National Park After Dark - Grandma Gatewood: The Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail

Episode Date: March 27, 2023

At 67 years old Emma Gatewood became the first woman to ever solo hike the Appalachian Trail, but not without struggles. In this episode we detail the history of the AT, her journey, and the ever lasting impact she has had on thru-hikers.2024 Trips! Canada  Acadia BorneoFor the latest NPAD updates, group travel details, merch and more, follow us on npadpodcast.com and our socials:Instagram: @‌nationalparkafterdarkTikTok: @‌nationalparkafterdarkSupport the show by becoming an Outsider and receive ad free listening, bonus content and more on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. Want to see our faces? Catch full episodes on our YouTube Page!Thank you to this week’s partners!MILL: Use our link to secure your MILL membershipBetterHelp: National Park After Dark is sponsored by BetterHelp. Get 10% off your first month of online therapy by using our link.For a full list of our sources, visit http://npadpodcast.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Monday AI agents took over my work. And I absolutely love it. Chasing deadlines, writing status reports, updating stakeholders. Agents handle the daily grind now. They live inside Monday.com. So they see the full picture, my work, my team, the whole company. And I don't have to worry about the data. It's safe, which means I'm free to focus on the big stuff,

knowing everything runs smoothly in the background. It's completely shifted the way we work. Create your own AI agent in minutes on Monday.com. Girl, winter is so last season. And now Springs got you looking at pictures of tank tops with hungry eyes. Your algorithm is feeding you cutoffs. You're thirsty for the sun on your shoulders. That perfect hang on the patio sundress.

Those sandals you can wear all day and all night. And you've had enough of shopping from your couch. Done hoping it looks anything like the picture when you tear up on that envelope. It's time for a little in-person spring treat. It's time for a trip to Ross. Work your magic. Accomplishing your goals can be a big deal. Setting out to do something and then completing it can give you a real sense of achievement.

When you successfully complete something that other people have told you that you could never do, the confidence you gain within yourself is unmatched. There is something that strikes a chord when someone tells you that you are not good enough, that your ideas are outside your own limits. When other people set the standard for what you, are capable of. It can either break you or it can ignite a fire within you that will give you the strength to stop at nothing to prove them wrong. Welcome to National Park after dark. I'm inspired. Don't even know what we're talking about. The end. Episode done.

It seems like an against the odds type of theme. It is. I'm excited for today's episode because we're going to talk about the first woman to ever solo hike the AT. Oh, okay. I know absolutely nothing about this. So that's awesome. I feel like you're going to like this episode. And I really liked researching her because I love to solo hike. And I'm not a through hiker or anything, but I know through hikers and solo hikers and stuff.

And I'm just so inspired by them. So reading this woman's story was really cool. Well, before you tell us all about it, we have something to tell you all about. We sure do. And it's really great. and exciting. It's also great and exciting because we have finally figured out what trips we are going to launch for 2004. And we're doing it a little differently. I know last year we kind of announced a couple and then we're like, oh, wait, we have more. And then this one. And then this one. And that's because we just got really

excited and wanted to keep adding things. But we did a little different type of way this time. So we have all of the trips at once that we're going to tell you. So you have time to look over all of the itineraries. make a decision before they go live. So you can have your options. We're not going to add anymore. Promise. Cross my heart. Don't say promise because everyone's like, no, please add more.

A girl has her limits. Okay. Yeah. So we're doing some really exciting trips. So this is the schedule for 2024 for the National Park After Dark group trips. So first up, we have Peru. And it is rescheduled from our. original date in 2023. We had to postpone it because of some political issues going on. We just felt

more comfortable postponing it. So that trip is already booked. But if you're interested in it, just keep an eye on it because sometimes people reschedule, cancel and spots open up. Yeah. So that one, because other people had it booked for 2023, it's currently sold out. But people might cancel and you can add yourself to the waiting list for that one. But that one's happening in April of 2004. And then we have some other exciting ones, one that I'm really excited about. And I'm really excited that Danielle okay to this trip is we're going to do some national parks in Canada up in the Quebec area.

And there's some climbing involved and some heights, which Danielle said yes. So we're doing it. It's official. Okay. I'm physically going. I'll figure out if I'll do the height thing once I'm there. But yeah, that one's exciting. That one will be in July.

The next one, we're keeping kind of like the northeastern theme. We're going to be going to Acadia. And that will be in August. That's a full camping trip in Acadia National Park, our home, quote unquote, home national park. Yes. And finally, our last trip is going to be to Borneo, which if you listen to the episode that Danielle did on Borneo, then you already know all about it and how amazing it's going to be. So we added it to the it to the itinerary for 2024.

Yep. that'll be in September. That one is going to be so cool. It's very animal-centered. We're going to be visiting a lot of orangutan, sunbear sanctuaries, doing a lot of jungle hikes, learning about the wildlife there. So each trip has something different. Peru is cultural. Canada is heights, I guess. And there's kayaking and kayaking with whales. And it's hiking and visiting like the old French, Canadian French towns. And it'll be a cool. one. And Acadia is camping and Borneo is more wildlife centered. So something for everyone. And we hope that you guys check out all of those itineraries. They're all going to be linked in our show description. And they will be in our link tree through Instagram too. Yeah. So check them out. And we'll be posting about them on our social media on Instagram. Our Instagram's National Park After Dark, if you want to see more of what we're posting about it because we'll certainly keep you all updated. But we just wanted to let you know, keep an eye on it. We have our launch dates and everything that you need to know. the show description. So just check it out and hope to see you there. Yeah. We'll see you there.

