Grandma Gatewood Ultra-lighter

The Birmingham (AL) News of 13 May 2007 has a piece by Russell Helms titled "Hiking lite: Less weight equals more fun."

There's nothing really new in this piece about, well, how light weight gear makes hiking go more easily. BUT, Helms introduces the topic saying

"Back in 1957, at the age of 67, Grandma Gatewood thru-hiked the 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail in Keds tennis shoes, carrying a wool blanket, a plastic shower curtain for shelter, and a homemade denim laundry as a pack. Her gear certainly wasn't as light as that available today, and her motivation wasn't just to save weight, but to make do with what she had.

"Before companies such as GoLite began selling gear aimed at ounce shavers, lite hiker pioneers such as Grandma Gatewood and Ray Jardine took matters into their own hands to make homemade tarps and packs."

Ah, to be pioneers! It's a short news piece, but the author also brings Thoreau and Muir to bear before he ends.

(What would Gatewood, Muir and Thoreau have thought of being an entry in Wikipedia?)