Cheryl Strayed was born on September 17, 1968 in Spangler, Pennsylvania. She is the daughter of Barbara Ann "Bobbi" Young Nyland and Ronald Nyland; Cheryl changed her surname to Strayed as an adult. Cheryl's parents divorced when she was six, shortly after the family (which included her two siblings, Karen and Leif) relocated to Minnesota. Cheryl grew up raised by her mother and eventually her stepfather, Glenn Lambrecht. When she was thirteen, the family moved to a plot of land in a rural area of Minnesota where they built their own house over a period of several years, often living without electricity or running water.
Strayed attended high school in Minnesota where she competed as an...
