View Full Version : Grandma Gatewood
Mother Natures Son
08-06-2014, 19:25
It would be nice to see a full length movie on the life of Grandma Gatewood and Earl Shaffer. I knew Earl for some time before he passed, and still to this day I'm in awe of him. Like Grandma Gatewood, he had a tough life but somehow the AT made it all worthwhile.
Lone Wolf
08-06-2014, 19:54
Earl didn't speak highly of miss Gatewood
blhiggins
08-07-2014, 09:06
Eden Valley Enterprises and FilmAffects is working on a documentary about Emma Gatewood that's due to be out sometime around May of 2015 (just in time for the 50th Anniversary of her hike!). You can find information about the project at http://tinyurl.com/gatewoodproject and you can see film clips on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/grandmagatewood
It will be broadcast on WGTE/PBS Toledo.
swjohnsey
08-08-2014, 22:54
Earl didn't speak highly of miss Gatewood
But Earl was a yellow blazer. Grandma Gatewood did the whole thing.
dangerdave
08-09-2014, 07:24
I am proud to say that Gatewood was an Ohioan---just like me---and lived about an hour from me. I am also proud to be hiking "her trail" on the 50th anniversary of her first hike next year. Also, I was born in 1963, the year of her last AT thru-hike at age 75. The Buckeye Trail, which she dedicated, passes within a few miles of my house. She is a legend, here.
Crazy old lady? Sure! But what an inspiration! We should all be so crazy.
BuckeyeBill
08-09-2014, 13:11
Danger Dave,
Just wondering if you have ever checked into hiking the Buckeye Trail?
shakey_snake
08-09-2014, 23:41
I don't know about Dave, but I've hiked sections of the Buckeye trail, I wouldn't attempt a thru--it's an awful lot of road walking.
Wise Old Owl
08-10-2014, 00:03
But Earl was a yellow blazer. Grandma Gatewood did the whole thing.
Earl didn't speak highly of miss Gatewood
OK - I read his books... I don't remember this... It does make sense, what may you be referring too?
Lone Wolf
08-10-2014, 00:57
OK - I read his books... I don't remember this... It does make sense, what may you be referring too?
PA Ruck.....
dangerdave
08-10-2014, 09:39
Danger Dave,
Just wondering if you have ever checked into hiking the Buckeye Trail?
Yes, Bill, I have. It is certainly not like the AT. Being so close to it, I could literally start and end at my door. But it's such a strange and convoluted route. For instance, the section closest to me (through Scioto Trails State Park) was recently rerouted. The instructions for navigating this one detour are extremely confusing...even for a smart guy! "Turn left, follow the fence line for 250' east, jump the ditch, go behind this house, turn at the third tree and walk 500' north..." Stuff like that. But I have heard that "following the blue blazes" involves a lot of fun just trying to find the trail. A different kind of challenge than hiking the AT, for sure. If my AT thru-hike goes well next year, I definitely plan on considering the Buckeye Trail, thereafter. Because it's right there!
As it is also part of the American Discovery Trail across the US, I could walk out my door with my pack and hike to California if I wanted. Or turn left, heading east, and hike to the AT and beyond. Gives me a lot of options for hiking during retirement, if this turns into an obsession.
I'll have to throw in some time with my lovely wife after retirement, too. She'd probably appreciate that. :)
BuckeyeBill
08-10-2014, 14:49
Thanks Dave,
That's what I wanted to know, it is still on bucket list. Happy hiking.
fernbeetle
08-11-2014, 23:07
Here in Hocking County. Did a thru hike 2011 headed back March 1, to attempt a yo-yo hike on the AT.
Rather see one on Gramma Kay. Who Kay Wood Shelter is named after. Who thru hiked the AT at 70. And the Long Trail. Who did a vast amount of trail maintaince. Taught Sunday School and designed shelters. She was a way more class act than than the crass Gatewood and would make for much better film.
swjohnsey
08-13-2014, 23:06
Maybe, maybe not. How much do you know about Grandma Gatewood?
