Hiking Women: Emma Gatewood, the first woman to solo thru-hike the Appalachian Trail
Hiking Women, I thought you’d like to know that Eden Valley Enterprises are working on a project to tell the story of Ohio’s Grandma Emma Gatewood, the first woman to solo thru-hike the Appalachian Trail at the age of 67 in 1955!
Not satisfied with just one trip, Emma walked it two more times and, by the time she retired, had hiked over 10,000 miles. She was also a prime mover in starting Ohio’s Buckeye trial and an early advocate of the ultra-light hiking movement. And all this after surviving an abusive marriage and raising 11 children!
Eden Valley Enterprises have already created a storytelling program about Grandma Emma Gateway’s amazing life and now want to make a documentary to really bring her complete story to life, using her own words from her extensive journals. They have recently opened a Kickstarter campaign to raise $3,500 in seed money by 19th January 2012, which will be of enormous help when approaching larger corporations and foundations for the rest of the money needed to produce the documentary.
Amazingly, they have already 18 backers who have pledged $1,362, but need further pledges if they are to meet their target of $3,500 by 19th January. If you would like to find out more about Emma and the project please follow this link:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2100362239/meet-emma-gatewood-the-appalachian-trails-legendar
Eden Valley Enterprises have collected stories about other little known but inspirational women, such as the baseball pitcher, Alta Weiss and photojournalist, Margaret Bourke-White.
Happy Hiking Women
Anne
