The "Into The Wild" bus (Anchorage: home, price)

[krazykids]

even though I am by no means a naturalist, a survivor man or even a true out doors man I have to agree with most of alaska and say this is nuts.. The Hollywood spin made this guy a hero, he died mostly due to his own negligence... A 22 lr? really, .... not sure what i would bring for a survival trip but not a 22 lr.. not with moose and wolves about... may as well had a stick sharpened at one end....

[stiffnecked]

Originally Posted by krazykids

even though I am by no means a naturalist, a survivor man or even a true out doors man I have to agree with most of alaska and say this is nuts.. The Hollywood spin made this guy a hero, he died mostly due to his own negligence... A 22 lr? really, .... not sure what i would bring for a survival trip but not a 22 lr.. not with moose and wolves about... may as well had a stick sharpened at one end....

I don't have a problem with bringing a .22LR. With good ammo like a CCI Stinger or Velocitor you could take a lot of game with it. Moose would be a real challange. Wolves wouldn't be a problem. Probably ruin less fur with a .22lr. I'd rather have a larger caliber but I could manage with that.

McCandless just didn't have the mindset to survive this. He was too idealistic for his own good.

[krazykids]

agreed.. at least he didnt get eaten by a grizzly...

[gobrien]

I really don't think the book or Hollywood spin made him seem like a hero by any means. Jon Krakauer, in his book, was exploring the drive that makes certain people into adventurers, and correllating to his own solo and near fatal solo climb up the Devil's Thumb. I have read almost everything written by Krakauer and imo he is an excellent writer. After reading "Into the Wild" many times because I love reading about non-fiction adventure, I do not feel as if the writer were trying to gloss over or romanticize McCandless's journeys. He died a sad lonely death and in no way did the movie or book make that seem something to aspire to. It was simply a character study of an adventurous spirit.

[believe007]

Originally Posted by Gungnir

Say-what???

Few can do what he did...?

Please explain to me what's so difficult in moving to an area having insufficient preparations to survive there, then dying because of it?

McCandless was misguided and was overconfident, there's nothing that should be inspiring in that.

I'm so glad there's a voice of reason in this thread

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by coldPlay

I hear you. Sadly I think most idiots would rather spend most waking hours sitting in a cubical farm, brain dead, working their bums off to make corporations' and companies wealthier whilst they struggle to create the illusion of their own wealth and success. Reality and feeling reality doesn't seem to appeal to many, especially in the American culture where appearance is everything and few are actually in control of their own paths in life.

In reality one can work in a cubicle or any other place to make a living, and to have enough money to buy toys, or to save and invest, to support one's family, and so forth. The bottom line is that in the US one has the opportunity to become rich, to stay very poor, or anywhere in between.

Corporations are made of shareholders, and shareholders can be any one of us. Even when you put money in the bank you are helping a corporation as well as yourself. When the government is in control of your life, that's the moment when you lose control of it. But when you make it on your own, it's you that has control of your life.

[Frostnip]

Originally Posted by Harrier

What McCandless bashers conveniently forget in their quest to make McCandless out to be clueless, unprepared, and idiotic - is the fact that he DID SURVIVE for over 100 days - he would have walked out ALIVE had he not been so bent on working wihout a map and that it was a simple misjudgment that cost him his life. A simple misjudgment can and has befall the most experienced outdoorsman and kill them. McCandless wasn't stupid - he was uncautious. He knew he was pushing limits and the consequences of doing so.. He did not die from incompetence - he was manifestly competent - but from a desire to test his limits.

I guess I don't find 100 days of summer survival all that impressive considering without any food at all a person can survive for a couple months, and McCandless did bring some food supplies with him. Yeah, he did manage to not shoot his own foot off or get mauled by a bear, so good for him on those fronts, I guess?

There are so many people who have not only gone out looking for the type of freedom and self-reliance that McCandless is lionized for, but done so in a thoughtful, practical manner, that it's downright absurd to make him of all people the poster boy for venturing "into the wild." The guy died of starvation close to one of the state's major tourist hubs in a spot he walked to from the highway.

I'm not trying to mock him and I think it's a shame how things turned out. But once you strip away the hollywood trappings, it's the story of a man who walked into the woods utterly unprepared and died. It's not heroic and I think it's pretty dangerous to romanticize that kind of thing.

[stiffnecked]

McCandless was just like so many others. He underestimated Mother Nature.....

[EllaRose]

Alaska is definitely a magnet to certain people who want to escape from society. (And reality?) I watched Into the Wild...and the movie definitely made McCandless into some kind of a hero. I've said it before on this forum, I find nothing wrong with a person who wants to live that kind of life...as long as they put the effort in to do it the right way. Going directly from suburbia to a bus in the Alaska wilderness without the proper survival skills is ridiculous.

*On a side note, the soundtrack to Into the Wild is incredible. I listen to it all the time.

[ben242000]

1. I just saw Ed Ved mentioned in here, so I had to proclaim my love for his solo stuff and PJ.

2. Chris McCandless doesn't deserve the hate. Sure, he made mistakes while being adventuresome, but it was his life and he paid for those mistakes. The same thing happens to us, his just happened on a grander scale.