No Boots
Cheryl loses a toenail and her boots in the opening shot of the film. Losing her boot and throwing the other down a ravine is a symbol that there is nothing left to protect her from the pain that lies within her.
Drip
In the motel room she is staying in before her first day of hiking there is a pot filled with water from a drip in the ceiling. The drip represents the constant drip of pain in Cheryl's life after the death of her mother and her divorce.
Backpack
Cheryl's backpack is larger than she is, and so heavy that she has to take several minutes to get herself upright. The backpack is a symbol of the burden that she is carrying with her, and that every pound of weight has been put in the pack by her.
1,000 Miles
Cheryl is trekking over 1,000 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail. Her hike is a symbol of the hell that she must walk through in order to heal herself of the pain that she has not allowed herself to feel after the loss of her mother and her divorce.
Driver's Seat
We see Bobby, Cheryl's mother sitting in the passenger seat of her car as Cheryl drives her home. She's just received the news that she has one year to live. It is a symbol that she is not in the driver's seat of her own life, and she says that is how she feels as she was just beginning to get her life together.
