An Analysis Of Cheryl Strayed's Hike On The Pacific Crest Trail

Cheryl Strayed started the hike because she was in a all time low in her life. She needed to get away from everything to clear her mind because of the tragic passing of her mother four years prior to her hike. Strayed started consuming drugs and started sleeping with other men . She did not know how to cope with the loss because she was everywhere, “ If I had to draw a map of these four-plus years to illustrate the time between the day of my mother's death and the day I began my hike on the Pacific Crest Trail, the map would be a confusion of lines in all directions…” (Strayed 37). She was confused on where to go and what to do. She wanted to escape reality. The quote shows how she tries to cope with the tragedy, but fails until she decides
to hike the PCT.