How Chris McCandless Died

Obligatory quotes from McCandless' wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_McCandless):

Alaskan Park Ranger Peter Christian wrote:

"When you consider McCandless from my perspective, you quickly see that what he did wasn't even particularly daring, just stupid, tragic, and inconsiderate. First off, he spent very little time learning how to actually live in the wild. He arrived at the Stampede Trail without even a map of the area. If he [had] had a good map he could have walked out of his predicament [... ] Essentially, Chris McCandless committed suicide.[11]"

Sherry Simpson, writing in the Anchorage Press, described her trip to the bus with a friend, and their reaction upon reading the comments that tourists had left lauding McCandless as an insightful, Thoreau-like figure:

"Among my friends and acquaintances, the story of Christopher McCandless makes great after-dinner conversation. Much of the time I agree with the "he had a death wish" camp because I don't know how else to reconcile what we know of his ordeal. Now and then I venture into the "what a dumb--" territory, tempered by brief alliances with the "he was just another romantic boy on an all-American quest" partisans. Mostly I'm puzzled by the way he's emerged as a hero[13]"

I made my own personal pilgrimage to The Magic Bus in summer '09 [1]. It's an extremely special place like none other I've visited.

Completely coincidentally, one of my close friends where I now live in the far North was with the girl who tragically drowned trying to cross the Tek River in summer 2010.

Also co-incidentally, just today I gave an interview for someone writing an article on the anniversary of Chris' death. She was at the Tek river a few days ago, and watched three backpackers get swept downstream, luckily without major injury.

It's amazing how this place and Chris' story have impacted so many people's lives. I'm making plans now to go back in the winter/spring, when the river will be frozen and the scenery will be spectacular.

[http://theroadchoseme.com/the-magic-bus]

EDIT/UPDATE: I'll add that there is no doubt in my mind Chris helped me find the courage to quit my Software Engineering job, sell all my stuff and spend 2 years driving from Alaska to Argentina. No doubt it was the best decision of my life so far.

I think the point is that he was an independent thinker, and thus was disillusioned by all the BS in modern society. Sure he made some mistakes and he had some back luck, but he chose to find meaning in his life instead of being another sheep. Can you say the same for your own life?

I highly recommend reading Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild if this story interests you - it's the story of McCandless in all its gory detail.

Give me a break. The guy was most certainly not an independent thinker. Nor was he a critical thinker. Nor did he have any respect for the challenge he was taking on. He was an angst ridden teenage boy captured in an twenty something's body that never learned the difference between fantasy and reality. Most importantly, he never learned that in the real world there are consequences for stupid actions.