Prologue, Part I: Chapter 1, The Ten Thousand Things Summary and Analysis

The author, Cheryl, is on the top of a mountain in northern California. She is staring into the tree tops below, where one of her boots just fell. Realizing that having one boot is of no use to her, she throws the other boot over the mountain as well. Cheryl thinks about how, before hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) - a continuous wilderness trail that spans California, Oregon and Washington - only 7 months earlier, she was throwing her life over the edge as well. She shares her hopes that the PCT will help her to find herself through her grief and struggling. Cheryl remembers making the decision to walk the trail, feeling that she had nothing left to lose. As she finds herself bootless on the...