler

      The post was edited 3 times, last by max.patch ().

    • IMScotty wrote:

      Ok, I'll take a stab. I know she relied on the kindness of strangers. I don't think she invested much in her equipment.

      My guess will be $100.
      Probably grabbed her tarp (shower curtain) and pack (laundry bag) from the house for free. Was going to go double that with $200, but will all the inflation since then, how about $175?
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • max.patch wrote:



      How much did Grandma Gatewoods first thru hike cost?
      I can't believe how close you guys came to the correct answer. Had I not read the book I don't know what I would have guessed, but it would have higher than what she spent.

      Grandma Gatewood spent $200 on her first thru hike.

      Coincidentally, she became somewhat of a celebrity during her hike, and when she finished she went on the "Welcome Travelers" quiz show. She won $200.
      2,000 miler
    • Today we drove he from an overnight at Athens OH. Along the way we drove through the Hocking Hills. The state park there is where the Grandma Gatewood trail is. Since our daughter and granddaughter live in Raleigh we will be driving that way pretty often. We plan on stopping to do her trail next time.
    • odd man out wrote:

      Today we drove he from an overnight at Athens OH. Along the way we drove through the Hocking Hills. The state park there is where the Grandma Gatewood trail is. Since our daughter and granddaughter live in Raleigh we will be driving that way pretty often. We plan on stopping to do her trail next time.
      When I left ME (well actually VT after picking up a missing section) I met my wife for her family reunion in Hockling Hills. We doid a short day hike, but unfortunately not that one. Maybe in the future. :)
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • odd man out wrote:

      Today we drove he from an overnight at Athens OH. Along the way we drove through the Hocking Hills. The state park there is where the Grandma Gatewood trail is. Since our daughter and granddaughter live in Raleigh we will be driving that way pretty often. We plan on stopping to do her trail next time.
      It's a really nice walk; I'm sure you'll like it.

      I've been 3 times -- the last was probably 10 years ago -- and next time I'm in Ohio I'll go again. There's a town 20-30 miles from Hocking Hills, we'd get a Hampton Inn/Holiday Inn Express type room and have dinner at the local Olive Garden or pizza joint and then day hike the entire next day.
      2,000 miler
    • max.patch wrote:

      It's a really nice walk; I'm sure you'll like it.
      I've been 3 times -- the last was probably 10 years ago -- and next time I'm in Ohio I'll go again. There's a town 20-30 miles from Hocking Hills, we'd get a Hampton Inn/Holiday Inn Express type room and have dinner at the local Olive Garden or pizza joint and then day hike the entire next day.
      On this trip we stayed at the Fairfield in Athens OH and a HI Express in Wilder KY. But unfortunately my wife is keen on the Inn and Spa at Cedar Falls (right next to the trail). A cabin is $350/night. Dinner for two probably $100. She'll want to stay two nights and get a massage at the spa (another $100). Add a bit for lunch and a grandma Gatewood t shirt, well, you get the picture. At least breakfast is included.

      innatcedarfalls.com/?gclid=Cjw…jef8zwun1e3xoCvWMQAvD_BwE
    • Well, you can always hike while she gets the full spa treatment. :)

      It's not a difficult hike, I'd call it average, but I'd hate to comment on the unevenness of the trail since it's been 10 years since my last visit and I'd hate to give you a wrong impression based on an old memory. Other than some sections that can get sloppy after a rain, I really don't remember anything bad.

      My trips were all mid-week and there was a fair amount of people out. I'm guessing weekends would be busy.
      2,000 miler