The Cactus Eaters: How I Lost My Mind - and Almost Found Myself - on the Pacific Crest Trail (P.S.) [Paperback]

Dan White (Author)

Book Description

Release date: May 20, 2008 | Series: P.S.

The Pacific Crest Trail stretches from Mexico to Canada, a distance of 2,650 grueling, sun-scorched, bear-infested miles. When Dan White and his girlfriend announced their intention to hike it, Dan's parents—among others—thought they were nuts. How could two people who'd never even shared an apartment together survive six months in the desert with little more than a two-person tent and some trail mix? But when these addled adventurers, dubbed "the Lois and Clark Expedition" by their benevolent trail-guru, set out for the American wilderness, the hardships of the trail—and one delicious-looking cactus—test the limits of love and sanity.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Traversing broiling deserts, snowy mountain passes and dank rain forests on its crooked way from Mexico to Canada, the Pacific Coast Trail is an epic challenge for die-hard backpackers. White and his girlfriend, Melissa, set out, late in the season and bereft of experience, to tread all 2,650 miles of it, leaving behind lousy reporting jobs and hoping to find self-definition and a deepened relationship. (They call their trek the Lois and Clark Expedition.) Hilarious greenhorn misadventures ensue—including the author's ill-advised chomp, while dizzy with dehydration, into a reputedly moisture-laden prickly-pear cactus—that tested their survival skills and commitment as a couple. The trail becomes less an itinerary than a world unto itself, full of squalor, discomfort and majestic scenery, and peopled by charismatic misfits and an austere cult of ultra-light speed-hikers, as the couple rely on arcane camping gear and bizarre gummy-bear-and-marshmallow diets. The wilderness authenticity the author seeks proves elusive; all journey and no destination, the story itself eventually trails off with the hero even more callow and confused than when he started. Still, White's vivid prose and hangdog humor make readers want to keep up. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“It is a funny, frequently harrowing, and altogether mesmerizing memoir about just how wrong a backpacking expedition can go….‘The Cactus Eaters’ is far more than a Sierra Club-approved romp. It’s gorp for the soul, a fascinating and surprisingly moving testament to the call of the wild.” (Steve Almond, Boston Globe )

“Drawing on diaries he kept at the time, White polishes up these memories, serving them forth with brio and dash…[The Cactus Eaters] brings a fresh perspective to the timeworn adventure-travel genre.” (Kirkus Reviews )

“In the well-written, laugh-out-loud, self-deprecating spirit of Bill Bryson’s A Walk In The Woods and Nora Ephron’s When Harry Met Sally, Dan White takes us along for a walk on the wild side of adventure and love. I could not put it down.” (Eric Blehm, National Outdoor Book Award-winning author of THE LAST SEASON. )

“Dan White forges miles past travelogue to carve a poignant, uproarious, and deeply compelling love story between man, woman, and the land between. The Cactus Eaters is as impressive and enjoyable as the ground it covers.” (Franz Wisner, NY Times Bestselling Author of Honeymoon with My Brother )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial; 1ST edition (May 20, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061376930
• ISBN-13: 978-0061376931
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.9 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (70 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #333,508 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 35 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars A retreat into narcissism, via the PCT May 13, 2009

By Michael & Lisa

Format:Paperback

The story engages one's interest on many levels through a telling that is jam-packed with fascinating details and portraits of interesting characters--much in the style of John McPhee (one of my favorite authors). Unlike McPhee, however, White's own (progressively more annoying) personality impinges on the reader's ability to actually enjoy the story. I'll admit that this may be something of a hollow critique, owing to the fact that the title doesn't specifically advertise the book as strictly an account of hiking the PCT. The story is of the author's "almost finding" of himself.

