Aside from flashbacks, Cheryl’s book focuses entirely on her journey hiking in the wilderness. Cheryl provides rich descriptions of the natural environment, which ranges from lush and beautiful to arid and barren. These descriptions allow readers to visualize Cheryl’s surroundings: “I noticed the beauty that surrounded me, the wonder of things both small and large: the color of a desert flower that brushed against me on the trail or the grand sweep of the sky as the sun faded over the mountains” (67). Cheryl’s descriptions also allow readers to understand the obstacles she faced on her hike: “The heat was so merciless and the trail so exposed to the sun I wondered honestly if I would survive […] The parched scrub and scraggly trees still stood indifferently resolute, as they always had and always would” (83).

Nature is ever shifting in Cheryl’s book. At the start of her journey, she is struck by the unrelenting sun and clusters of Joshua trees in the Mojave Desert. The climate and terrain change the further she hikes. For example, the air cools as Cheryl climbs to high altitudes. By the time she approaches the High Sierra, conditions are so bad she is forced to use her ice ax: