If you've hiked the six-mile trail from Old Man's Cave to Cedar Falls to Ash Cave, you've walked the Grandma Gatewood Memorial Trail — named for the most famous hiker in Ohio history and one of the most remarkable outdoor athletes America has ever produced. Her story is inseparable from Hocking Hills.
Emma Rowena Caldwell Gatewood
Born October 25, 1887, in Gallia County, Ohio — about 90 miles southeast of Hocking Hills — Emma was one of 15 children raised on a farm in a log cabin. Her formal schooling ended after eighth grade, but she was a voracious reader who taught herself botany, plant identification, and natural history from encyclopedias and books.
At 19, she married Perry Clayton Gatewood. Over the next three decades, she raised 11 children, managed the family farm, and endured what multiple accounts describe as constant domestic abuse. The woods behind her house became her refuge — she took long walks to escape, a habit that would eventually change American hiking history.
The Appalachian Trail
In the early 1950s, Gatewood read a National Geographic article about the Appalachian Trail — the longest hiking-only footpath in the world, stretching over 2,000 miles from Georgia to Maine. She later said she thought "it would be a nice lark."
Her first attempt in 1954, starting from Maine at age 66, ended in failure. She broke her glasses, got lost, ran out of food, and was rescued by park rangers who told her to go home. She told no one about it.
In 1955, at age 67, she tried again — this time starting from Georgia to avoid the rangers who had discouraged her. She told her children she was "going for a walk." She carried a homemade denim bag containing a blanket, a plastic shower curtain for rain, a change of clothes, a cup, a canteen, a small pot, a spoon, a Swiss Army knife, a first-aid kit, and a flashlight. No tent. No sleeping bag. No hiking boots — she wore men's Converse high-tops.
She walked for 146 days through 14 states, going through seven pairs of shoes. She slept on porch swings, under picnic benches, and on beds of leaves. She ate canned Vienna sausages, raisins, nuts, chicken bouillon cubes, and edible plants she identified along the trail. On September 25, 1955, she stood on the summit of Mount Katahdin in Maine, sang "America, the Beautiful," and declared: "I said I'll do it, and I've done it."
She was the first woman to solo thru-hike the entire Appalachian Trail.
And Then She Did It Again
In 1957, she hiked the AT a second time — becoming the first person, male or female, to thru-hike it twice. In 1959, at age 71, she walked 2,000 miles of the Oregon Trail. In 1964, at 76, she completed a third hike of the AT in sections — the first person to hike it three times.
By the end of her life, she had walked more than 14,000 miles — the equivalent of more than halfway around the Earth.
Her Connection to Hocking Hills
Gatewood never lost her love for Ohio's forests. She was a founding member of the Buckeye Trail Association and helped build Ohio's 1,444-mile statewide hiking trail. In her 80s, she spent 10+ hours a day clearing and marking a 30-mile section of trail through Gallia County.
In January 1967, she led a six-mile winter hike through Hocking Hills State Park — from Old Man's Cave to Cedar Falls to Ash Cave. About 60 people showed up for that first hike. It became an annual tradition. By the time she returned for her last hike in 1973, more than 2,500 hikers came. She couldn't physically make the walk that year — she watched from the trail's end.
She died on June 4, 1973, at age 85, from a heart attack. Her grave marker in Ohio Valley Memory Gardens says simply: "Emma R. Gatewood — Grandma."
The Annual Hocking Hills Winter Hike — her creation — has continued every January since, growing to 5,000+ participants. The 60th annual hike was held January 17, 2026. In 1981, the six-mile trail connecting Old Man's Cave, Cedar Falls, and Ash Cave was officially designated the Grandma Gatewood Memorial Trail. She was posthumously inducted into the Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame in 2012.
Why It Matters
Gatewood's media coverage — Sports Illustrated, the Today Show, newspapers across America — is credited with saving the Appalachian Trail. When she hiked it in 1955, large sections were poorly maintained and at risk of being abandoned. The attention her journey generated spurred volunteer groups to improve and maintain the trail. By her second hike, she noticed better markings and conditions throughout.
She also changed who the outdoors was for. As a woman over 60, carrying almost nothing, wearing sneakers, she introduced a new demographic to long-distance hiking. Her message — "If those men can do it, I can do it" — inspired generations of women to take to the trails.
Next time you walk through Old Man's Cave or stand in Ash Cave, remember: you're walking in the footsteps of a 67-year-old grandmother from Gallia County who decided one day to "go for a walk" and changed American hiking forever.
Walk Her Trail
The Grandma Gatewood Memorial Trail runs from Old Man's Cave to Ash Cave. Stay nearby and walk it yourself.
Find a Rental →