Review of Wild by Cheryl Strayed

I'm going through computer files to better organize documents. That means deleting mostly time pertinent notes and old job cover letters and such. This is also an opportunity to read old trip reports, letters and things written. Here's a repost of the review of Wild, from 2012.

I finished Wild yesterday afternoon on the bus ride from work. I only read while on the bus because it's an hour a day I can devote just to reading.

What author Cheryl Strayed (her real name) proclaimed pretty much right up front was that hiking the Pacific Crest Trail was to be a walk of healing and discovery. She simultaneously healed her wounded psyche and shaky self-foundation by putting on the pack and heading out to places she'd never been before in a manner she had never practiced.

She was wounded by the death of her mother, the decision to end her marriage and her choices of men; one with whom she started doing heroin. The hike, and all that the long trails encompass, allowed her to rebuild self-definition in a way no psychiatrist, book or friend could do.

For someone having no experience with backpacking, let alone a two-month trek, she did pretty well. Mistakes included boots too small, pack too big and heavy, lack of research and no conditioning. Things she did pretty well with included scheduling mail drops, listening to other hikers along the way, gearing up and keeping her head as shown by making relatively good decisions.

It all worked and at the end of the trail, at The Bridge of the Gods, she became whole and in the process laid for herself a strong foundation. How she did it is told in an easily read script. And, for us backpackers, there are plenty of instances we all have experienced. It's not a book about backpacking. It's a book about the healing that comes from nights alone in the wild, where wits and wonder, pain and exertion can rewire and redefine who we are.