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Hit the trail

Lost-in-the-Stacks-Girl-in-the-Woods

For those who like their trail narratives with a hefty dollop of introspection, Aspen Matis’s absorbing memoir Girl in the Woods is just the thing. Traumatized by a college rape and emotionally crippled by an overly-loving mother, the vulnerable 19-year-old decided that hiking the Pacific Crest Trail alone could be both healing and transformative. Strapping on her tiny lime-green backpack and calling herself “Wild Child,” Aspen began her 2,650 mile journey of empowerment.

girl in the woods

Six million steps and countless mistakes later, a survivor of near hypothermia, dehydration, MRSA, and scary encounters with creepy men (alas, you’d think the wild and scenic PCT would bring out the best in people, and not their inner frat boy) Aspen emerged at the Canadian terminus whole, strong, and happy. From a passive young woman, distrustful of men and controlled by her mother, she learned to take control, be assertive, and just say no to both men and mom.

Her relationship with her mother is actually the most fascinating part of this memoir. Let’s face it, when someone confides that her mother physically dressed her until she was 16 and purchased 10 identical sweat suits for her to wear in the first grade, you want to lean in and say, “forget the hike, sister, let’s hear more about your mom!” Readers may want to pick up Dan White’s The Cactus Eaters for a more vicarious experience of the PCT (sorry, Wild fans, I just couldn’t get into Cheryl Strayed’s memoir), but those wanting an honest and intimate account of a young woman facing her fears and discovering her own strength have come to the right book.

 
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