Linda Nguyen

July 27 2017

As Strong as a Female Hiker

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Wild / Feminist / Female Power / Self Realizations / Stereotypes / Hiking

Wild by Cheryl Strayed is a powerful, non fiction novel told by Cheryl herself about her
solo hike across the Pacific Crest Trail. Cheryl was an ordinary teenage girl when her life turned
upside down. Her mother died from cancer, divorced a man who she still loved and her family
became distant. As a reader, youre given the ability to embark with her on this adventure where
she battles with mother nature, her thoughts and with the people that she met along the way. A
novel full of suspense, romance, humour, drama that is fully recommended by someone who
isnt a fan of nonfiction novels. For those who dont tend to enjoy non fiction novels either, Ill be
quite honest, this could be passed as a fiction novel, its truly amazing and inspiring. Hopefully
by the end of this blog post, you all should be on your phone ordering the book, putting it on
hold and/or reading it online haha. All in all, Cheryl Strayed clearly illustrates the success of her
hike across the Pacific Crest Trail, where she achieved self-actualization while using her inner
female strength to stand up against stereotypical gender expectations. However, Cheryl Strayed
is not the only female hiker that had similar realizations. There are many female solo hikers who
also proved gender stereotypes wrong while using their female power and making self
realizations along the way (what can I say, we can be great multitaskers too).
On the website, http://distancehiking.com/safety/menandwomen/ , the author describes
the major difference between the men to women ratio when it comes going on long hikes. He
stated that, The simplest explanation may be a collective perception that hiking alone as a
woman on the AT or PCT is a more dangerous act than hiking alone as a man. As a
consequence, women, more than men, are encouraged to find partners by their friends and
families. (Dan). Unfortunately, there are still websites out there that still view women as
someone who is of a weaker sex. Therefore it is more dangerous for females so they should
find a partner to hike with. Female hikers, like Tami Ankeny, proves that point wrong. Tami
Ankeny is another female, Pacific Crest Trail, solo hiker who expresses her values of hiking
alone. One of the values that she received was, The Gift of Taking Risks: Fear Sometimes
Needs to be Put in its Place (Ankeny). This reminds me of April Fools on the Polar Circus when
Roddan implied the significance of working with your fear in order to succeed. Facing fears is a
hard idea to swallow in general so that itself shows a lot about her inner strength and beliefs.
Before that, she was in the same state of mind as Cheryl. Ankeny, like Cheryl, kept questioning
her capabilities before going on the trail; Did I have what it takes to thru hike a long trail? Did I
buy the right gear, pack enough food, and plan the right town stops? Was I crazy to quit a job
and hike from Mexico to Canada? And, could I do it alone? Ankeny came onto the trail with an
unconfident mind but that quickly changed the longer she stayed on the trail. She used her time
on the trail to remember, process, learn and be transformed (Ankeny). By the end of her trip,
she came to realizations about herself which she shared in the following quotation, My body is
capable of more than I thought. I'm mentally and emotionally strong enough to endure being
uncomfortable, in pain, lonely, and bored for longer than I thought. I bet these things may be
true about you, too. I found the last sentence of her quotation to be very powerful. We all have
the capabilities and strengths to do what were passionate about Its a matter of whether or
not youre going to let anyone sway your decisions (could include people who dont think that
females are capable to take on activities with men being the majority or even yourself and your
negative thoughts).

Cheryl Strayed

Another female hiker is Myla Fay. Like both Ankeny and Cheryl, Myla Fay was another
solo hiker who, by the end of her journey, found a balance between independence and
community and felt like she could do anything. She realized her full potential by the end of her
trip and relied on her own decisions. Back in the early Shakespearean ages, women were
viewed as non independent and tend to rely on men for control and security. Women were rarely
allowed to have a voice and their decisions were influenced by the men for the majority of the
time being (since men were viewed as the dominant sex of course). Although Myla had the
opportunity to meet many amazing people who offered advice and suggestions, her final
decisions came to herself in the end. Mylas independence shined through and helped her
become a mentally stronger person. Other female hikers including Taylor Wold also believed
that her solo hike helped her developed a sense of self and power. Liz Thomas is an
Appalachian Trail hiker (hiked 7,500 + miles) who also agrees with the fact that society has
conditioned women to think theyre not suppose to be solo. Theres this stigma, but its really
rewarding to hike alone. In her article for American Hiker, Thomas also mentioned that her
biggest concern was how men would treat her in a male dominant climate (Bennett). One of the
reasons why female hikers may be looked at as someone who shouldnt hike alone is because
of the different aspects (compared to men) that they perceived to be most dangerous. According
to Dan, men feared the trail conditions the most while women feared the strange people on the
trails. I can understand why women may be scared of meeting strangers along the way. Youre
alone and vulnerable on an empty trail therefore receiving unwanted attention from males may
be uncomfortable (like Cheryls encounter with the sandy haired man (285)). However, from
what Ive read, its unlikely to come across males who would hike deep into the wilderness to
look for someone to rape (Belden).
Both men and women go through the same things when it comes to hiking. Both
genders have to deal with terrible trail conditions, mother nature, pain, isolation etc. Women do
not have less of an advantage to men when it comes to solo hiking. Women are a lot stronger
than some may think. Take Cheryl for example, for it being her first time hiking, she managed to
catch as well as pass men who had a lot of experience with hiking. She is a strong, independent
individual who used her time on the trail to gain self actualization while standing up against
gender stereotypes. All of the female hikers that I came across had made a realization about
themselves and their self worth in some way. All of the solo female hikers that I came across
gained something of value, making them a more powerful person, and proving standard female
stereotypes wrong. Stories about female hikers like the one in Wild, will really make you
reevaluate your life. What gender stereotype infuriates you the most and how does it affect you?

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 Works Cited

Belden, Willow. "11 Key Tips for Female Thru-Hikers." Backpacker. N.p., 09 Mar.
2015. Web. 27 July 2017.

Bennett, Stacia. "Where My Girls At? The Absence of Females in the

Backpacking World." The Trek. N.p., 05 Nov. 2014. Web. 27 July 2017.

Dan. "Men and women: ratios, partners, and safety." Distancehiking. N.p., 22
Mar. 2015. Web. 27 July 2017.

Kwak-Hefferan, Elisabeth. "18 Tips From Female Solo Hikers." Backpacker. N.p.,
15 Sept. 2015. Web. 27 July 2017.

Portland, OR Tami Ankeny |, Emily Polon, TX Aditi Patel | Allen, Gerardo Carnalla |
San Jose, CA, and RIck Runyon. "Solo Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail: The Gifts of Going
Alone." Outdoor Project. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 July 2017.

Wolfe, Taylor. "'I Did The "Wild" Hike-Here's What It Was Like'." Women's Health.
Women's Health, 10 Apr. 2017. Web. 27 July 2017.