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In “Wild,” an unlikely hiker finds a path to recovery.

The title character, Cheryl Strayed, played compellingly by Reese Witherspoon, becomes the person her mom thought she could be in the 2014 movie where Oregon backdrops figure prominently.

Her mom loses a battle with cancer at age 45. Caught up in grief, Strayed falls into a downward spiral of reckless behavior. She turns to self-destructive heroin use and indiscriminate sex.

After the breakup of her marriage to caring husband Paul (played by Thomas Sadoski), Strayed hits bottom and needs a change. Not really an outdoor woman, she impulsively drops everything and hikes a large part of the Pacific Crest Trail, which runs 2,663 miles from Mexico to Canada.

Crazy, right?

Therapy doesn’t always happen on a couch.

It’s June 1995. She starts at the Mexican border and crosses the Mojave Desert in scorching heat. Staggering under an overstuffed pack, she perseveres, driven by determination and willpower. She learns camping along the way.

Unseasonable snow derails the hike. She takes a bus and catches the trail farther north, yet even here the path is buried in snow and has her searching for the distinctive PCT markers on trees.

Strayed faces many hardships. Bloodied feet from boots a size too small. A battered nail on her big toe, which she peels off accompanied by a primal scream.

One boot tumbles over a cliff. She tosses over its partner. Expletives echo through the mountaintops.

She slogs on, improvising with sandals augmented with duct tape.

The pain of the trail, though, is nothing compared to what she has already experienced in life. Memories return in flashbacks, including hospital scenes of the premature death of her loving mom Bobbi (played by Laura Dern) when Cheryl was 22 years old. Years earlier, when Strayed and her brother were young children, Bobbi radiates unconditional love, keeping the family together after escaping a physically and mentally abusive husband.

The mourning daughter finds solace in the wilderness. She revels in the rugged beauty, remembering the sunrises and sunsets her mom taught her to enjoy.

Strayed also encounters predatory men, a rattlesnake and a backpacking llama.

She battles the elements and carries on with indomitable grit. The kindness of strangers gives her hope. A curious fox appears, becoming her spirit guide.

The 94-day trek ends after 1,100 miles of hiking at Bridge of the Gods in the Columbia River Gorge.

The movie was based on the book “Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail” published a decade and a half after the hike concluded.

All but seven of the movie’s scenes were served up in Oregon’s smorgasbord of scenery. Only two scenes were on the Pacific Crest Trail.

Oregon filming locations for this visual feast include Crater Lake National Park, Bend, Smith Rock State Park, Paulina Lake Lodge, Newberry Volcanic National Monument, Oregon Badlands Wilderness, Ashland, Portland and Mount Hood. Washington filming took place in Vancouver, and California filming in Lassen Volcanic National Park and the Mojave Desert.

The locations provide a beautiful backdrop for this journey to self-discovery as the main character goes from hitting bottom to becoming triumphantly alive.

2014, 1 hours 55 minutes

Rated: R (nudity, swearing, drug use)

This film is based “Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail” by Cheryl Strayed.