Comments on: Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail (review)

By: Claire McCabe

Claire McCabe — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 22:08:00 +0000

Cheryl Strayed will be discussing “Wild” at the JCCSF on April 2nd! More info and tickets here.

https://www.jccsf.org/arts-ideas/lectures/history-current-affairs/cheryl-strayed/

By: signsofrain

signsofrain — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 19:08:00 +0000

You’re right, I should have said “Dabbling in dangerous drugs” she was never really a junkie.

Also I forgot to mention AWOL on the Appalachian Trail, one of my favourite trail books.

By: er0ck

er0ck — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 18:39:00 +0000

Just finished this book. My mother just passed away from cancer a few months ago and the images portrayed in the book were very visceral for me. I’m also an avid hiker. she made me laugh and cry on repeat. I live in Portland and hike and recreate near mt. hood, Columbia River Gorge, crater lake, ollallie lake, and she put me right back in those places…

By: er0ck

er0ck — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 18:36:00 +0000

i liked the book, in addition to Bill Bryson’s. thanks for reminding me. the word “addiction” here might overshoot a bit.

By: er0ck

er0ck — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 18:34:00 +0000

or maybe this unknown TV host named oprah

By: signsofrain

signsofrain — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 15:43:00 +0000

This is one of the better trail books out there. Right up there with Skywalker: Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail and and Jennifer Hanson’s Continental Divide Trail: One Woman’s Journey. (And, I suppose, Bill Bryson’s ’A Walk in the Woods’) Interspersed with the trail bits are the bits about Cheryl’s life, her mother’s death, her descent into drug addiction and how she destroyed her marriage. I liked the trail parts better than the personal parts, so I’m really only recommending this as a trail book but fans of autobiography will probably enjoy it too.

By: Brian Johnson

Brian Johnson — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 15:35:00 +0000

You might be interested in the guidebook to the Pacific Crest Trail published by Cicerone Press. http://www.cicerone.co.uk/product/detail.cfm/book/588/title/the-pacific-crest-trail If Cheryl had read this before starting off on her walk it might have saved her a lot of pain and discomfort. It is a fantastic trail whether you walk it in its entirety or walk a short section.
I have now through-hiked the trail three times and it’s so good I hope to go back and do it again before my body gives way to old age.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 06:01:00 +0000

I remember 20+ years ago seeing an ad in the travel section of the paper for a walking tour from Cape Town to Alexandria. I was tempted, but couldn’t really take five months off work.

By: Matthew Phillips

Matthew Phillips — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 05:05:00 +0000

Every year, more than 600 people attempt to walk the entire distance from Mexico to Canada on the Pacific Crest Trail. Around 50% of them will actually make it the whole distance. I have made the walk twice and each experience was uniquely wonderful. There were body trauma and harrowing experiences, but they were offset by the beauty and camaraderie encountered along the way.

If you do your research before your summer of adventure you will probably have a much better experience than Cheryl did. But that might not make as good of a book.

By: Todd Bradley

Todd Bradley — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 03:38:00 +0000

How much of the recent interest in this book is because of the Almost Fearless book club? My wife just read this, too, because of the club. http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1159428-january-2013-wild-by-cheryl-strayed

By: fnc

fnc — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 03:05:00 +0000

One of my favorite books in recent years. I love the opening of Wild in which she describes the moment when one of her boots, an ill fitting thing that had slowly chewed off several of her toenails over the course of her hike, tumbled from a cliff where she had sat it while she rested her feet. Her reaction to this event was funny and deeply human.

Cheryl writes the “Dear Sugar” advice column at therumpus, worth checking out if you enjoy her writing.

If you like writing by reflective souls in the wilderness, “Salt to Summit” and “Fire Season” are recent books in a similar vein I thought were pretty good.

By: ohbejoyful

ohbejoyful — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 02:46:00 +0000

I can’t wait to add this to my stack. Did you know she is also the wonderful writer behind “Dear Sugar”?

By: Xeni Jardin

Xeni Jardin — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 02:14:00 +0000

Mark, I was just telling one of Miles’ nieces that she has to read this book! I loved your review. I am glad you’re feeling better.

By: Warren_Terra

Warren_Terra — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 00:40:00 +0000

BBC Radio Four did an abridged reading of Wild as the Book Of The Week a couple of weeks ago. The scene on the mountaintop with the hiking boots and the story about water in Death Valley were especially striking.