All right. So let's go to the AT now. Yeah, we're going to the AT. So today's episode, like I said, we are going to be diving into the story of the first woman to ever solo hike, the full Appalachian Trail. Not only did she complete it, but she actually walked the trail three times. Crazy. From start to finish. From start to finish, she has done the AT three times. Okay. And she, although she is the very first solo hiker that was a woman who completed it. There was one woman who hiked it before her, and her name was Mildred Norman Ryder, but she was a lot younger than who we're talking about today, and she was with another person. So two different animals, but still cool. Gotcha. Still a woman hiking it, like way earlier than most people ever hiked it. This episode is brought to you by Prime.

Obsession is in session. And this summer, Prime originals have everything you want. Steamy romances, irresistible love stories and the book to screen favorites you've already read twice. Off campus, L, every year after, the love hypothesis, Sterling Point, and more. Slow burns, second chances, chemistry you can feel through the screen. Your next obsession is waiting. Watch only on Prime. Before we get into her story, let's learn about the Appalachian Trail. The Appalachian Trail is also known as the Appalachian National Scenic Trail and is managed by the National

Park Service. So I'm not venturing out of the realm of the National Park. It is a National Park Unit entity and it extends through several national parks as well. It is a 2,180 plus-ish miles or 3,508 kilometer footpath that extends from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Kataden in the state of Maine. It crosses 14 states along the East Coast and it began being managed by the Park Service after the National Trail System Act was passed in 1968. And this act protected trails for recreational use and for conservation. The Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail were the very first two scenic national trails to be established, which is pretty cool. Now, this trail has a lengthy history before becoming involved with the National Park Service

as the idea of the A.T. began over 40 years prior in 1921. I actually really liked researching this because I didn't know much about the AT and the AT's in our backyard. And I've hiked many sections of the AT in New England, but I just didn't know like where it came from. And the original idea for the AT actually came from an American conservationist and forester named Benton McKay. Now, he grew up in rural New England and he eventually went on to get a degree in geology at Harvard University, where afterwards he worked for the U.S. Forest Service

and he taught at a forestry school. So his idea for the AT first came to him after a hike up Straton Mountain in southern Vermont. He was standing on the summit, and that's when he began brainstorming the idea of a trail that stretched from north to south or south to north, whatever way you want to look at it. At this time, World War I had only ended a few years prior in 1918,

and overall society was really struggling at that point. People who returned from war were lost in what they should do now that they were home. People were retired. They were unhappy from years of struggling economically. And many people lost their loved ones during the war. So it was a really kind of solemn time and history. And Benton presented the concept to the public in 1921. And he titled it, an Appalachian Trail, a project in regional planning.

And it was published in the Journal of American Institute of Architects. And now in this, he outlined the actual. idea of creating camp communities that were connected by a trail that would extend the entire East Coast. So his idea for these camp communities is he wanted to create the perfect lifestyle that people would be able to live and work and prioritize outdoor recreation because they lived in the places that they could do it. He wanted people to have the opportunity to live slower lives among people who are like-minded. And he created this idea on the basis that after the war people were generally burnt out on the way that life was being lived. So he was quoted saying

something has been going on in this country during the past few strenuous years, which in the war and general upheaval has been somewhat lost from the public mind. It is the slow, quiet development of a special type of community, the recreation camp. It is something neither urban nor rural. It escapes the hecticness of one and the loneliness of the other. So his whole idea was basically he wanted to create these really nice communities where people could live the ideal life with people whom he thought would be like-minded and they could live off of the land and off of whatever they could produce in the areas that they were in and they could travel within each other through a trail that would extend up the whole eastern coast. That's a really interesting

origin story that I was unaware of, but I had no idea either. I have a question. Why is Florida not involved? I don't know. It's just like, we don't really care. The whole East Coast except for you, Florida. It's like, what? Florida has nothing to give, not Florida. Like not even northern Florida. Like, you know what I mean? Yeah. I don't know. That's a good question. And I guess I didn't research specifically like why Florida's not in it, but at one time they also wanted the AT to end in New Hampshire and not include Maine. Oh, okay. So part of the East Coast, I guess. Yeah. Except for each bumper state on each end. Yeah, it's like, we don't want Maine or Florida, but it didn't come from like a space of we don't like these states. It was that they didn't believe that the landscape would provide enough

and it would be too, it would be too much of a struggle. So that was why Maine was left. out. So I wonder, I wonder if Florida was left out because there's not really mountains there. And this is a mountain trail. But I'm not sure. It's a good question. I've always wondered that actually. Yeah. I've never wondered it until right now. Someone knows. Someone's listening to this and we're going to get a bunch of emails that are like, this is my Florida. And we appreciate it. So he, his idea was to work off of existing trails and camps that already were trails in these areas and then extend them to build onto new ones. And he, he, his idea was to work off of existing trails and camps that already were trails in these areas. And He wanted to utilize the already existing Vermont Long Trail and the camps and huts that were already there and build off of that, connecting other trails to create one really long trail.

So throughout the entire eastern coast minus Florida, he just wanted to take trails that were already there and then connect them all. His idea was able to get enough support that over the next decade, the trail creating took place. And by 1937, it was completed. but then large parts of it were destroyed during a hurricane in 1938. Over the course of it being built, the idea of this utopian community fell short. With the industrial revolution happening during these years, people weren't as interested in the communities

as they were when the idea originally was presented. When large sections of the trail were destroyed in 1938, the project came to a halt, and they stopped trying to make the trail entirely. However, in 1948, a man named Earl Schaefer became the first person to ever hike the AT from start to finish. And this sparked a new interest in through hiking. And although the trail was in rough shape, it was officially declared open for through hikers in 1951. Because before this, this was thought to be a community trail.

