Monday, May 21, 2012


Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

by Cheryl Strayed

   I normally don’t choose to review books that have received as much publicity as Cheryl Strayed’s newly-released “Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail.” I generally use this column to point readers toward a book they may not be aware of. But “rules are made to be broken” as they say and I just feel compelled to tell you about this book.
   “Wild” is so much more than a book about hiking and so much more than a book about traversing the Pacific Crest Trail. Cheryl Strayed is brutally honest in her portrayal of her journey but also about her life and the decisions that led her to hike the PCT alone.
   After her mother’s death from cancer and in the wake of a divorce, Cheryl was groping for fresh direction in her life and decided that setting a goal to hike the PCT would be healing as she worked to set direction for her life going forward. Although she had never backpacked before, she loaded supplies into her “monster” pack, filling it with so many necessities that she can hardly lift the pack. But she perseveres and – with a few side trip adventures along the way – makes her way through the 1100-mile-long journey from Southern California to the Columbia River in Oregon.
   While there are plenty of descriptions of walking the trail and the physical effort and adventure that it entails, the story has many other side trips into Cheryl’s life and past. She is frank about her many infidelities that led to the divorce and her dangerous flirtation with heroin with a boyfriend in Portland. She relives again the horrific cancer battle her mother faced and her emotions of deep loss and anger in its wake. She remembers her family life and the step father who tried to keep the family together for a time after her mother’s loss but ultimately left to go his own way. And we can easily see her own strengths and flaws exhibited in the decisions Cheryl makes along the trail.
   In Oregon, there are stops in Ashland just after Jerry Garcia’s death where Cheryl takes a planned weekend off from hiking. She takes part in the local Deadhead celebrations and finally finds a sexual encounter as a diversion from the brutal physical realities of the journey. (She persists in carrying a condom in her enormous pack – always open to the possibilities.) She rests at a peaceful stop at Shelter Cove Resort. She hikes to the brink of Crater Lake. She hikes through the Three Sisters Wilderness but has a scary encounter with some lusty hunters near Mount Jefferson. She enjoys a visit to Olallie Lake along with a group of fellow hikers. She stops at Timberline Lodge in the home stretch.
   Most of all, Cheryl makes peace with her feelings of anger about her mother’s death and sorts out her emotions in the wake of her divorce - all while facing an enormous personal challenge. Her frank account can’t help but move you.
   Raised in Minnesota, Strayed now lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband, filmmaker Brian Lindstrom, and their two children.

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