Mar 08, 2018 today is international womens day and it seems fitting that i write about something that has been on my mind for some time now. If it terrifies you, youve probably been under the notion that solo hiking or solo traveling for a woman is dangerous. From lost to found on the pacific crest trail strayed. Most anyone would appreciate an invitation to take a hike. Traveling alone in the wilderness adds significant risk. We rounded up their best tips for female solo hikers. Jul 23, 2014 not long after, roses sister gave her a book about a woman s journey on the pct.
Now at work on her next memoir, the fiftyyearold also created the advicedriven dear sugar podcast and wrote an inspiring book of. Unless you are off the pct itself, you are never really out there all alone. May 18, 2010 my fear of hiking alone is a fear of meeting up with a lone creepy guy. Popular pacific crest trail books meet your next favorite book. If a solo hike excites you, youve probably already hiked alone before or youve heard about how empowering it can be. A chronicle of one womans one thousand one hundred mile solo hike undertaken as a way to recover from a recent personal tragedy.
If you are a couple dreaming of a journey on the pacific crest trail than this book is a mustread. From lost to found on the pacific crest trail by cheryl strayed. Cheryl strayed interviewed by pcta wild movie and book. Strayed spent, during the summer of 1995, when she was 26, hiking alone on the pacific crest trail from the. Find someone with experience who will take you out. From lost to found on the pacific crest trail by cheryl. Carrot is a very honest writer and her stories from the trail are both humorous and moving, like all her writing. Guys i forgot to bring the locking piece of the sticpic with me on my hike. Life on the pacific crest trail erin miller backpacking 101 heather balogh rochfort the farther i walk, the closer i get to me hong mei becoming odyssa. I was hooked from my very first 3 day backpacking trip in yosemite. The pct, as its commonly called by hikers, runs continuously from the border of mexico up through california sierra nevada.
Wild by cheryl strayed, a walkabout of reinvention the new york. Yet finding information on solo female outdoor adventure isnt really talked about. I spent 6 months preparing for the trail, 5 months actually hiking the pct, and 1 month transitioning back to real life. Oct 22, 2014 cheryl strayed was 22 when her mother died suddenly from lung cancer. In this hugely entertaining book, cheryl strayed takes the redemptive nature.
Mar 26, 2014 myla fay is a 25yearold woman who recently hiked 2100 miles alone. This is probably my favourite account of thru hiking of those that ive read because its so relatable. There was a book made into a major motion picture based on a solo woman hiking the pct, its called wild. Whether one is hiking the pct alone, or going out into any wilderness for a period of time, nature can help us to find ourselves and our connection to a higher power. Hiking the pct was the maddening effort of knitting that sweater and unraveling it over and over again. Author cheryl strayed hikes the pacific crest trail in wild. I had heard about people hiking the entire appalachian trail and i thought i would like to do that someday. Reese witherspoons wild movie, featuring the pacific crest. Reese witherspoons wild movie, featuring the pacific. Not only is this book an excellent account of thru hiking the pct, it is also a.
Oprah winfrey, on wild, first selection of her book club 2. Carrot quinns book is an insight into thru hiking the pacific crest trail from the perspective of a queer woman. Sex is one of the last taboos in womens travel writing, and i have. The very first inquiry from about every single person i told revolved around finding out who i would be hiking with.
Back in 1995, however, she was a rootless 26yearold waitress about to embark on her first backpacking trip. This summer, she plans to hike the continental divide trail, all the way from mexico to canada. Tales from the trailhiking alone as a woman pacific crest. Advice for women hiking the pacific crest trail the. From lost to found on the pacific crest trail oprahs book club 2. From lost to found on the pacific crest trail is a 2012 memoir by american author cheryl strayed, describing her 1,100mile hike on the pacific crest trail in 1995 as a journey of selfdiscovery. As a woman hiking alone she gets all kinds of special treatment and help. Of course, venturing into the wilderness alone has its risks, but the best evidence we have shows that theres no reason. I feel like youre credited with making the pacific crest trail. Wild by cheryl strayed, a walkabout of reinvention the.
The pacific crest trail is one of the nations best known longdistance national scenic trails. Cheryl strayed hiked the pacific coast trail alone, before the. Myla fay is a 25yearold woman who recently hiked 2100 miles alone. Robert koester, who maintains a database on searchandrescue incidents, crunched the numbers. With reese witherspoon, laura dern, gaby hoffmann, michiel huisman. Second times the charm but a year later he finished the whole hike solo through a new lens. It is part of the triple crown of longdistance trails, which includes the appalachian trail and continental divide trail. Cheryl strayed hiked 1100 miles along the pacific crest trail in a bid to escape her demons. Her marriage was in tatters four years later when she left her minnesota home to hike on the pacific crest trail. My plan is to go to sweden alone and do the kungsleden trail, which is 420 km in a quite remote part of sweden. To help reach an answer, we can divide your monetary contributions to thru hiking the pct into three distinct categories.
Im an 18 yo woman and im planning on doing my first solo hiking trip this summer. When a branch snapped in the night outside her lonely tent, she. Mar 16, 2017 these six longdistance trekkers have no problem hitting the trail aloneand often prefer it. After years of reckless behavior, a heroin addiction and the destruction of her marriage, strayed makes a rash decision to hike the trail with. From lost to found on the pacific crest trail, which was the first selection for oprahs book club 2. As a woman hiking alone she gets all kinds of special treatment and help from fellow hikers.