It wasn't thought people were going to want to hike it from start to finish. And when he did it, it was like, oh, okay, we'll open this for through hikers. But it wasn't very popular at all. Over the next four years, there were only six or seven people who had ever through-hiked it, and they were all men minus the one woman, Mildred, who did it. Okay. On May 3rd, 1955, 67-year-old Emma Gatewood, who our story is about, found herself standing on Mount Oglethorpe and Georgia, the original beginning or the end, depending on how you're looking at it, of the AT. Later, the start of the trail was changed to Springer Mountain, and when she arrived, she had loved,

a cardboard box with all of her belongings from her taxi to the trailhead. She stepped into the woods, slipping off the simple dress and slipper she had worn, and exchanged them with a pair of dungarees, a comfortable top, a headband, and tennis shoes. She then pulled out a drawstring sack made from denim that she had stitched herself. She filled it with the items of the cardboard box, including sausage, raisins, peanuts, bouillon cubes, powdered milk, bandades, iodine, bobby pins, and a jar of. Vick's Vapo rub. She added a warm jacket, some water, a Swiss Army knife, a shower curtain to protect her from the rain, candy mints, a pen, and a journal. She also packed her dress and slippers

for the event she needed to dress nice. She then threw the cardboard box into a chicken coop that she found nearby. In total, her sack weighed 17 pounds. Her inspiration to do the Appalachian Trail had come from an article that she had read in National Geographic, highlighting the trail and the men who had done it. The article had stated that the trail was easy and required no prior skills. It also stated what hikers brought with them, recommending a pack closer to 40 pounds. But she didn't find it necessary and brought only the things that she believed that she would need. She had been dreaming of hiking the AT for years by the time she first stepped onto it. And she dreamt of being the first woman to ever solo hike it.

Emma was 5'2 and 150 pounds. She had no through-hiking experience, but she was a hardened woman through her intensive work on her farm. Her hands were covered in calluses, she was blind without her glasses, and she wasn't all that prepared for her journey. At 67 years old, this was her first opportunity to hike the trail, and she had no map, no sleeping bag, and no tent. She had been saving money as she could, and she retired and was earning $52 per month. And to prepare for the trail, she had been taking long walks around her area in Ohio. She had an eighth grade education, but she loved to read, and she had trained herself to identify plants and animals and no different plants that were safe to eat. I'm sorry, no tent.

No tent or sleeping bag. Just on the ground. Going for it. Okay. The ultra light care. I mean, and her bag, 17 pounds. I mean, that is so light to be carrying to hike the AT. Well, she didn't have a sleeping bag or a tent, so that definitely.

Certainly. And barely any food either. and I mean, she brought a tarp instead of rain stuff. It's just, yeah, she's wildly. She has way less than most people have ever hiked the AT with. When she slung her denim sack of all of her belongings over her shoulder and stepped onto the trail, she became the first solo woman to ever set foot on it with the intentions of walking the entire thing.

Stepping onto that trail marked a pivotal moment in history, but it was also a pivotal moment in her life. She had not told anyone that she was doing it. The last thing that she told her 11 children was that she was going for a walk, something that she had often done, but this time she left out the fact that she was leaving her home in Ohio, hopping on a bus and then a plane to hike over 2,000 miles up the entire East Coast. I'm sorry. I just, I'm torn between like, go Emma to, oh God, Emma, what the hell? Like, that's a little irresponsible. If that was my mom, I'd be like, what the fuck. You've got to tell someone what you're doing. Like, at least tell me. Especially now, we're like, don't hike and not tell anyone where you are. Yeah. And not only did she, yeah,

not only am I on a really long walk. I'm in another state and I'm going to be gone for months. She's like, I'm just going for a walk. I'll see you later. I mean, I guess she wasn't lying, but she definitely didn't tell the whole truth. She didn't include everything. But there was a reason for that. She didn't want to explain why she had chosen the. journey and she didn't want to explain how this was the first time she would be free to do as she wanted since she was a child. Before I get into her story, I do want to give a little bit of a trigger warning for domestic violence and sexual violence if you're not in a space to listen to it. It is included in Emma's story. I'm for the purposes of this episode, I'm just going to be

discussing it briefly through her story, but it is involved. Okay. Her children's father and now ex-husband had abused her for over 33 years before she was able to escape and file for divorce. Her mouth was filled with false teeth because he had knocked them out when striking her. She had old scars and healed up broken ribs and she had almost died more than once at his hands. She had spent her life with grueling work on the farm, having and raising 11 children, all while suffering daily, mental, physical, and sexual abuse. She had spent these years finding solace in nature, teaching her children, all she learned from her books about the outdoors and wishing to spend more time there.

And this was the very first opportunity she had ever had to do what she had been dreaming about for years. This was a lot to explain, and when people would finally ask why she was hiking the AT, she would simply respond with because it was there. Her first few days on the trail were off to a good start. Although her legs were sore and her feet were swollen, she met a kind person along the way who gave her food and allowed her to sleep for the night inside of a church that wasn't too far off the trail. On the third night, she found herself in a valley filled with a couple of very small homes. Outside of one of them was a woman chopping wood.

She approached her and noticed that she was very dirty, chewing tobacco, and it looked like her hair had not been brushed in a very long time. She asked the woman if she could spend the night, to which she responded that they had never turned anyone away who asked and needed a place to stay for the night. So she brought Emma to her home, and her husband was waiting out of Her husband looked very different from this woman. He was clean, well-dressed, and immediately Emma knew that something was off with this couple. He questioned her and asked her for identification and questioned what she was doing. When she explained to him that she was hiking the AT, he asked her if her family approved of what she was doing. When she told him that they didn't know

what she was doing, he told her that she didn't belong out there, that she should go home, and that she could not stay with them. So that night, she found an empty kid's summer camp and slept on the floor of one of the cabins. Now this was a part of the journey that she hadn't expected or prepared for, that she would need to ask for help of strangers and be prepared for people who wouldn't be happy to see a woman and an older woman out on the trail. This wasn't the last person that she would encounter like this, but it is also important to say that she met a lot of people who were willing to help her. She hitched rides into town when she needed supplies and found people who were willing to house and share their food with her. By May 14th, she

