Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail PDF
Preview Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail
NATURE/BIOGRAPHY MONTGOMERY GRANDMA $26.95 (CAN $31.95) Emma GatEwood told hEr family shE was “Grandma Gatewood’s Walk is sure to fuel not only the dreams of would-be GATEWOOD'S going on a walk and left her small Ohio hometown with a change of clothes and less than two hun- hikers, but debates on the limits of endurance, the power of determination, dred dollars. The next anybody heard from her, and the nature of myth.” —Earl swift, author of The Big Roads this genteel, farm-reared, 67-year-old great-grand- mother had walked 800 miles along the 2,050-mile Walk “Go, Granny, Go! This astonishing tale will send you looking for your hiking Appalachian Trail. And in September 1955, having boots. A wonderful story, wonderfully told.” —CharlEs mCNair, Books Editor at survived a rattlesnake strike, two hurricanes, and a run-in with gangsters from Harlem, she stood atop PasTe maGaziNE aNd author of PickeTT’s chaRge Maine’s Mount Katahdin. There she sang the first verse of “America, the Beautiful” and proclaimed, “Before Cheryl Strayed, there was Grandma Gatewood. Ben Montgomery “I said I’d do it, and I’ve done it.” lets us walk with her—tattered sneakers, swollen ankles, and not an ounce THE Grandma Gatewood, as the reporters called of self-pity—and with each step experience our conflicted relationship with her, became the first woman to hike the entire Appalachian Trail alone, as well as the first person— nature, the meanness and generosity of humanity, and the imperative to keep INSPIRING STORY man or woman—to walk it twice and three times. moving. This book makes me long for my backpacking days, and grateful for Gatewood became a hiking celebrity and appeared BEN moNtGomEry is a staff writer at the Tampa Bay Times and cofounder of the Auburn Chau- writers who keep history and spirit alive.” —JaCqui BaNaszyNski, kNiGht Chair OF THE WOMAN on TV and in the pages of Sports Illustrated. The iN EditiNG, missouri sChool of JourNalism public attention she brought to the little-known tauqua, a Southern writers’ collective. He was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2010 and has WHO SAVED THE footpath was unprecedented. Her vocal criticism of the lousy, difficult stretches led to bolstered mainte- won many other national writing awards. He “Montgomery’s compelling tale secures Grandma Gatewood’s place in the nance, and very likely saved the trail from extinction. lives in Florida. American pantheon as a cousin of John Henry and Johnny Appleseed.” APPALACHIAN TRAIL Author Ben Montgomery was given unprece- —aNdrEa PitzEr, author of The secReT hisToRy of VladimiR NaBokoV dented access to Gatewood’s own diaries, trail jour- nals, 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. BEN MONTGOMERY Pulitzer Prize Finalist Jacket design: Debbie Berne Design Cover photo: Gatewood family collection, courtesy of Lucy Gatewood Seeds Author photo: John Pendygraft Printed in the United States of America GG Walk jacket.indd 1 1/17/14 11:35 AM NATURE/BIOGRAPHY MONTGOMERY GRANDMA $26.95 (CAN $31.95) Emma GatEwood told hEr family shE was “Grandma Gatewood’s Walk is sure to fuel not only the dreams of would-be GATEWOOD'S going on a walk and left her small Ohio hometown with a change of clothes and less than two hun- hikers, but debates on the limits of endurance, the power of determination, dred dollars. The next anybody heard from her, and the nature of myth.” —Earl swift, author of The Big Roads this genteel, farm-reared, 67-year-old great-grand- mother had walked 800 miles along the 2,050-mile Walk “Go, Granny, Go! This astonishing tale will send you looking for your hiking Appalachian Trail. And in September 1955, having boots. A wonderful story, wonderfully told.” —CharlEs mCNair, Books Editor at survived a rattlesnake strike, two hurricanes, and a run-in with gangsters from Harlem, she stood atop PasTe maGaziNE aNd author of PickeTT’s chaRge Maine’s Mount Katahdin. There she sang the first verse of “America, the Beautiful” and proclaimed, “Before