I found this in a little free library somewhere last year, and I'll read it in January as one of my selections in the Book Girls' Guide's In Case You Missed It (ICYMI) challenge.

We’re the same age, and we share a passion for words and for good food. And that’s about all Cheryl Strayed and I have in common. I participated in my first 60 mile walk for breast cancer about five years after she hiked the Pacific Coast Trail from Mojave to the Columbia River. I trained for nine months. She lifted her pack for the first time an hour or so before she hit the trail. But she did it. And the story that she tells about her experience will be with me for a long time. If you haven’t read it, it’s well worth your time.

Some of my favorite quotes

"My mom was dead. Everything I ever imagined about myself had disappeared into the crack of her last breath."

"The trail didn't feel two years old to me. It didn't even feel like it was about my age. It felt ancient. Knowing. Utterly and profoundly indifferent to me."

"The thing about hiking the Pacific Crest Trail is that, the thing that was so profound to me that summer —and yet also, like most things, so very simple—was how few choices I had and how often I had to do the thing I least wanted to do."

"I'd loved books in my regular, pre-PCT life, but on the trail, they'd taken on an even greater meaning. They would be the world I could lose myself in when the one I was actually in became too lonely or harsh or difficult to bear."

"Alone had always felt like an actual place to me, as if it weren't a state of being, but rather a room where I could retreat to be who I really was."

"The universe, I'd learned, was never, ever kidding. It would take whatever it wanted and it would never give it back. I really did only have one boot."

"Grief doesn't have a face."

"I didn't feel like a big fat idiot anymore. And I didn't feel like a hard-ass motherfucking Amazonian queen. I felt fierce and humble and gathered up inside, like I was safe in this world too."

"Until I'd hiked through Oregon, I'd had a profoundly different idea of what the word 'resort' might suggest."

Sending this on to New Zealand, to the winner of my One Book a Month offer for January 2024. Happy reading!

Thank you for the book, djf1968. The book has arrived today. I will read this as part of a Story-Graph reading challenge. I appreciate you sending it my way.

This worked very well for my travel memoir reading challenge on Story Graph.

Definitely a worthwhile read. Can't say I've been on a long hike like Cheryl has. It takes a very brave person, to walk such a long stretch, on their own. Cheryl tells of her life story before and while on the trail. Meeting new people along the way.

My favourite part was when she became, Queen of the PCT. Can't get better than that. If you want to find out why it's my favourite, you'll have to read it yourself. No spoilers here.

Passing to another Book Crossing member.

Hello lovely reader,

In your hands is a free gift. You can keep my dream alive by reading and releasing. Although, the choice is yours. You can keep it, read it, pass this book on or wild release.

If you're choosing wild release, think of places where people stop and take a moment. Some examples are, tourists spots, statues, restaurants, cafes, train stations and free libraries. Don't forget you can add a journal entry before releasing.

I hope you enjoy this book.

Passed onto me this afternoon by another bookcrosser:)