crossed the state lines of Georgia into the mountains of North Carolina. She was in awe of the Blue Ridge Mountains, how secluded from the world she felt, and the amazing views that were there. Some days, she was walking up to 22 miles, which is 35 kilometers in a single day, sometimes venturing far off the trail to find a place to sleep for the night. She found that the trail was nothing like she had believed it to be, the article that she had read that said that the hike was easy and the trail was well maintained, and saying that there would be plenty of huts to sleep at along the way, she found was completely false. The trail had steep inclines and descents. She found that much of the trail was overgrown with thick rhododendrons, was filled with down trees, and was hardly

marked. It was common for her to misstep and have to regain her bearings on the trail and refined it. There were also very few huts for her to stay in, and the ones that were there were disheveled and hardly standing. And she constantly had to find her own kind of shelter, whether it was a hotel, someone's home, a bed of leaves on a warm night, or just an abandoned building that she came across. Many of her days were filled with rain, and she was ill-prepared with only a tarp to shield herself from it. Her feet were soaked and swollen. Her tennis shoes were already destroyed after just a few weeks. But with all of this, her age being 67, none of this was a deterrent for her. Her motto had always been, if men can do it, so can I. But of course, all these unknown obstacles made it

a lot more difficult. God, I can't even imagine. I really can't. The whole lack of a map, too, is also worrisome. It is. And she definitely finds her way into, like, random places along the trail and gets lost. And from everything I read, it wasn't marked well. So she, She's just going for it and hoping for the best. This is the 50s? Yeah, 1955. Okay. Now, it wasn't long until she made it to Smoky Mountain National Park and was able to go into town in Gatlinburg, Tennessee to stock up on some supplies.

Here she bought herself a rain jacket, finally, and a brand new pair of sneakers before continuing her journey. Because hers had already, by the time she got to Tennessee, she needed a new pair. Hers were pretty much ruined through the soul of the shoe. Meanwhile, for all this, her kids had not heard from Emma at all, but none of them were worried. Since her divorce several years prior, it wasn't uncommon for Emma to disappear on some adventure for a little while. So none of them, none of her 11 kids ever questioned why they didn't hear from her. Okay. She said she's out for a walk.

She's out doing something. It's fine. As the days and weeks passed, still hardly anyone knew of her plans to complete the AT. The only ones who did know what she was doing was the taxi driver who drove her to the trailhead from the airport and people who had specifically asked her when they allowed her to stay with them. But even then, most people that she met along the way, she hadn't told at all. It wasn't until June 20th after she had hiked through Jefferson National Forest in Virginia that she let it slip what she was doing to a man at a local gas station. The following day, as she sat along the road to eat a snack, a car with two men pulled next to her. They were well-dressed, and when they approached her, they told her they were two trail club members who had heard of what she was doing.

One of them was a photographer, and they wanted to tell her story. They believed her story would be inspiring for people around and that she would bring a lot more attention to the Appalachian Trail. So whoever she told, it immediately made the rounds. Yeah. Told a gossiper. And to this, Emma immediately said no. It's like, no, I'm not interested even slightly. No, thank you.

And it was for a couple of reasons. First, she was worried that if people knew what she was doing, then people would take the opportunity to take advantage of her. She was older. She's 67. She's a woman out on the trail. And she thought that if people knew that it might attract people who would try to harm her, after all, she had already encountered people who believed that because she was a woman and an older

one that she belonged at home. Plus, she still hadn't told her family. So it's just like, mom's gone and then you're on the news or the newspapers, your picture hiking the trail. It's like, oh, I haven't told anyone. I don't know if I really want them to find out from a newspaper article. So valid. Yeah. Imagine. Oh, my God. It's like, mom? Hello? What are you doing? Yeah. Surprise. Well, these men weren't really taking no for an answer. They were really interested in her story. And so they were like, okay, that's fine, but let us give you a place to stay for the night. And we'll just talk about it a little bit more. And she agreed. She went, she hiked for the day. And at the end of the trail that she got, she landed on a road.

They picked her up and let her spend the night with them. She stayed in the cabin. They made her food. They talked about everything. And that night, they convinced her to allow them to publish her story. I knew that was around the corner. Sneaky. It's like, oh, right. All right, no, that's fine. But just come here. And we're going to shmooze you up.

You look like you're hungry and you need a warm bed tonight. Like, let me just help you out and we'll just talk about this a little more. I don't like that. It's dirty. It is. It's sneaky. Sneaky, sneaky. But we know her story maybe because of people who did this.

Okay. All right. So the very next morning in the Roanoke Times, an article was published with the headline of Ohio woman 67 hiking 2050 miles on Appie Trail. The article went on to describe how she was carrying a sack and wearing tennis shoes. It detailed that she was a housewife who had been widowed, which is what Emma had told them. And it wasn't until several decades later that her divorce and abuse was revealed. So Emma actually never told anyone what happened and that her husband was abusive. Instead, she said, I'm alone because I'm a widow. I have children and gave like this happy.

marriage, happy family story that ended that way. And she did, because she didn't want anyone to know that she was abused for so long. And at the time, women weren't, it wasn't really looked on fondly for women to divorce their husbands. So she came out with a different story. But she did write in her journal detailing the abuse that she endured. In one entry, she wrote, multiple times I was black and blue in a lot of places, but mostly my face. I did not carry a single child that I did not get a slap.

or beating dirt that I did not get a slapping or beating during that time, and several times he put me outside and told me to go. It was one grand nightmare to live with him and his maniacal temper. Shortly after that story was published in the Roanoke Times, it became a nationwide headline, published in newspapers from L.A. to New York. This was the very first time that a hiker had ever gotten the type of publicity that she was receiving. With the war, no one was interested in through hikers before or really thought of them. While she was on on the trail, she was alone, but as soon as she would get into towns, there was almost always a reporter waiting to come across her walking down the road and would ask for an interview.

