From Lost to Found: Cheryl Strayed's Journey in Photos

It took Cheryl longer than she expected to reach her first resupply stop in Kennedy Meadows, an area of forest and meadows at an elevation of 6,200 feet on the South Fork Kern River. "It seemed like a miracle," she writes.

Here she is with two other newbie hikers she met at the Kennedy Meadows campsite, Tom and Doug.