April 9 - Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

“I knew that if I allowed fear to overtake me, my journey was doomed. Fear, to a great extent, is born of a story we tell ourselves, and so I chose to tell myself a different story from the one women are told. I decided I was safe. I was strong. I was brave. Nothing could vanquish me,” writes Cheryl Strayed in Wild (page 51).

During Earth Month 2025, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail provides the perfect motivation to keep pushing as Strayed’s struggles and exhaustion offer readers hope– and Gwendolyn Alley is the perfect leader for such a journey as on April 21, 1985, she began backpacking  the 1400 mile long California section of the Pacific Crest Trail. She completed the Pacific Crest Trail in 1987 becoming one of the first 20 women to do so, and she wrote a 300 page novel about the experience for her UCSC double major senior thesis.

The waxing moon will be up when we arrive by 6pm. At 6pm, we will discuss Wild and our own adventuresas we walk from the BAA to the Channel Islands National Park Visitor’s Center where we will do some writing. We will return to the BAA by the time the sun sets at 7:20pm. Our literary salon will conclude at 8pm.

Bring a notebook and a fast pen. You may also bring a sketchbook.