Even though she was exhausted, hungry, and sore, most of the time she would speak to them, and a lot of times she was bribed with some food and a place to stay. As she hiked through Shenandoah National Park, she found it to be the easiest stretch of journey yet. The weather was warm and filled with sunshine. The hiking was gradual and the elevations were smaller than before. She slept well and she found shelter here. The weather held out and she was able to get in a few 21 mile or 33 kilometer days.

That's insane. 67, 21 mile. I've done 21 miles before and it was rough. And I was in my 20s when I first did anything like that. 67, man. I'm looking at our itinerary and that 17 mile hike we're doing in Patagonia. Oh, yeah. A week.

I'm like, oh boy. Like I'm mentally preparing for it. I'm like rolling out my legs for that one and stretching. And she's just like, I just do this for a couple days straight. Yeah. It's like, oh, okay, no big deal. Well, if Millie can do it, we can do it. Emma?

Oh, who's Millie? Is that the other woman? Mildred is the first one who ever did it. Okay, that's who I was thinking of. Well, if they can do it, both of them. Yeah, if both of them can do it, then we can do it. Why am I having me so hard? I don't know.

Today with the names, it's very simple. This is Emma. Emma Gatewood. Grandma Gatewood. Okay. As she continued her journey and tried to get to Harper's Ferry, which is the halfway, it's referred to as the mental halfway point of the AT. She found herself lost.

The trail was hardly marked, and she veered off trail several times, jumping onto other trails entirely. Eventually, she came across a man who had told her that the trail had been rerouted and pointed her in a new direction. Meanwhile, the press continued to follow her north, and so did Hurricane Connie. Hurricane Connie made landfall on August 12, 195, and was classified as a category for hurricane.

It hit North Carolina the worst, causing over $40 million in damages and killing 27 people in just that state. But it came inland and it didn't dissipate until it hit the Great Lakes north of Michigan and not until after it killed three people in Ontario. There were deaths in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. It brought 75 mile per hour winds and torn down trees

and left debris all over the AT and flooding up the entire coast, all while Emma was still hiking the trail. At almost the same time, Hurricane Diane hit, causing $1 billion in damages. While it started in North Carolina, it extended up the coast all the way to Rhode Island, causing massive floods and killing at least. least 184 people. During this time, Emma was soaked through all of her clothing, her feet were soaked,

she had bunions on her big toes that made it painful to walk, but she continued on. She took shelter as needed to and brave the storms when they slowed down enough for her to continue. Luckily, she had made it to wear the long trail and the AT meet in Vermont and was not in the center of the storm. All the rain, though, did mean that it was time to buy another pair of tennis shoes. Emma Gatewood arrived in the white mountains of New Hampshire, which she read was known for some of the worst weather in the world and could be harsh and even the summertime. Still though, she slung her light sack over her shoulder and carried on with her tennis shoes and the very little things that she packed that she felt were just enough. There's just so many ways that this could have gone wrong. For sure.

She's, I don't know, if fortunate, lucky planning kind of. I mean, obviously she did do some sort of research if she knew about the weather. in New England or in New Hampshire. So I don't want to say that she just like sent it, like without really any sort of research or, you know, any looking into it. Obviously, she read up on it. She didn't just arrive one day and was like, oh, I guess I'm going to do this today. Oh, look where I am.

Right. So I don't know if it's like a mixture of good fortune and research. I don't know what it is. But whatever happened, I mean, just because I think of all the like the bad things that have happened on the AT between access. and otherwise, and just to know that she's just like up there trudging along. Yeah. And New Hampshire is said to be one of the hardest sections. I mean, I believe it. Yeah. Yeah, with all of the inclines and everything. But it is the articles

that she read about that inspired, this AT trip, did say that this trail was way different than she's experiencing. It was like, it's a really easy trail, laid back. There's huts to sleep on every night. There's plenty of resources. Trails are well. marked so she's up here and she's like hold on like this is very very different than what I read but she's up here and she gets to New Hampshire and she's still trudging on she's getting closer to the end and when she got to the bottom of Mount Cube and Orford New Hampshire she came across a farmhouse on the bottom when an old couple opened the doors she introduced herself as the first woman to ever fully hike the Appalachian Trail solo they welcomed her in for a night and they ended up becoming

lifelong friends. Later in life, Emma was the inspiration for this older couple to hike all 46 major peaks in the Adirondacks. Oh, wow. That's really cool. She's just like spreading her, her enthusiasm and her inspiration. She's like, go ahead, like, go hike it. And they did. And they were around her age too. I'm just imagining when she first introduced herself, like how you said, she was like, hi, it's me, Emma, the first woman to solo hike the AT. Like, and they're like, and like, okay, hi. You're going to just said you're Emma. It reminds me of, I don't know if you watch, like, Game of Thrones or House of Dragon or anything, but anytime anyone introduces themselves or somebody else, there's like a million titles to go along with it. It's not just like, oh,

this is DeNaris. It's like, I, DeNaris Stormborn, first of her name, breaker of chains, mother of dragons. And like, it goes on and on and on. It's like, oh, my God, okay, we get it. And that's how I want to introduce myself from now on. What would be your titles? I'd be like, I am Cassandra. Lover of Vanilla Chas and hiking in short day hikes. They call me, I don't know. Okay, you'll work on it.

