Cheryl Strayed walked more than 1,100 miles in 94 days — alone.

The 2002 Syracuse University alumna had lost her mother to cancer when she was just 22 years old. After years of trying to cope with being an “orphan,” feeling lost, doing drugs and divorcing her husband, Strayed decided it was time for a change.

“I didn’t know how to live without her. So, in my grief, like a lot of people do, you think you try to find a cure for your sorrow,” Strayed said. “Instead, you make choices that only lead you more deeply into your sorrow.

“I reached the bottom. I said that I knew I needed to change my life. I thought I would just take a journey.”

A few years after Strayed took a self-discovering journey on the Pacific Crest Trail, she wrote a memoir, “Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail.” The best-selling book was recently adapted into a movie starring Reese Witherspoon. The film is being shown in select cities throughout December and is opening in New York on Dec. 3.

Strayed said she made the unique decision to take the hike through the Pacific Crest Trail, which spans 2,650 mils starting in Mexico and continuing into California, Oregon and Washington, in 1995 because she was trying to figure out who she was as a person. Her father was never present in her life and because her mother, 45, died at such a confusing time in Strayed’s life, she said needed to start over, but alone. When she picked up a guidebook of the Pacific Crest Trail, Strayed added that she had a certain feeling that the hike was meant for her.

The Pacific Crest Trail long-distance hike is not meant to be explored by new hikers. Strayed considered herself a novice hiker and said some of the most difficult parts of being on the trail were carrying an overloaded backpack, wearing boots that were too big for her and enduring the different weather patterns throughout the summer, such as rain, snow and 100-degree days.

But most of all, the emotional pain was the hardest to get through.

“It’s hard to keep going when you’re in pain — to put one foot in front of the other, she said. “A lot of it is a mental game. I just had to keep telling myself to keep on moving forward. It was very intense. It was an exact replica of what I needed to do emotionally in my life.”

Strayed said she needed to learn how to live with the parts of her life that were always going to be sad, but the journey was fulfilling and taught her many lessons — the No. 1 lesson being vigilance.

When her hike was over, Strayed said she felt not only joyous, but also sad. She had reached the end of her journey, but she didn’t want the hike to finish just yet.

“It was one of the most incredible things I’ve ever done, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I went out there looking for my strength, and I certainly found it,” Strayed said.

Arthur Flowers, an associate professor of English and textual studies at SU, taught Strayed while she was studying fiction writing for her master’s degree in fine arts. He said that he saw her as more of a peer than a student and that her nonfiction has always had the “power of fiction” — her personal stories can draw in any type of reader.

“She is an exceptional being. She had a maturity that brought something extra to the table that is shown through her work,” Flowers said. “Cheryl’s a special one. She has talent. I hope she’s going to get me a ticket to the opening, but the actress can’t do her justice. Cheryl is larger than life.”

Strayed considers her time at SU invaluable and said she learned how to refine her writing skills from professors like Flowers and George Saunders. She thanked certain professors in “Wild” because she said she owes so much of her writing success to her SU mentors.

After Strayed finished writing her memoir, she sent it to actress Reese Witherspoon, who owns the film company, Pacific Standard. Witherspoon read the book about three years ago and was immediately on board with making Strayed’s journey into a movie.

Strayed’s daughter, Bobbi, plays a young Strayed in the movie. Strayed said it was touching to see her work with Laura Dern, who embodies the spirit of Strayed’s mother so well in the movie.

“It was so moving to see her re-enact scenes from my childhood, some of them so difficult, some of them so joyous. My daughter, who is 9, and my son, who is 10, never met their grandmother,” Strayed said. “To have a part in making the movie, even if Laura Dern isn’t my mom, I love that my kids got to interact with Laura in that emotional way.”

Flowers said Strayed’s life experiences give her the capability to write pieces that are able to adapt to film easily. Strayed said she just wanted her readers to read her book and be able to see how she healed, possibly take away from her emotional experience and use the lessons she learned on her journey in their own lives. Now that the memoir is becoming a movie, she will be able to reach an even wider audience.

“I wasn’t interested in writing ‘Wild’ because I thought my story was more interesting than anyone else’s, but I’m digging into my own life and trying to find some universal meaning in my own experience,” Strayed said. “I’m interested in using myself to tell a story about humanity and the way we grieve.”

Published on December 3, 2014 at 12:01 am

Contact Jackie: jmfrere@syr.edu | @jackie_frere