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The Times of India
The Times of India
World
TOI World Desk

In 1953, Emma Gatewood tried hiking the Appalachian Trail, got lost and was rescued; two years later, at 67, she walked all 2,190 miles alone and made history

The Appalachian Trail Appalachian Trail Ben Montgomery

When park rangers found 65-year-old Emma Gatewood lost and confused in Maine in 1953 after she broke her glasses on the Appalachian Trail, they advised her to give up and return home. Two years later, at age 67, Gatewood returned to the trail. She started at Mount Oglethorpe in Georgia, kept her plans secret from her adult children and walked all 2,190 miles alone. In 1955, she became the first woman to complete a solo thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail in a single season. Known to millions as Grandma Gatewood, she completed the journey in 146 days and changed the way people viewed long-distance hiking and physical endurance. Her story, preserved in historical archives including the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) Library & Archives and described in Ben Montgomery's 2014 book Grandma Gatewood's Walk , is a story of survival, strength and independence.

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