Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.67 (513 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 1613734999 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 288 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2018-02-18 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Her vocal criticism of the lousy, difficult stretches led to bolstered maintenance, and very likely saved the trail from extinction. Author Ben Montgomery interviewed surviving family members and hikers Gatewood met along the trail, unearthed historic newspaper and magazine articles, and was given full access to Gatewood’s own diaries, trail journals, and correspondence. Grandma Gatewood’s Walk shines a fresh light on one of America’s most celebrated hikers. . The public attention she brought to the trail was unprecedented. At age seventy-one, she hiked the 2,000-mile Oregon Trail. Gatewood became a hiking celebrity, and appeared on TV with Groucho Marx and Art Linkletter. 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. By September 1955 she stood atop Maine’s Mount Katahdin, sang “America, the Beautiful,” and proclaimed, “I said I’ll do it, and I’ve done it.” Driven by a painful marriage, Grandma Gatewood not only hiked the trail alone, she was the first per
--Vanessa Bush . Knowing her family wouldn’t approve, she didn’t tell them when she set out with a little 17-pound sack of supplies and no tent or sleeping bag. Journalist Montgomery draws on interviews with Gatewood’s surviving family members and hikers she met on her five-month journey as well as news accounts and Gatewood’s diaries to offer a portrait of a determined woman, whose trek inspired other hikers and brought attention to the neglect of the Appalachian Trail. Maps of the trail and photos from Gatewood’s early life enhance this inspiring story. Montgomery intertwines details of Gatewood’s hike with
"Inspirational Story Of An Amazing Woman" according to Frederick S. Goethel. Grandma Gatewood was a 67 year old woman, whose 11 children had grown up and left home when she decided that she was going to hike the entire length of the Appalachian Trail from Mt. Oglethorpe, Georgia to Mt. Katahdin, Maine. The key, however, is that she didn't tell a soul about her intended trip…she just took off. In addition to being the first female through hiker to complete the trail, she did it with a bare minimum of gear and equipment and sh. An Astounding, Well Written Story What would you pack to walk 2050 miles? With all of the hiking equipment and instructions available today it would no doubt be contained in a 60lb backpack with propane, cooking equipment, tent, sleeping bag, water filters, fire starters, GPS, maps and cell phones.Grandma Gatewood went out to "take a walk" dressed in dungarees and tennis shoes with a small drawstring sack containing a shower curtain, a warm coat, a pocket knife, a flashlight and a few snac. "Outstanding!" according to S. Schaeffer. I'm so pleased that someone finally saw fit to write about this amazing woman. The bonus is that it is well researched, well written, informative and contains lots of contemporaneous historical information that anchors it in time. The author is insightful and sensitive and clearly took his mission to heart. It's been a long time since I've read a book that I found this compellingdidn't want to finish but couldn't stop reading. I've been a big fan of this b