This summer, i listened to the audiobook of wild while backpacking through the new mexican desert. These books will make you want to thruhike the pct whether you are. Tales from the trailhiking alone as a woman pacific. He was on the trail and i was glad that i was not hiking alone.
Because the pct has long, dry stretches and snowy mountain sections, many hikers select key resupply points to swap out gear. Mar 29, 2012 strayed became a novelist of some note in her late 30s. The year before that, id hiked the pacific crest trail alone, and as the book continued i. How much does it cost to hike the pacific crest trail. If youre hiking alone, whether male or female, you just have to exercise a few common sense precautions. Today is international women s day and it seems fitting that i write about something that has been on my mind for some time now. An autobiographical account of a woman hiking a portion of the pct alone in 1995 at age 26 was written by cheryl strayed. Online, and the pct facebook group are two great ways to find partners. Four months alone on the pacific crest trail the hairpin. From lost to found on the pacific crest trail by cheryl strayed, becoming odyssa. Reflecting on all of those hikes, i can say that i have never felt unsafe or insecure due to my sex. An education in the woods christine byl hikertrash.
As with the physical preparation required for a thruhike, the monetary preparation required for the pct varies greatly with each hiker. Once when hiking w my husband in nh, usa, we came upon a man wearing only a speedo bottom, talking to himself. The pacific crest trail occupied a year of my life. These thruhiking champions have each backpacked hundreds of miles solo. The book has been on the new york times bestsellers list for over 88 weeks now and was featured in oprahs book club. Dec 19, 2014 in december of 2005, i announced to the people in my life that i intended to hike the pacific crest trail the following year.
A chronicle of one woman s one thousand one hundred mile solo hike undertaken as a way to recover from a recent personal tragedy. Reeling from the death, she was seemingly helpless as her family splintered without its matriarch. After reading this book, i am rethinking about hiking the trail, but i still really liked the book. For example, in central washington i was hiking with a couple hikers one day. The book also contains flashbacks to prior life occurrences that led her to. I havent read the book yet im waiting for it to come in at the library. Mar 29, 2017 carrot quinns book is an insight into thru hiking the pacific crest trail from the perspective of a queer woman. Feb 14, 2017 hiking alone is riskierfor both sexes. This is what it looks like when you hike all 2,650 miles of. At the time, i blew it off as just naivety about the pct. Solo hiking the pct as a woman the hiking tree blog. My love for the wilderness and backpacking started in my early 20s.
I have set out on hundreds of hikes now and over 95 percent of them have been solo. Wild is cheryl strayeds memoir of her 1,100mile solo hike along the pacific crest. In 1995 a woman named cheryl strayed set out to spend her summer hiking on the pct. Brave seems like the right word to sum up this woman and her book. From lost to found on the pacific crest trail wikipedia. I n the summer of 1995, 26yearold cheryl strayed, carrying a backpack nearly half her weight, embarked on a solo 1,100mile trek along the pacific crest. Jan 26, 2015 i n the summer of 1995, 26yearold cheryl strayed, carrying a backpack nearly half her weight, embarked on a solo 1,100mile trek along the pacific crest trail. A selfabsorbed, illprepared woman, 26 years old, leaves her husband a decent guy for no good reason, mucks her life up even further with drugs and reckless sex, then engages in some vacuous navelgazing on the pacific crest trail. Reese witherspoon takes a walk on the wild side in wild.
While the trail runs 2,650 miles from mexico to canada, i felt that 500 miles would give me an experience i was looking for without taking five to six months to complete the entire thing. Ive never seen hikers awed by a solo woman hiker as strayed claims they were. From lost to found on the pacific crest trail by cheryl strayed chronicles the inexperienced authors. She turned a 94day hike into a hardtoputdown book, combining the mundane details of packing a backpack with rapturous descriptions of. Mar 07, 2014 thruhiking one of americas monumental trailsmaking it all the way from one end to the other of the appalachian trail, say, or the pacific crest trailrequires careful planning and training. I grew up in maine and spent a lot of time outside, and when i was a kid, we went up to blue. Claire starts her thruhike alone at the mexico border but soon meets a. Hiking the john muir trail alone was a celebration a way for me to acknowledge all that i am and was.
When she had no one and nothing left, cheryl strayed traveled the pacific crest trail alone, writing. But being female actually seems to offer protection from wilderness disasters. In the book and movie, cheryl strayed chooses to hike the pacific crest trail alone after the haunting loss of her mother bobbi academy award actress in supporting role nominee, laura dern to cancer. Of course, there are no guarantees with any undertaking in life. It covers all the topics you have been asking about regarding how i did certain feminine things along the trail. So i started to do some research and purchased a few books on hiking the at. Michael schaub, national public radio this isnt cinderella in hiking boots, its a woman coming out of heartbreak, darkness and bad decisions with a clear view of where she has been. Over the summer, i had the great opportunity to fulfill one of my longtime goals and hike the pacific crest trail.
Her hike is the subject of the 2014 film wild, starring reese witherspoon. Jan 31, 2018 little bit of background on why i decided to go solo on my three month section hike of the appalachian trail this spring. Staging lowbrow, highfashion silliness on the trail helped corey. Wild author cheryl strayed on her greatest legacy forbes. Why women shouldnt worry about hiking alone backpacker. She chronicled her story over a decade later in her book wild. Pacific crest trail backpacking packing list rei coop journal. Advice on love and life from dear sugar, a national best seller now the basis of the wbur podcast dear sugar radio, cohosted with steve. Ultralight gear makes sense in the california desert, while extra weather protection is needed in the sierra and cascades.
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