It's fine. I'll work on it. I'll work on it. Well, she gets to New Hampshire, and I liked this section, especially because, of course, She's hiking along a lot of trails that I've done, you've done. So reading about it was really cool. She continued on in New Hampshire hiking Mount Kinsman, Mount Musilock, hiking Cannon Mountain, wandering through Franconian notch, seeing the old man of the mountain while it still existed

on the cliff side. RIP, RIP. It's a tough subject. It's a sore subject now, however many years later. 15? When did I fall? I don't know. Hold on.

I'm going to Google it really quick. This is like New Hampshire facts we should know. 2003. I was 12 years old. I do remember the old man of the mountain though. So for anyone listening that doesn't know what the old man of the mountain is in New Hampshire, you should look it up. Iconic. Iconic.

Iconic. It's on all the New Hampshire license plates. But it was in Franconia notch at the top of the ridge. If you looked at it, you could see it from the highway. And it was this rock shape that looked like the face of an old. man and it was iconic people would drive up there because you're in the white mountains it's beautiful you're surrounded by like valleys and there's a lake up there and it it was near canon mountain and it was just i remember as a kid driving up there to go see it and there was always this car there was

like the stand there is a popsicle stand and they would sell these ginormous popsicles like they were um the ones in the plastic packaging you cut the top off and you just it's just a whole thing of the you know what i'm talking about the push one Yeah. Push them up. Yeah, you push them up. But it was like weirdly wide and long. They were like two feet.

And I just remember it was like the best. You'd go see the old man in the mountain and you would eat these popsicles. And I was like, I don't know, it was probably like nine, eight or nine. Yeah. It was a long time ago. The greatest. I mean, like he's on, yeah, he's on our state quarter. He's on our license plates.

And he was falling for a while. Like there was chain, like he was being held up for a while. Yeah. Like it was coming. But yeah, I remember it was like a collective heartbreak in New Hampshire when the day finally came that he tumbled on down. Yeah. And it still is, I mean, it's still on our license plate. Everyone still remembers the old man of the mountain.

It's talked about constantly still. People have talked about remaking it and putting it back up there, which has not happened. It's like it happened. I recently saw an article of someone who was traveling and I forget where they were traveling, but they took a photo of a mountain that has almost the same rock face of Old Man of the Mountain in New Hampshire, and it looks super similar, and they took a photo of it on their travels. Oh, interesting. Old Man of the Mountain is alive.

Well, I feel like it won't be going anywhere. I feel like it's kind of similar to how the California state flag has a grizzly. And who the fuck are they kidding? They haven't, sorry, persuaring. Like, you don't have a grizzly. Who are they kidding? Like, yeah, the grizzlies are long gone. I think it'll be kind of like the same thing.

It's like, it's just there. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. What else are we going to put on there? Yeah, a birch tree, like, fun, fun. Well, anyway, back to Emma. You have all learned about, it's hard not to talk about New Hampshire when it comes up in these stories. But she sees Old Man of the Mountain and then she goes on to hike the presidential range.

She stops at the Lake of the Cloud's hut just below the summit of Mount Washington for a break and a snack. By this time in her journey, she was experiencing. significant knee pain. Her feet were swollen, her hair was unkempt. She was covered in a film of dirt from the trail, and she stood out when she was walking on the trail. But that day on Mount Washington, the sun was shining. It was a warm day, but it was extremely windy. She was, there were times where she felt like she was going to get blown off the top, which anyone who's been to the top of Mount Washington can recognize and sympathize with. But while she was at the top, it was filled with tourists who were taking photos and many of them stared at her. She looked very out. She was rugged looking and

they were staring at her. A couple of people tried to approach her. But this didn't bother her. She just continued on. As she continued through the state's newspapers were still following her and they had headlines wherever she went titled with things like Appalachian Heroin, Walking into the Spotlight, Senior Citizen Hiking a Prominent Trail. And often these articles cited her age and they called her grandma gatewood. Reporters tracked her down even jumping onto trails that she was on, and they would ask, a lot of them would ask the same question, why a woman and a woman of her age would be out hiking the trail.

She was quoted saying, after 20 years of changing diapers and seeing children grow up and go their own way, I decided to take a walk, one I always wanted to take. Okay, so she is Forrest Gump. Essentially is what you're saying. Yeah. Just keeps walking. After Mount Washington, she went to Wildcat Mountain and then to Carter Notch. But she did not reach Carter Notch until after dark.

And in the process, she accidentally dropped her glasses and she stepped on them, shattering them. And remember, Emma was almost blind without her glasses. But luckily, she had brought a second pair in the event that this happened. She traveled through New Hampshire and into Maine, staying at huts along the way and eating food that was offered inside of them. When she reached Maine, she was in the worst shape she had been the entire trip. Her knee was so swollen that she was hobbling on one leg now. She wrapped it to give it support and trekked on despite it. In her travels in Maine, she found nice people that were willing to house her and help take care of her knee and give her a night to spend there.

But in Maine, while her body was struggling, she had also reached the worst trail conditions she had come across yet. I mentioned this earlier. When it was originally built, people had thought that it should end at Mount Washington. And continuing it to Maine would be too difficult. Eventually, they did decide it would continue to go into Maine, but the construction of the trail was slow, and when it officially finished, that's when the hurricanes came through. And there had been no maintenance on that trail since. So she was hobbling on one leg. She had to climb over boulders, down trees, and maneuver through trails that were hardly marked. When she reached the 100-mile wilderness

of Maine, she was in the last leg of her journey before reaching the end point of Mount Katahdin. But again, she found that these trails were miserable. There had been a forest fire in the high peaks, leaving almost no trailblazes, and she had to wade through icy water for a section of it. There were no shelters, and she had to walk two miles off trail before she found anywhere that she could stay. The following day, she fell hard down a hillside. She sprained her ankle, bruised her eye, and broke her only pair of glasses that she had left. She navigated the trail half blindly until she reached the campground of Kataddin. Now, Emma Gatewood had hiked Catan once before in the previous year.

