by Julie Dodd
Margaret Stevenson hiked to the top of Mt. Le Conte 718 times.
Margaret became the first woman member of the “900 Miler Club” by hiking all the trails in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
She was named one of the “Greatest Of All Times (GOATs) of LeConte” in Tom Layton and Mike Hembree’s book LeConte Lodge: A Centennial History of a Smoky Mountain Landmark.
In addition to her impressive hiking stats, Margaret encouraged and supported hundreds of other hikers.
Her enthusiasm for hiking the trails in Great Smoky Mountains National Park led to the creation of an endowment with Friends of the Smokies to honor her by funding trail restoration in the park.
The endowment recently reached $275,000.
Camp Fire girl, Phi Beta Kappa, minister’s wife
Born in Kuling, China, in 1912, as the oldest daughter of missionary parents, Margaret developed her enthusiasm for nature and hiking as a member of the Camp Fire Girls, attending summer camps in Oklahoma and Michigan and serving as a camp counselor.
She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University Oklahoma and was named the “Outstanding Senior Woman.”
She went to graduate school for social work at the University of Pittsburgh. That’s where she met Bob Stevenson, a student at Pittsburgh-Xenia Presbyterian Seminary and a graduate of Maryville College.
They married in 1936, and Margaret left the graduate program to move with her husband for his work as a minister.
As Courtney Lix recounts in her book No Place for the Weary Kind: Women of the Smokies, Margaret focused on being a minister’s wife and raising three children.
When the youngest of their three children entered elementary school, Margaret had more free time and began doing long walks.
When the family moved to southwestern North Carolina for her husband’s work in 1959, Margaret hiked with the Trail Trotters of Tyron, North Carolina.
Smokies hiking accomplishments
In 1973 when her husband retired, they moved to Maryville, Tennessee. Margaret decided to make hiking a priority.
She hiked almost daily — sometimes with regular hiking companions and sometimes with people who wanted to meet and hike with her. Some of the hikers made their first hike to Mt. Le Conte with Margaret.
Margaret’s hiking companions usually did the driving to the trailhead. Margaret said she had years when she had more mileage on her hiking boots than she did on her car.
In 1976, at age 54, she became the first woman member of the “900 Miler Club.”
For her 75th birthday in 1987, she made her 300th hike to Mt. Le Conte with 70 friends and family members.
Margaret maintained a journal of every hike to Mt. Le Conte. Ed Wright, another “LeConte GOAT,” typed Margaret’s handwritten entries of her hikes from Oct. 13, 1960, to May 21, 1997. Wright donated the typed log to LeConte Lodge.
Margaret’s concise hiking entries make interesting reading. She includes the trail(s) hiked, time of the hike, hiking companions, as well as noteworthy plants, wildlife, and weather conditions.
Margaret hiked with several hiking groups. The most active group was the Wednesday Hikers, which she led. More than 80 of the group’s participants became members of the “900 Miler Club.”
Margaret ended her hiking to Mt. Le Conte in 1997 when she was 84. She had been diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome in her right arm due to her use of a hiking stick.
She continued to walk six to eight miles a day, often on the Greenbelt in her hometown of Maryville, usually with her hiking friends.
Margaret died in October 2006 at the age of 94.
Honoring Margaret’s memory
Margaret Stevenson’s hiking accomplishments and her hiking inspiration continue to have an impact.
After Margaret’s passing, Maryville named a section of the Greenbelt in her honor.
The Tennessee House passed a resolution during the 2007 legislative session recognizing Margaret, her hiking accomplishments, and her contributions to Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
The Wednesday Hikers continue to hike and have added a new generation of hikers.
The Wednesday Hikers also continue to celebrate Margaret’s birthday of July 17, gathering to share stories of Margaret and her impact on their lives.
Over the years since Margaret’s passing, the birthday celebrations have been held at LeConte Lodge and picnic pavilions in the park. Most recently the celebrations were held at The Barn in Townsend, owned by Richard and Debbie Way. Debbie was one of Margaret’s Wednesday Hikers and helped plan the group’s hikes.
The celebration of Margaret’s 101st birthday in 2013 was the subject of my first blog post for Friends of the Smokies. Sixty-eight people hiked to Mt. Le Conte to honor her memory.
Endowment created to support GSMNP
Margaret’s love of hiking in the Smokies led to fundraising to support the park.
Friends of the Smokies Finance Director and CFO Nan Jones recounted how the donation process evolved.
In 1996, Wednesday Hiker Tom Wainner had an idea. He suggested that the hikers donate one dollar per person at each hike and that money would be donated to Friends of the Smokies. Then the Wednesday Hikers began making their donations at the group’s annual Christmas party, and finally they mailed their checks directly to Friends of the Smokies.
By August 2010, the Wednesday Hikers had donated $36,000 to Friends of the Smokies.
At that point, Jim Hart was president and CEO of Friends of the Smokies. He proposed the Wednesday Hikers put their funds into an endowment in Margaret’s honor. That endowment would support a new program at Friends of the Smokies called “Trails Forever.”
The Trails Forever endowment would fund a trail crew to restore popular trails in the park. Friends of the Smokies would match the Wednesday Hiker’s $36,000. The Wednesday Hikers agreed.
The Wednesday Hikers worked to build up funds to establish the endowment. Jim Hart met with another hiking group, the Foothill Striders, to ask them to allocate the money they gave annually to Friends of the Smokies to go toward the endowment for Margaret Stevenson. They did.
By 2012, the endowment in Margaret’s memory was created, and Margaret became a Friends of the Smokies “Pathfinder.“
The endowment in Margaret’s honor recently reached $275,000.
“It’s been fun for me to watch how this has grown,” Nan Jones said. She has been involved with the donations to Margaret’s fund throughout her almost 24 years on the Friends of the Smokies staff.
Trails Restored by ‘Trails Forever’ Crew
Since the Trails Forever program was established in 2012, the Trails Forever crew has restored seven trails – Ramsey Cascades, Alum Cave Trail, Rainbow Falls Trail, Trillium Gap Trail, Abrams Falls Trail, Chimney Tops Trail and Forney Ridge Trail. Bullhead Trail is the current “Trails Forever” restoration project, with work set to begin in 2025.
Margaret hiked all those trails, and four of the trails (Alum Cave, Bullhead, Rainbow Falls and Trillium Gap) lead to Margaret’s favorite hiking destination — Mt. Le Conte.