Grandma Gatewood's Walk

The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail

By: Ben Montgomery

Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor

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 $200. 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, atop Maine's Mount Katahdin, 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. 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.

©2014 Ben Montgomery (P)2014 Tantor

Critic reviews

"A quiet delight of a book." ( Kirkus)

Inspiring story about a strong amazing woman

I loved Grandma Gatewood. She's quirky and ornery and stronger than maybe any other character I've ever known. She suffers gracefully and graciously, which of course makes her perfect for the Appalachian trial. I was inspired by her strength on many levels.
The story only gets four stars because I felt like Montgomery didn't completely do her justice. I felt like this story just scratched the surface of her and what she experienced. There was too much "filler" in the story about the politics of the time, and other topics that didn't belong in this story. I wished there was a lot more detail about her.
The narrator was perfect. Lawlor gives a lightness to the story that highlights the quirkiness of Grandma Gatewood and of the situations she gets herself in.

I've already recommended this book to several of my friends.

An interesting story.

I enjoyed this more than I expected to. Quite interesting. Quite a woman. Worth your time. Take a chance on it.

Inspiring woman, book could have used some editing

Despite being interested in the AT for years, I'd only peripherally heard about Grandma Gatewood so it was great to hear more of her backstory. The details of her hike were necessarily scant - she's dead, so couldn't be interviewed directly, and her notebook didn't contain the kind of day-to-day minutia that some people were looking for. I thought the author did a good job of piecing together the details of her hike as well as he could. He obviously did a lot of research and interviewed a lot of people in preparation to write. The story does jump around in time a bit and while I think there could have been better roadmarks from time to time, I didn't really have trouble following. My only real complaint is that he seems to have put in everything he came across. It's not a terribly long book - maybe he was trying to flesh it out. I enjoyed hearing a poem she wrote, for instance, but by the time we were hearing the 3rd or 4th of her poems (unrelated to the AT), I was over them. Unlike many of the reviewers, I enjoyed hearing some of the history of the trail. I don't think that part was over-done. But I could have done without hearing the story of the author's re-tracing her last climb and how his wife twisted her ankle and had to change footwear - that seemed totally superfluous to the story. In sum, it was an enjoyable listen, but I listened at increased playback speed and won't be reading it again.

inspiring,intriguing and captavating.

Loved it. Didn't want it to end. Inspired and excited to walk her trail soon.

Gentle Giant

Loved it. what a gentle giant
Inspiration for all
Brave and spiritual. Good for her