Maybe you're not quite ready to duplicate the trip Cheryl Strayed took in "Wild": hiking the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert to Washington.
So you could be a "section hiker," taking trips on shorter sections of the PCT. Philip Kramer has a book for you, his newly-released Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail: Northern California Section Hiking from Tuolumne Meadows to Donomore Pass.
It's part of a series that lays out the whole PCT in sections. The author visits with some of the highlights from the book and the famous trail.