Cheryl Strayed, there was Grandma Gatewood. Ben Montgomery “I said I’d do it, and I’ve done it.” lets us walk with her—tattered sneakers, swollen ankles, and not an ounce THE Grandma Gatewood, as the reporters called of self-pity—and with each step experience our conflicted relationship with her, became the first woman to hike the entire Appalachian Trail alone, as well as the first person— nature, the meanness and generosity of humanity, and the imperative to keep INSPIRING STORY man or woman—to walk it twice and three times. moving. This book makes me long for my backpacking days, and grateful for Gatewood became a hiking celebrity and appeared BEN moNtGomEry is a staff writer at the Tampa Bay Times and cofounder of the Auburn Chau- writers who keep history and spirit alive.” —JaCqui BaNaszyNski, kNiGht Chair OF THE WOMAN on TV and in the pages of Sports Illustrated. The iN EditiNG, missouri sChool of JourNalism public attention she brought to the little-known tauqua, a Southern writers’ collective. He was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2010 and has WHO SAVED THE footpath was unprecedented. Her vocal criticism of the lousy, difficult stretches led to bolstered mainte- won many other national writing awards. He “Montgomery’s compelling tale secures Grandma Gatewood’s place in the nance, and very likely saved the trail from extinction. lives in Florida. American pantheon as a cousin of John Henry and Johnny Appleseed.” APPALACHIAN TRAIL Author Ben Montgomery was given unprece- —aNdrEa PitzEr, author of The secReT hisToRy of VladimiR NaBokoV dented access to Gatewood’s own diaries, trail jour- nals, 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. BEN MONTGOMERY Pulitzer Prize Finalist Jacket design: Debbie Berne Design Cover photo: Gatewood family collection, courtesy of Lucy Gatewood Seeds Author photo: John Pendygraft Printed in the United States of America GG Walk jacket.indd 1 1/17/14 11:35 AM Advanced Praise for Grandma Gatewood’s Walk “Just as Emma Gatewood helped save the Appalachian Trail from years of neglect and preserve it for generations of hikers, Ben Mont- gomery has kept her unbelievable story alive for anyone who loves the outdoors, underdogs, heroic women, and amazing tales. I wish I’d read it while standing on top of a mountain, but I almost felt as if I was.” —Thomas Mullen, author of The Last Town on Earth “In Grandma Gatewood’s Walk, a storyteller’s storyteller digs deep into the long-forgotten tale of an inspiring journey, bringing forth a transcendent story of dignity, independence, and the dynamic human spirit.” —Michael Brick, author of Saving the School “With rich reporting and often poetic prose, Ben Montgomery takes readers on an intimate, backwoods adventure with a resolute old lady. Along the way, he explores the history of hikers and highways, the solace of nature and solitude—and the urge to escape.” —Lane DeGregory, journalist, winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing GRANDMA GATEWOOD'S Walk The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail BEN MONTGOMERY Copyright © 2014 by Ben Montgomery All rights reserved First edition Published by Chicago Review Press, Incorporated 814 North Franklin Street Chicago, Illinois 60610 ISBN 978-1-61374-718-6 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Montgomery, Ben. Grandma Gatewood’s walk : the inspiring story of the woman who saved the Appalachian Trail / Ben Montgomery. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-61374-718-6 (cloth) 1. Gatewood, Emma Rowena Caldwell, -1973. 2. Hikers—Appalachian Trail—Biography. 3. Women conservationists—Appalachian Trail— Biography. 4. Appalachian Trail—History. I. Title. GV199.92.G35M66 2014 796.51092—dc23 [B] 2013037551 Interior design: PerfecType, Nashville, TN Map design: Chris Erichsen Printed in the United States of America 5 4 3 2 1 For Jennifer We do not go into the woods to rough it; we go to smooth it. We get it rough enough at home. —GeorGe WashinGton sears Now or never. —henry DaviD thoreau I get faster as I get older. —emma GateWooD
The list of books you might like
