I guess I'm the only one...

that doesn't think Cheryl Strayed's book, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Coast Trail, is a fantastic memoir. I'm reading it because of my love for backpacking alone, and so far, I identify with many of her experiences as a novice in the woods.

But...

Maybe I've been turned into a sceptic of the memoir genre by the likes of James Frey, but I can't help keeping an ear out for parts that just don't ring true to me. And I can't help finding them either.

Did REI sell snow shovels back in the mid-90s when Cheryl went to buy one at an REI near Minneapolis and happened upon the guidebook that made her mental bulb light up with idea for the hike? I've never seen them for sale at an REI, but maybe it's because I've never looked for them.

Do lawyers in MN not care that notary publics practice law without licenses in the state? That's what the NP that Cheryl and her husband Paul loved so much seemed to do when she reviewed the 60+ pages of their do-it-themselves divorce papers. In Virginia, where I've been a NP and a paralegal, all an NP can do is notarize signatures.

The whiskey flask and the gun in Frank's car were very convenient. I suspect that if she really did search the car, all she found was the red licorice.

And it seems to me that so far, the only bad relationship that Cheryl was ever in was the one with herself. I was as insecure and self-loathing as Cheryl was in my 20s and 30s and had horrible relationships with a slew of men, and always worried that I didn't really have any friends. She seems to have a slew of friends (instead of bad relationships) and to be a good friend to them all, despite her self-destructive behavior. Maybe because she's an extrovert (I'm an introvert).

I believe that the skeleton of the story is true--that her mother's death sent into a spiral of grief, that she used sex and drugs to dull the pain, cheated on her husband, got divorced, and decided to hike the PCT while she fiugred things out. But I also think she embellished the story. 

To be updated...

May 9, 2009 - Piney Ridge/Fork Mountain/Hull School/Piney Branch Loop, Shenandoah Natl Park (North District), ~8.7 miles

This moderately difficult loop hike starts at the parking lot for the maintenance sheds across the Skyline Drive from Matthews Arm Camp Ground at ~ mile marker 22. The Piney Ridge Trail takes you gently down hill for 2 miles without many interesting features, other than myriad wild flowers, esp. wild geranium.

wild geranium

At about mile 2.0, Piney Ridge intersects with the Fork Mountain Trail and branches left. The loop hike continues on the Fork Mountain Trail for another 2.0 miles, much of the way through a gorgeous stand of tulip poplar with many big, old trees. Tulip (or yellow) poplar is an ancient species that doesn't make good timber, so the pre-park denizens of the area didn't cut them regularly and many old trees grow throughout the Park. This stand, which goes on for almost a mile, must be one of the biggest in the park.

At about mile 4, Fork Mountain intersects with the Hull School Trail and the hike turns left onto Hull School for a short distance to the Piney Branch Trail. It turns left (north) again onto the Piney Branch Trail, along guess what? Piney Branch, a beautiful stream tho far from the trail for most of the hike. Eventually, the branch valley narrows and rock walls go up along the far bank of the Branch, reminding me just a bit of the Keyser Run /Little Devil Stairs Gorge (not too far to the northeast), though not nearly as strikingly beautiful. You can bush wack down the Branch...easier in some areas than others due to slope. There are many cascades that are barely visible from the trail, but I imagine they're beautiful! The trail gradually moves away from the Branch as it takes you back to the parking lot. I startled a deer that ran up the ridge before I got a good look.

Stand of old tulip poplars along Fork Mountain Trail