This book is a memoir of the time author Cheryl Strayed spent hiking the Pacific Crest Trail in the summer of 1995. If you are not familiar with it, the Pacific Crest Trail is a long distance hiking trail running 2,663 miles through the pacific mountain ranges from the Mexican border to the Canadian. (see included map) At the time Ms. Strayed was in a serious downward spiral from death, divorce and addiction. She made the radical decision that the way to turn her life around was to spend 3 months walking north along the spine of California alone. This book was an Oprah's Book Club pick so you know that it gives an unflinching, gritty view of human weakness and frailty. 
 The first hundred or so pages of this book are quite depressing as they expand on the downward spiral that initiated Ms. Strayed's trip (I almost put the book down for good during this section). There are a lot of bad things happening back to back, some from outside sources and some self-inflicted. At points I wanted to just grab the author, shake her and yell "Snap out of it". But ultimately to understand how far she came, we have to start at rock bottom where Ms. Strayed began her journey. 
 The Chinese philosopher Lao-tzu said, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." A trip like the one Ms. Strayed accomplished is just a collection of steps, each one a conscious effort and decision to continue to move forward. This book is about what can be accomplished if you put your mind to it and reach for your goal while working to overcome every obstacle in your way. At points Ms. Strayed shows incredible endurance; I'm not sure that if my shoes were slowly eating my toe nails and ruining my feet that I could continue to put them on each day and hike for 10 hours. 
 During a long-distance hike like this, your life boils down to the most basic needs. It doesn't matter what celebrities are dating or who's winning on Survivor. You are focused on water, food, shelter and pain. It leads you to question how much stuff you actually need. For instance, if Ms. Strayed survived for 3 months with only the contents of a backpack do I really need 25 pairs of shoes? 
 My favorite parts of this book were the descriptions of places that I remember from hiking on the PCT, like the Shelter Cover Resort and three sisters mountains.