Never met her. From what I read she was a strong hiker, and a bit of a freeloader. Didn't do any kind of trail maintenance, yet did some complaining about trail conditions.
I just read this book on Kindle:
http://www.amazon.com/Grandma-Gatewoods-Walk-Inspiring-Appalachian/dp/1613747187
It is a very comprehensive and interesting book. The material about Emma was mostly provided by her diaires and her family as well as those who met her on the trail. The author did extensive research that seems to me more like a hobbie/project then a profit making undertaking. Interestingly, the author puts in a lot of historical information about what was going on in the Country during Emma's life and her hikes. There is also a lot about Emma including years during the depression where she would make every attempt to feed a hungary man who had fallen on hard luck and had no means to eat or survive. She was no doubt a free loader, but only taking what she had been taught to give all her life. In her day it was common to give and take, depending on what side of have or have not you were on.
When I read about how some physical work she put in throughout her life and how much abuse she went through, I could easily understand how she managed a through hike with just a ruck sack thrown over a shoulder.
Anyhow for $3 bucks on Kindle, it is a bargain and a great read.
Have to look into it. Certainly back than was a different world than we now live in. Sometimes my brain to keyboard filter has issues. Like I got a bit upset when someone refered to Earl as a yellow blazer knowing full well that the early AT have many many road walks due to right of way issues that the ATC and others had to fix up over the years thru both the courts and purchases. Plus I guess I'm alittle bias is thinking that the Kay Woods of this world never got the credit they should have, even though I know she certainly would not have been seeking credit.
swjohnsey
08-18-2014, 19:00
I know Earl has already been canonized but what I was talking about was not road walking but hitchhiking.
It's not widely known, but Gatewood failed on her first thru hike attempt at age 66. She was attempting a South bound thru, completed Katadahn, and got lost off the trail south of Rainbow Lake in Maine. The rangers at Rainbow Lake chatted with her as she went thru and unbekownst to Emma, radioed South to the next ranger station to watch out for the old lady. When she didn't show up in a couple of days they began a search and rescue but never found her. She had wondered off on a game trail, thinking it was the AT. When that trail ended, she pushed further just thinking that the AT was not maintained and eventually got seriously lost. She broke her glasses and was darn near blind. On her last night she made her peace with the Lord after being unable to get the attention of a search plane that passed over. She fell asleep hungry with no food but awoke the next morning and by good luck, walked the right direction and found her way back to Rainbow Lake, badly bitten by flies and with her glasses taped together with a bandaid. The rangers were very irritated with the situation and essentually escorted her to the nearest airport and sent her Bangor with instructions not to return. She never wanted anyone to know about this, but her notes were kept in a shoe box that her daughter (now 80 something years old) saved.
This is just one of the interesting tidbits you will find in the book.
swjohnsey
08-19-2014, 13:29
Her daughter was at Boiling Springs in '12? She had a big scrapbook of Grandma Gatewood's exploits. Gene Espy, the first guy to really through hike the trail, was their, too.
just finished and loved the grandma book... highly recommend it.
English Stu
09-08-2014, 15:39
Where have you seen it for $3? The Amazon link says £15.49,not that it is a massive issue to me as I look forward to reading the book
saltysack
09-08-2014, 20:33
Where have you seen it for $3? The Amazon link says £15.49,not that it is a massive issue to me as I look forward to reading the book
Curious also....$11.00 kindle version seems high.... I'm cheap...:)
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
English Stu
09-09-2014, 07:06
Sorry that should have been $15.49.
Doubt if the trail was even completely blazed when Earl and Gene walked. There were right of way issues and plenty of road walk areas. Sometimes they must have had to break out the good old compass. Lets get real here they were in a different time the trail was growing.
Doubt if the trail was even completely blazed when Earl and Gene walked. There were right of way issues and plenty of road walk areas. Sometimes they must have had to break out the good old compass. Lets get real here they were in a different time the trail was growing.
Plus a few events in the 1930s and 1940s made trail maintenance a rather low priority :)
Plus a few events in the 1930s and 1940s made trail maintenance a rather low priority :)
Actually, some of the events in the 1930's were when a lot of the trail was constructed.