Cheryl Strayed went on a three-month hike along the Pacific Crest Trail without any hiking experience. Her decision was spontaneous; she saw a chance to start over in it. After losing her mother due to cancer, Cheryl felt lost and lonely. This sparked off a period of destructive choices and behaviors that ultimately took a toll on her marriage. Eventually, 26-year-old Cheryl found herself motherless, divorced, and struggling to find her way.

When the idea about the Pacific Crest Trail came to her, Cheryl took the preparation seriously. She chose the necessary equipment, quit her job as a waitress, got divorced, sold all her possessions, said goodbye to her friends, and visited her mother's grave. She traveled across the country to get to the ridge and was finally ready to realize her plan.

Some may say that taking such a desperate step is brave, while others may say it’s unwise. Cheryl believed the physical challenge of the hike would offer her a way to confront her grief, rediscover herself, and rebuild her sense of strength. The trail became both a physical journey and a metaphor for her personal transformation and a way to process the emotional scars that haunted her. And so, in the first month of summer, she started her journey.

Cheryl needed to stay somewhere since traveling to the mountain range was a long way. One day, in a room at White's Motel, she realized she was on shaky ground. She had never gone backpacking. Panic started creeping in.

That day, she looked with a bit of fear at her green three-compartment backpack, standing up and not falling on its side as it usually does. Before she started her journey, everyone had advised her to put the backpack together and try it out, but Cheryl didn't listen to anyone. She decided to test it on the first day of her route.