Why on earth would a 26-year-old woman with no backpacking experience whatsoever set out on a grueling solo trek of over 1,000 miles? The answer lies in the powerful memoir Wild: From Lost To Found On The Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed. 
 The Pacific Crest Trail is a nationally designated hiking route stretching from the California border with Mexico all the way north to Washington's border with Canada. Along the way, the PCT traverses formidable mountain ranges including the Sierra Nevada and the Cascade, as well as the Mojave Desert and points in between that most of us have never even heard of. Each year, people travel from around the globe to hike all or part of the PCT. For many, tackling the PCT is the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. 
 And yet Cheryl Strayed, with practically no preparation, sets out on the PCT for a three month journey, a mere seven months after first hearing of the PCT. For Cheryl, it must have sounded rather like a last grab at a lifeline. Four years after her mother's wrenching death from cancer, the author found herself in a downward spiral. Her remaining family had scattered; she'd let her young marriage to a good man disintegrate as she herself fell apart, pursuing infidelities, bad decisions, and even a brief involvement with heroin in an attempt to detach and shield herself from the grief she'd never fully dealt with. 
 The story of Cheryl's journey and transformation is remarkable. As she accumulates the miles, pushing her body beyond any limits she could have imagined, she slowly finds an inner strength and manages to come to terms with her personal demons. 
 Overall, I'm very glad to have read Wild... although I did come away from it with the probably completely wrong idea that if she could do it, as poorly prepared as she was, then so could I. Not that I would. But, you know, I could! (Ha! Yeah, right...) 
 Wild is the story of one woman's journey away from grief and loss and toward a new personal strength and a future of hope. I recommend it highly. 
 (See my complete review here.)