Journeys
The memoir revolves around a central journey: Cheryl's hike along the Pacific Crest Trail. This journey is particularly difficult and arduous, and Cheryl encounters suffering and danger along the way. However, the process of traveling towards a destination is also what sets her free from the past and allows her to find healing. Journeys force someone to move forward rather than staying stuck in one place. Undertaking a physical journey lets Cheryl also experience a metaphorical journey of healing and becoming the person she wants to be.
Solitude
Cheryl undertakes her hike alone, even though this is unconventional, especially for a woman. Most hikers hike in pairs or small groups for safety and companionship. The solitude is important for Cheryl because she knows she needs time alone with her thoughts so that she can process her grief. She has been using interactions with others, especially men, to avoid facing her grief, and being alone on the trail forces her to stop doing that. She also increases her confidence by showing herself that she can be self-reliant and independent. As Tanya Y. Kam writes, "Strayed’s experience testifies to the power of solitude as a critical component that allows for introspection, forgiveness, and acceptance" (pg. 362).
Motherhood
Cheryl had a very close relationship with her mother; Bobbi was a loving and nurturing presence who made her feel supported and safe. Cheryl loses her mother long before she expected she would, at a life stage where she still feels she needs wisdom and guidance. Over the course of her hike, Cheryl has to come to terms with life without the presence of a mother figure. Motherhood is also a significant theme of the memoir because, shortly before she begins her hike, Cheryl makes the decision that she is not yet ready to become a mother herself.
Love
Cheryl has grown up safe in the knowledge of her mother's unconditional love, so when she loses Bobbi, she feels deeply wounded. As her marriage to Paul crumbles, Cheryl also has to accept that it is possible for two people to love one another deeply and still not be able to have a functional relationship. At the time she starts her hike, Cheryl is feeling disconnected from the very idea of what love is: at that moment, it seems like even the people she loves most will not be able to stay as stable parts of her life.
Courage
Cheryl shows great courage by committing to her hike alone, even though she is not an experienced backpacker and has not prepared well for the journey. Once she is on the trail, she often feels afraid. Her fears are triggered by things like wild animals, fear of losing her way, and encounters with men. Cheryl's definition of courage changes over time: she ultimately accepts that she will feel fear, but she also commits to persevering in spite of it.
Nature
One of the most powerful parts of Cheryl's journey is how her time on the trail allows her to gain a deeper appreciation of nature. Even though it is sometimes dangerous and difficult, Cheryl is often struck by the beauty of the rugged world around her. She sees being immersed in nature as central to her healing because it reminds her that she is deeply connected to the world around her and that life and death are all part of a cycle. She can easily become preoccupied with her emotions and experiences, but being in nature reminds her that the world is much bigger than she.
Pain
The rugged conditions of the trail mean that Cheryl is often experiencing some form of physical pain. Her boots blister and damage her feet; her muscles ache from exertion; she is often thirsty, hungry, hot, and cold. While these conditions seem unpleasant, the pain serves an important purpose for Cheryl: it pushes her to her physical limits and forces her to become more resilient than she ever knew she could be. The physical pain also liberates Cheryl from her emotional and psychic pain for the first time since her mother's death. She is simply too preoccupied with her bodily suffering to think much about what else is going on. As Suzanne Koven writes, "She comes to understand that the sensory intensity of the hike is inseparable from its meaning, from the story she will one day write about it" (pg. 176).
