ON INTO JUNE
...with Cheryl Strayed's "Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest
Trail." (Knopf, 2012).
Finished reading, now, and wishing I could make the trek. As I said before, Strayed is a little aggravating (even the fake trail name is annoying -- like all those hippie names: Tinkerbelle, Aurora, Misty) and, as she points out, unbelievably stupid in her lack of preparation for a 1,200 mile walk. My usual mantra kicks in: "What was she thinking?"
But she did something not many can (or would) do, a personal challenge
above and beyond. I admire the writing and the unsurpassed descriptions of the wilderness. Thanks to these, I've been sitting alongside, staring down into the unworldly blue of Crater Lake.
Take this reflection as one of Strayed's many redeeming features:
"There's no way to know what makes one thing happen
and not another. What leads to what. What destroys what.
What causes what to flourish or die or take another course."
I'm glad she made it. She expected kindness and generosity along the journey and mostly she found it. I'm happy she finally wrote this book because it did take her 20 years to do it.
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