Grandma Gatewood's Walk by Ben Montgomery

What does Patrick Lawlor bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book? From mother of 11 to someone who hiked the AT more than once and then walked from Missouri to Oregon just to name a couple of walks! Wow!! I like the fact that she turned a negative into a positive - from abused housewife to powerful hiker. Amazing tenacity especially during trying times like when she broke her glasses and hurt her ankle. She was so 'matter of fact' about walking.

What did you love best about Grandma Gatewood's Walk? This isn't great literature, but it is a great true story. Trekking in her ripped up Keds and sleeping under the stars without a sleeping bag, resourcefully gathering plants and fruit to add to her meager supplies, braving weather and rain and rough trail, always charming and grateful to those that offered her food or shelter or encouragement along the way, 'Grandma' Gatewood is a true inspiration. The book is largely based on factual bits (her trail journal, interactions with people along the trail, and later newspaper accounts) with a wealth of detail. One day, she tells her (adult) children that she is 'going for a walk' and disappears on a secret quest: to traverse the entire Appalachian trail. Her solace has always been walks in the woods. She preserved through years of an abusive marriage, hard life as a farmer's wife through the Depression, and birthing eleven children. She might not of saved the Appalachian Trail single handed, but she certainly motivated a generation of hikers who realized if 'Grandma Gatewood' can do it, I can too.Įmma Gatewood is a formidable and dauntless woman. I googled her after finishing the book and enjoyed the collection of photo's about her hike. You learn less about trail hiking than you would with Cheryl Strayed's book 'Wild.' However, anyone serious about hiking, changing lifestyles to be more active or biting off a big goals will appreciate her grit. This is less entertaining than Bill Bryson's 'A Walk in the Woods' but she does complete the hike, which Bryson didn't. However, the magnitude of what she accomplished outweighed any failures in the rendition of it and I'm glad I continued to listen.

I listened at 1.25 (not my normal) because it does drag along. The third person narrative and the writers obvious desire not to write fiction, limits the beauty of the story. Ben takes his information from her brief journal notes, newspaper articles, family records and interviews. carrying only a homemade stuff sack, wool blanket, shower curtain and Vienna Sausages. she did the Appalachian Trail three times and many, many others. Ben Montgomery has given us a glimpse into Grandma Gatewoods (age 67) walks.

Grandma Gatewood's Walk by Ben Montgomery