Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail

by Ben Montgomery

William Wordsworth was said to have walked 180,000 miles in his lifetime. Charles Dickens captured the ecstasy of near-madness and insomnia in the essay “Night Walks” and once said, “The sum of the whole is this: Walk and be happy; Walk and be healthy.” Robert Louis Stevenson wrote of “the great fellowship of the Open Road” and the “brief but priceless meetings which only trampers know.” Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche said, “Only those thoughts that come by walking have any value.”

A man named Harold Allen summarized its appeal: Remote for detachment, narrow for chosen company, winding for leisure, lonely for contemplation, the Trail leads not merely north and south but upward to the body, mind and soul of man.

A home is made of many things, Books and papers and little strings, A comb and brush to fix one’s hair, A mending basket, and easy chair. A clock, some music, the Sacred Book, A kitchen stove and food to cook. The sound of little feet about Up the stairs, and in and out.

Little trinkets on the floor, Trains and cars and dolls galore. Children’s clothes and children’s beds, A kitty cat that must be fed. A dog to warn us with his bark, When someone bothers when it’s dark. A mother that is kind and good, And patient with her little brood. A great big place must Father fill, Besides the paying of the bills. A Spirit there that brings together, In every trial and kind of weather. There must be kindness every day, If it’s a home with shining ray.

Emma told a reporter that she had found “an aloneness more complete than ever.”