Into the Wild... Well sorta, McCandless followed a broken trail (price, resort)

[starlite9]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

Well...I spend more time than anyone here talking about Alaska's biggest mass murder. In fact I think I'm the only one that ever mentions it. That's probably because it happen very close to where and I lived, and because I'll never forget when my grandmother and I went around a corner and there it was, the seiner on fire in the bay. Starlite lives close to where the McCandless thing happened, and he sees much ore of those who go out to "the bus" on pilgrimages or whatever,so it stands to reason that he'd talk abut it more than those who haven't experienced that.

When I had my shop in Anchorage, I use to go into his Bakery and buy donuts for the crew, he was an odd guy and I'd see him at the indoor archery range off the Old Seward Hwy, at about 76th street. I'd go there a lot at lunch to shoot my bow to relax a bit, he was there bragging a lot in a perverse way that nobody really cared for him.

The guy was a bit off, and I quit going to his bakery because of it, not what I'd clearly not call normal, it was a few years later when it came out that he had killed the women.

[Harrier]

Hmnn...from McCandless to Robert Hansen.

[gobrien]

New film about Alaska serial killer goes beyond Robert Hansen's crimes | Alaska Dispatch

[gobrien]

This is what Met is talking about, not Hansen.

A Bloody, Baffling Mass Murder Shakes the Peaceful Spirit of a Small Town in Washington : People.com

(at least I think so...)

[Frostnip]

Let me get this straight: if a braindead tourist who isn't even supposed to be burning torches my place or shoots it up, it's my fault for living here? Dumbasses who don't know how to camp are part of the natural order?

edited to add: apparently the poster I was responding to deleted his post, so never mind, I guess. Just above this post there was originally a post from a non-Alaskan that responded...interestingly...to this one

[sholomar]

Originally Posted by Frostnip

Let me get this straight: if a braindead tourist who isn't even supposed to be burning torches my place, it's my fault for living here? Dumbasses who don't know how to camp are part of the natural order?

no it's definitely their fault, but building in a forest known to suffer fires that wipe it out every so often carries it's own set of risks. Hopefully anyone who builds in a forest is insured against fires.

I don't have an answer for you. People who wander onto your property shooting or building fires is definitely an issue. But as long as humans exist they will go wandering in the wilderness for whatever reason they make up to do so, so people who choose to tackle life in certain areas will just have to add that unknown variable to the list of things to watch out for. Is there populated area on this hike to the bus? I was under the assumption it was mostly unpopulated.

[Frostnip]

I had tourists try to camp in my driveway last summer. IN MY DRIVEWAY. When I went to kick them out they insisted "someone" told them that in Alaska you could camp anywhere.

But I guess it's unreasonable for me to be concerned - you just have to expect uneducated lawbreaking visitors when you live in a rural area! Why try to prevent it? Kind of like how people who live in big cities should just accept that muggings are part of the urban way of life and nothing should be done to prevent it. And heck, if people want to drive on the highway like maniacs, that's the the way it is, and if they hit some sucker minding her own business, well, she took that risk by venturing onto the road, dangit.

Originally Posted by stockwiz

I was under the assumption it was mostly unpopulated.

Well, the OP of this thread is about Starlite snowmachining to his place out there, and there have been several posts about McCandless being suspected of breaking into cabins. So you should probably be able to deduce that there is, in fact, people's housing around there on private land.

[Gungnir]

Originally Posted by stockwiz

Hopefully anyone who builds in a forest is insured against fires.

How does having insurance help?

When you haul 80 2"x12"x12' boards down your mile and a half trail on your 4 wheeler, because it was the only thing that was able to pass the trail at that time, spend about 2 years getting it built by hand by yourself, with primarily hand tools, and it's in a location you walked all 80 acres of your property sometimes down small wildlife trails to scope out just to find the perfect spot. Does getting a pay out from your insurance company really compensate?

What value do you place on that? Is it rebuilding cost? Even rebuilt so what you're place now looks like something out of a post nuclear holocaust movie. We have what we call "deadites" on our place from the last fire that came through, in 1969 it's still standing (makes great winter firewood too), that section of about 5 acres is regrown and all mostly small stuff and primarily black spruce, the spruce tops out at around 15', that took 42 years to regrow, if that happens to me, I'd be 84 then if I'm still breathing. So again, what value do you put on it.

I mean sure if you live in some subdivision on the edge of a town with road access, that's a wildfire hazard, with 200 other cardboard boxes with developer landscaping, in six months you can go back and it'll probably look pretty much the same as before the fire. However out here, there are things that can be very easily done that can't be fixed in you lifetime.

Originally Posted by stockwiz

I was under the assumption it was mostly unpopulated.

Assumption is ignorance by another name. Much of the accessible areas are not unpopulated, they vary from sparsely populated to small towns, there are places out here you can drive past every day for 10 years and not know there's anyone living there unless you're told about it or invited over. It's how some people want to live. It's not like the status of that land isn't public record for people who want to know whether they can camp, or hunt, or whatever on some piece of Alaska can do so without affecting the owners.

[starlite9]

I guess that is another point that I guess is a good thing to point out that others brought up. A lot of the land around the bus is private property, which for starters makes it "not wilderness" per say by most of Alaskan standards, but may be considered remote, although it has trail access.

In the case of my cabin, every board, nail and window have to be hauled 40 miles by snow machine (or airplane), the dozer required a lot of Permits to cross state and private lands. The bus for all I know is on private property, maybe State land, but regardless, just the fact the McCandless used it boarders on illegal use. But outsiders don't think about that, if it's there they think it's their's to use.

Few years ago I had my cabin broke into by a group of snowmachiners out playing, they broke a window to get in, used all my firewood, rummaged through stuff, left beer to freeze and explode.

These type of A$$holes think because they find something in the woods it's theirs to use. Problem with these guys is that I knew who they were before they got back to town. The wilderness wasn't so empty.

McCandless did the same thing, found a bus with a stove, bed and such and figured it was his to use, that mindset is clear that many here think like he did... And try to justify his actions. His first contact with the bus wasn't an emergency, he just took it. Although his actions later on made it into an emergency and the rest is history!

[Reactionary]

"left beer to freeze and explode" - shock / horror - have they no decency?