And this attempted hike to hike Mount Katadden. She had fallen, broken her glasses, and she got lost on the trail. And she required a rescue team to get her out. When she was rescued, the park rangers had told her, go home, grandma. Oh, that's fresh. It's super fresh. And it was disheartening, too. When it happened, she was already feeling disheartened.

You know, she was blind. She was injured. She was lost. And then you say, tell her, you. You know, you shouldn't be out here, go home. And she did. She listened to them. She hop back on a train and she went back to Ohio.

It's just so condescending. Yeah. It is. It's like, go home, grandma, you don't belong here while she's just trying to be outdoors and do what she loves. Everyone belongs outdoors. It's true. When she reached the campground, she actually recognized the men that were there and the men recognized her. They had met her the year prior after she was rescued.

And they were ecstatic to see her, especially when she was. She told them that she had walked from Georgia. So the last time they saw her, she was like stumbling, hobbling, blind, disheartened. And now she just walked in. She is blind again. She's hobbling because she has a sprained leg. She's covered in dirt. And she's like, hey, this time I walked here from Georgia.

Wait, so are these the same people that told her to go home? I don't think so. I think these were people who were just there. Okay, because I was going to say that would be such a pretty woman moment. Yeah. Do you know what I'm talking about? They might, some of them might have been some of the people who had met her and rescued her before. But I think, I don't think everyone was.

It's kind of like, you know, when she, Julia Roberts first walks in when she's working as a sex worker. Yeah. To like that like really fancy thing. And they all look down on her like, you don't belong here, get out. And then at the end of the movie she comes in. Like, all dress fancy. And she's like, you work on commission, right? And they're like, yeah.

And she's just carrying all of these bags. And she's like, remember when I was here the other day? and you wouldn't wait on me. It's like, you really missed out. And then she walks out with all these, like, clearly super expensive stuff. Yeah. Head held high. Such a stick it to the man.

Yes. Or woman. You know, it was women in that. But, yes, for sure. But these guys who saw her, they were so stoked to see her. They welcomed her. They cooked her food. They even cleaned her clothing for her.

And we're just like, hell yeah, you're back. And you are badder than ever. And the following morning, two reporters actually showed up and they were there to talk to her. There was one from Sports Illustrated and another from United Press. They snapped a few photos of Emma and they asked her what she thought of the AT and if the AT had met her expectations. And this is when Emma was really the first time that I found in my research that she had told people about the trail conditions. And she was quoted saying, I read about this trail three years ago in a magazine, and the article told me about the beautiful trail, how well marked it was, and 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 blowdowns, burnt over areas that were never remarked, gravel and sand washouts, weeds and brush to your neck, and most of the shelters were very blown down or burned down or so filthy I chose to sleep on the outdoors. This is no trail. This is a nightmare. For some full reason, they always lead you right over the biggest rock to the top of the biggest mountain they can find. She continued on to say, I would have never started this trip if I had known how tough it was. But I couldn't and wouldn't quit. So she was basically like, this sucks and this is not a trail. You need to figure this out. But I'm not stopping. I'm just telling you, this was the worst. This was the worst thing ever. I've hated that at all times. Yeah. But I'm here, so I'm doing it. But I'm here and I'm not quitting. And she didn't. Emma Gatewood reached the summit of Katodin and the final point of the AT just before noon on September 25, 1955, just 26 days before her 68th birthday. She walked for a total of 146 days and had lost 30 pounds since she started, and she had averaged hiking 14 miles or 22.5 kilometers per day, which is in insane. It really is. It really is like... Those are long days. For however, what'd you say,

120, 6 days? 146 days. Yeah. I imagine that. averaging 14 miles. And some of them were way longer. She was doing 22 miles, 21 miles. Like, yeah. And she, she finished it. She finished strong. Her glasses were broken. She had a sprained ankle when she got to the top. And she had gone through seven pairs of tennis shoes by the time she reached the end. But she did it. She stood atop the mountain with the wind against her cheeks, singing the first verse of America the Beautiful. And although she completed the trail, she wasn't done with her journey. Shortly after, she went on to give speeches and talk to news outlets about the trail. She was nicknamed Queen of the Forest. And in 1957, she became not only the first woman to solo hike the AT, but she became the first person to ever

complete the AT twice. So she didn't hate it that much. She's like, I'm going to do it again. And she did report and I'll go into more of it in a minute, but she did report that the trail conditions do get better. Okay. Later, she went on to complete the trail for a third time, although the third time she did it in sections. In 1958, she climbed six of the mountains in the Adirondacks. And in 1959, at the age of 71, she hiked miles, which is 3,218 kilometers of the Oregon Trail. I was actually going to ask that was a follow-up question if she went on to do any others, because I feel like once people get that bug, they want to do others, like the PCT, Oregon Trail, AAT,

like you just, you keep wanting to do more and more of them. Yeah, she never quit. Every January for the remainder of her life, she led a six mile or 9.6 kilometer hike through her home state of Ohio in Hocking Hill State Park. And for the last hike that she ever did there in 1973, over 2,500 people showed up to join her for the hike. Wow. In her early 80s, she spent her time.

doing trail maintenance across a 30-mile trail in Ohio, and she also was a life member of the National Campers and Hikers Association and a member of the Appalachian Club. She spent her time advocating for trails and maintaining them, and she played an integral role in the reconstruction and maintenance of the Appalachian Trail. The publicity that she brought to the trail in reporting and telling people what the true conditions of it were were the direct result of the restoration of the trail. Once people learned what was happening, they're like, we have to fix it. And she was a major advocate in that. Emma Gatewood died on June 4th, 1973 at the age of 85, surrounded by family.

