Wild PCT

  OK so it's time for my personal recommendation.  Last Spring I was working in California and heard the NPR interview of Cheryl Strayed, the author of Wild, Lost & Found on the Pacific Crest Trail.  Very much unlike me I went out & bought the hardcover edition of this book.  I passed it onto a friend and then recently it came back home and Linda read it on vacation.

  Cheryl's story resonated with me in part because as a young man (well kid really) I had hiked the Pacific Crest and her experiences rang true.  Now her story has a lot more sex, drugs and personal travails than my own and that's part of what makes this book work.  She's startlingly honest about her lack of preparation, inexperience and bumblings down the PCT.  What comes home with this book is not just the beauty of long distance hiking but the personal journey that helped her overcome life struggles.

  I've recently heard that PCT hikers, particularly women PCT hikers are on the uptick.  This new surge of through hikers has been branded as the "Wild" effect.  Regardless if this book sends you down the trail, it's quite well written and gets the PCT hiker's veracity seal of approval.  I'll drop the book off this pm and see how long it lasts in the box.

  Cheers... S