Wow. What an adventure! Could you survive on your own for months in the complete wilderness? This story is really 3 stories. The first and most obvious is the adventure. Cheryl Strayed decides to hike the Pacific Crest Trail by herself from Southern California to Oregon, north of Mt. Hood. What she encounters in the wilderness during this long hike is where the second story begins which I like to describe as “How we are alone and together in this world.” She meets strangers that turn out to mean the most to her as they are the only ones that can remotely connect with what she is doing. As she feels completely alone and separated from those she knows and loves, she is at the same time deeply connected to seemingly strangers. This defines the third story in the novel, that of her recovery from a dark season in her life and the reconciliation with her deceased mother. This was a quick moving read. The question I am left with is, If you decided to change your name as Cheryl did, any name you could come up with, What would it be??