She had 11 children and 26 grandchildren. She was buried in Ohio Valley Memory Gardens with a grave marker that simply says, Emma R. Gatewood, grandma. Her obituary quoted her saying, If those men can do it, I can do it. In 2012, Emma was inducted into the. Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame, and she is the subject of an exhibit in the Appalachian Trail Museum located in Pennsylvania. Emma has also been attributed to directly influencing the

increase of hikers on the Appalachian Trail. After she completed the trail, by the mid-1990s, 3,346 people had walked it, many getting their inspiration from her. And if you remember, before she had hiked it, there had only been like six or seven people who had ever completed it. Yeah, just a handful. So just a couple decades later, now thousands of people have done it. And not only did she inspire more through hikers, but she actually inspired two distinct movements in through hiking. First was women through hiking and also the ultra light movement because she advocated

for you don't need to carry these huge bags. You don't need all this stuff. You can, and now they have like ultra light bags and you like shave off all your weight on your bags. You cut off like strings to get rid of it. like ultra light hiking. And as of 2016, 29% of hikers on the ATR women. And that is still believed to be directly impacted because of Emma Gatewood's hike. She is still spoken about today and she continues to inspire through hikers. A family member of hers wrote a New York Times bestselling book

titled Grandma Gatewood's Walk, the inspiring story of the woman who saved the Appalachian Trail, which is by Ben Montgomery. And it details her hike and the people that she met along the way and is actually a major resource that I used for this episode. The book is great. I think that if you're interested in more details of her story, it's so good because it goes so much into all of her supplies that she had, all the people she met along the way, her individual struggles in each state, which I didn't go through for this episode, obviously, because I didn't want to like jump into every single state and every single thing that she did. But the book does. And it goes into quotes and it has photos of her from way back in the day and she is. She's like,

she looks like she looks like the person who would be in the kitchen like making you cookies and reading you stories and stuff. Like she just looks like the comfy loving grandma, even in her attire on the trail. So seeing photos, I'll post photos of her too. So everyone can see, but it is a really good book. I recommend people read it. And today, Emma is remembered as the woman who saved the Appalachian Trail and the woman who inspired thousands to hike it because the trail was kind of dying. People had made it. It wasn't maintained. People weren't through hiking it. And now it is a major, it's a major hike in the entire United States. Well, it's really interesting to think of how it was before because obviously we've grown up, especially in New England with it being such an integral part

of the outdoors. And it's so popular. And we both know people who have either. through hiked it or have hiked it in sections. It's just like if you're in the northeast or even the eastern seaboard more often than not, if you're out in the outdoor community and stuff, you know people who have done it. So for like to to think that there was a time that people were just losing interest in it all together and it just almost kind of became a relic of the past. And maybe it could have just been lost forever. It's crazy to think that, you know, this one woman had such a huge impact on its future and how we know it today. Exactly. And on her travels, people didn't think that she could do it because she was 67 and because she was a woman. So she really

overcame those barriers. She didn't even care about them. People were like, go, what are you doing out here? And she's like, I'm walking. Get away from me. I think that's the coolest part to me is the lack of fanfare on her end. Like obviously people were very interested in the story and they did their own thing with it. But as far as she went, it was, you can tell it was a very personal accomplishment and journey. And she could have cared less if anyone ever knew about it. And I think that's the coolest part. I mean, it's awesome to be proud of your accomplishments, especially if it's something that you work towards and that like, you know, it's just such a personal goal and you want to tell everybody. And that's fine too. But I think that it's the things that people do kind of like

in the dark, just kind of like on their own, that are even more important because it's just so deeply personal. Yeah. It was something that she had been dreaming of her whole life. And she had gone through so much traumatic events in her life. And she had been abused her whole life. And she got out of that. And she's quoted in the book, it talks about that a lot more. But she said that as soon as I left, I was happy. I was free. I started doing things. And as soon as my children were grown, she's like, this is what I've wanted to do my whole life. And I'm going to make it happen. And she did. And now she's a legend in the AT world and there's books written about her. There's, I mean, she's in museums, there's trails named after her. She's a major. There's still articles that are being written about her today. I mean, there was recently a New York's time article that was published about her. So she's still very, very much being talked about. And I just thought, because it's ending National Women's Month, I thought it would be fun to highlight a woman who has had a huge impact on her history. Awesome. Well, well done.

Our hiking history. Our outdoor history. Thank you for sharing. Yeah. It was a happy one. I was waiting for like something to happen. I'm not feeling more good recently. I just wanted like an inspiring hiking outdoor fun one today. Okay. Well, it was nice. Yeah. Thank you.

All right, everyone. Well, thanks for joining us. We will see you next time next week. Right? Or is it trail tales? I don't know. I don't know. We see you all the time. We'll see you really soon. sooner than you think. Yeah. In the meantime, enjoy the view.

But watch you're back. Bye. Bye. Thank you so much for joining us again this week. If you have a trail tale or story suggestion, send us an email at Stories at NPADPodcast.com. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook at National Park After Dark and on Twitter at NPAD podcast. Join our Outsiders only community on Patreon or Apple subscriptions to listen ad-free, unlock monthly bonus episodes. and exclusive content.

And remember, when you support our sponsors, you are supporting our show. For our exclusive discount codes and source information from today's episode, check out the show notes. For more information on our show, our book recommendations, merch updates, and more. Visit our website at npadpodcast.com. And please rate, review, and subscribe from wherever you listen to podcasts. You're listening to this podcast, so I know you've got a curious mind. Here's a helpful fact you may not know yet. who switch and save with Progressives save over $900 on average.

Pop over to Progressive.com, answer some questions, and you'll get a quick quote with discounts that are easy to come by. In fact, 99% of their auto customers earn at least one discount. Visit Progressive.com and see if you can enjoy a little cash back. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $946 by new customers surveyed, who saved with Progressive between June 2024 and May 2025. Potential savings will vary.