In the spring of 1955 when Emma was sixty-seven years old and her children had all grown up she left her home in Ohio and set out to walk the Appalachian Trail
Called the longest footpath in the world the trail stretched along the mountaintops from Georgia to Maine Emma had read about it in a magazine The magazine said no woman had ever hiked the entire length and that it was easy Besides it was what she wanted to do Emma didn’t tell her family where she was going but no one worried After years of hard work on the farm they knew that Emma could take care of herself
GEORGIA NORTH CAROLINA TENNESSEE Big Bald River KNOXVILLE French Broad HOT SPRINGS Max Patch Mountain Charlies Bunion GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK Clingmans Dome ASHEVILLE TENNESSEE Stecoah Gap Cherokee National Forest Nantahala National Forest Wayah Bald Bly Gap May 14 Chattahoochee National Forest Tray Springer Mountain Mountain Current southern Blood Mountain terminus of trail Mt Oglethorpe DAHLONEGA original start point of trail AMICALOLA FALLS STATE PARK MAY 3 1955 GEORGIA Emma starts walking
VIRGINIA Cherokee National Forest Laurel Fork Gorge JUNE 4 Roan High knob Pisgah National Forest NORTH CAROLINA SOUTH CAROLINA The Appalachian Trail is about 2,190 miles long and passes through 14 states It follows the chain of mountains known as the Appalachian Mountains which are over 480 million years old It takes about 5 million steps to walk the entire traill
