Woman Gone ‘Wild’: Cheryl Strayed Traveling Solo

By Amanda Festa 

In her memoir, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, Cheryl Strayed hikes 1,100 miles on the PCT, which runs all the way from Mexico to Canada.  She occasionally stumbles upon fellow hikers, but for the most part she travels alone.  Strayed was 26 years old at the time, with a backpack dubbed ‘monster’ as her only companion.  However, as threatening as the name sounds, ‘monster’ would not have helped her had she been accosted on the PCT.  One could ask, what would incite a young woman with very little hiking experience to embark on a five month long expeditio...