But particularly on that level, the story is lackluster and pointedly disingenuous fare. Aspects of the author's mindset and personality that are initially somewhat charming become, within a surprisingly short space, almost nausea-inducing. White's toxic mixture of infantile narcissism, insecurity, and inexcusable incompetence becomes evident early-on and only gets deeper with each page. If it ever led anywhere--if the author would actually lower shields and offer a glimpse into the effects of the trip on his true self--it might all be tolerable. Instead, however, the reader is subject to a non-stop onslaught of White's desperate, cloying attempts to illustrate how his asinine behavior, selfishness, and barely-masked contempt for the wilderness are, in the end, great character strengths which we are to witness with reverence and awe. Fairly trivial inconveniences and unplanned events--inconveniences and events well-known to every weekend backpacker--become, in the hands of the author, tremendous and overwhelming ordeals that he surmounts through the force of sheer strength and superhuman will. (As a reasonably-seasoned backpacker and through-hiker, I look at every event described in the book and can't help think: `Um... Yeah? So? Big deal!')

Another particular point of great annoyance is White's incessant need to remind the reader time after time and time again that his girlfriend-companion on the trip is really, really exceptionally attractive, and that they had sex a lot. The set-up for these childish, winking reminders comes early in the book, where the reader is treated to an inexplicably detailed and lengthy accounting of the author's gawky (and utterly commonplace) boy-meets-girl story. Besides being pointlessly detailed, the account is so fastidiously one-sided and sexist that it is actually difficult to read. The girl, Allison, is reduced--truly reduced--to a robot-like non-entity. She is set-up as a barely sentient sex-object who serves dutifully, with a smile and nod, at the behest of White's pleasure. (Spoiler alert) The fact that White doesn't "end-up" with Allison is the most pleasing thing about the book. I'm happy for her.

I'm glad, too, that White inserted that "almost" into the subtitle, for he doesn't even come close to "finding" himself. It's not so much that he doesn't quite manage it as he doesn't even try. Far from it--he clearly doesn't want to find himself, for fear of who he really is. This seems clear enough from the sense one gets that White's "self-deprecating" style is really more self-congratulatory than deprecating (`Hey, look at me! See how self-deprecating and down-to-earth I am!'). A more accurate subtitle might be: `how I set-out to use the PCT to retreat further into my narcissism, and succeeded brilliantly, as usual.'

23 of 28 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great read! June 21, 2008

By A. Bradshaw

Format:Paperback

If you're looking for a guide to the Pacific Crest Trail - this isn't that kind of book. BUT, if you're looking for an extremely well-written, hard-to-put-down, hysterically funny account of a very personal 2,650 mile journey - Cactus Eaters is for you!

I strongly disagree with the reviewer who tagged this book a yawn-inducing personal narrative with too little emphasis on The Trail itself. I've done a long distance hike (Appalachian Trail) and, to be honest, a description of the *actual* trail experience has HUGE potential to be quite tedious. You walk a lot. Body parts hurt. Your gear fails you. If you're inexperienced, you make stupid mistakes. If you're experienced, you make well-educated ones. There lots of trees and the occasional animal. Other hikers can either entertain or irritate you.

It's what happens to a person in the face of all these things that transforms the experience into a real journey and Dan White does an amazing job of bringing the reader along on his.

I was so taken by Cactus Eaters that I dusted off my backpack and hit the trail for a few days after reading it. Can't recommend it enough :)

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Should be titled "memoirs of an ego maniac" February 20, 2011

By Blister

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Throughout this entire book I was waiting for that defining moment when White would become a man and grow up. As I approached the end I was worried the change would receive so little attention it would leave me wanting. I shouldn't have worried - it never came because the author never grew up. Reading this book was a complete turn off - White's self indulgence is more nauseating than the worst giardia - fortunately you can eventually eliminate giardia cysts from your body. Sadly, the memoirs of Dan White will be with me until the early onset of Alzheimer's. Bottom line: if you are looking for an outdoor book, this is not it. It may even be so toxic as to turn you off from hiking altogether. A better suggestion is to go for a hike yourself and keep a diary.