Wild: A Journey from Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

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Wild: A Journey from Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
by Cheryl Strayed
(Audio)

I first heard of Cheryl at this year's AWP Conference (Boston 2013) when she was in a conversation with Augusten Burroughs, who I definitely had heard of. You can watch the whole event here, if you missed it: http://fora.tv/2013/03/09/augusten_burroughs_cheryl_strayed_a_reading_conversation. Cheryl reads part of Wild in this video.

Anyway, I ran across this book in the library the other day and decided it would be good to read her memoir. I don't read a lot of memoirs, but the ones I do read seem to hit me with their honesty and raw power. This was certainly no exception. At a crossroads in her life that resembled more a dead end than a crossroad, Cherly confesses all to her readers as she embarks on the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail), a trail I had never heard of before but is apparently significantly harder and less populated than the Appalachian Trail. We learn about the death of her mother, the way she ended her marriage, her drug use, her family breaking apart, and much more.

But all of this is dwarfed by her impressive strength. I listened to what she goes through emotionally and physically on the trail with eyes wide with amazement. As unprepared for walking as I am in my normal life, I could fully appreciate that she had gotten in over her head. But she approached it was magnificent courage and the ability to endure. Sometimes it takes something extreme to put your life on another path, and that's what Cheryl was hoping when she got it in her mind to hike the PCT. However, she ended up writing not only about discovery and of her past, but a detailed account of her experiences. The extraordinary kindnesses she found. The interesting people she met. The stretches without water and with too much heat. The books she read. The things she carried (she seemed to pack the way I do on any trip--with everything I think I need and damn the weight). I can honestly say I could never have done what she did, but it was an amazing journey to go on with her from the comfort of my car and its air conditioner. There were parts when i was in a panic. Sometimes I just about screamed or looked away, as if that would stop the visuals in my head. I was thrilled for her, sad for her, scared for her, and proud of her.

Compelling, interesting, beautiful, and harrowing, this was a great journey to go on with Cherly. It's not a story I can recommend to my mother, a horse-lover, but anyone else will probably find it as inspiring as I did.