The Dark Side of "Into the Wild" that nobody told you about… 

I always saw Into The Wild as being a cautionary tale. One told to show you what not to do.

Chris's writings before his death are full of regret and how he realized he'd screwed up. It's a tragic story. He didn't want to die and his death shouldn't be glorified. RIP. ❤

Little published factoid: when Chris made his final hike to the river to attempt to save himself he trekked some ways upriver trying to find a safe crossing. When he returned to the trail, he chose to go back to the bus rather than scout the opposite direction downriver as well. Had he gone the other direction he'd have found a suspended trolley-rig by which he'd have been able to safely cross the river and had the chance to make it to the state road where he would've possibly encountered help. Fate and irony are very good friends, and also very cruel sometimes.

No one’s responsible but the fool’s who KNOWINGLY put themselves in harm’s way, especially all those after McCandless’s death. I read “Into The Wild” before the movie and it inspired me NOT to do the same. The romanticization of his story ending so tragically, and his personal regrets in his dying days was actually a huge de-motivator as no one romanticized what he was doing more than he did, so when even he left behind his final message of “happiness is only real when shared” it really sank home.

McCandless didn't know what people would do with his story, what other people did after he died isn't on him.

At 13 I read "My Side of the Mountain" about a boy that ran away and lived in a tree in the mountains. I thought that was so cool and wanted to do it. But I came to my senses realizing I knew nothing about survival..... at 13, just saying

How is this any different than folks trying to climb Mount Everest and perishing in the process? It’s tragic for all involved but no one forced them to go.

The story on Chris always makes me cry. His photos and how thin he was getting but still had a smile on his face. Even writing a final note.

People. “Into the Wild” is a cautionary tale, not a How-To manual.

There is a very good reason why our ancestors built shelters, bridges, boats; invented engines, weaponry, clothes...they didn't do it because they were sitting around happily in nature "living off the land". They did it because nature would, and did, kill and eat them alive.

Even today, there are still lots of preppers that stubbornly stick to the idea that they can go 3 weeks without food in those same conditions. it's part of what they call the "rule of threes". They don't understand that living in the wilderness requires far more calories than sitting at home on the couch. Chris McCandless ovbiously didn't know the area and a topography map would have saved his life. I checked Google maps and found that there was a bridge only 1.5 miles away from where the bus was parked. There was also a dirt road from where the bus was parked to the bridge. Even common sense should have told him that there must have been a way for the bus to get across the river and get to where it was parked.

I lived up in the Fairbanks area from 2004 - 2012 (Uncle Sam stationed me there at Ft. Wainwright). When I got out of the military, I worked in sporting goods (selling firearms, hunting, fishing, and trapping licenses) at a local shop. I can't tell you how many starry eyed European and Asian tourist hikers came in through those doors (appalled at all the guns asking for bear bells and spray) completely oblivious to the fact that once you step outside in Alaska, you are stepping into the food chain NOT as the apex predator. You do your best to train and equip for survival, and you can still find yourself dying in Alaska; going in naive and starry eyed just makes that process happen faster. Blame lies with the people that romanticized "Into the Wild" just as blame lies with those that romanticized the Gold Rush over a century prior.

I’ll honestly never understand why anyone would hear that someone died due to being unprepared and then go to the same place without being prepared. The only people who are responsible for unprepared are the people who are not prepared.

I live in Alaska and to be honest, we all grew tired of the costly rescues. Finally the bus was air lifted out of there by helicopter. It's sad that had to be done, but the average hiker rescued could not afford to pay for their rescue.

As an avid hiker i would hear many non hikers talk about McCandless like a role model. I'd always respond, "Nature wants you dead. Nature is a serial killer, forget that and you'll be the next McCandless." 🙄

Over the years, as a resident of Alaska and Yukon Canada I have had the the discussion with many residents and most of us have agreed that we would have made the decision to DIE trying to cross the river rather than staying and starving to death. McCandless made many poor decisions during his short life.

As a 30 year student of wilderness survival, I view these as examples of how beautiful, yet uncaring the wilderness is. It’s neither for you nor against you & doesn’t care if you live or die.

I am from Norway, with much of the same climate and landscape as Alaska. Every year, the Red Cross or other rescue services have to pick up tourists on adventures that end with them being stuck on a mountain ledge or taken by avalanches. Tourists who defy all advice and get lost can end up paying large sums for helicopter and search. Nice with adventurers, but listen to what the local people have to say about your project.

The fact that people have died on Mount Everest does not stop people from trying to scale it- including at times literally stepping over those who did not make it down.

If someone does something that leads to their death and then you go do the same thing knowing what happened to the other person, that's on you. Also when I say "that's on you" I mean the person who knew exactly what happened to the first person and knew the dangers but followed suit that it's on. Not the first person cause they didn't know others would copy. Now, with them, doing something that's very clearly risky is always a high chance of bad things/death. It's on them because they made that choice to take that chance. That's life.

People romanticizing his isolation and wanting to follow in his footsteps are missing the entire point of his story: “happiness only real when shared.”

One reason McCandless' story blew up: the "hypocritical prisons of suburban middle-class" aspect was heavily played and embraced. The media and Hwood LOVES that trope. (I'm not trying to minimize or downplay his feelings and experiences. He felt what he felt, and Hollywood happily ran with it.)

"My Side of the Mountain" was one of my top-ten favorite books as a child. As an adult, I frequently joke about disappearing into the woods. I'm an occasional camper and hiker. And I know that Chris's story is a cautionary tale. I guess people think they would fare differently than Chris did? Otherwise, I can't understand the fascination.

I have an interesting connection to the movie - I rescued one of the wolves that were in the very short movie scene with a pack of wolves in it, about to steal his meat he had procured. Her name was Willow. She died here and is buried here. She was absolutely the sweetest wolf I have ever rescued. She lived with her companion named Gulliver, who was so devastated by her death that he died 2 weeks after she did, after having been perfectly healthy for years.

I read the book years ago. For me it is more of a tragedy and a huge warning than anything else. Nature doesn’t care about us, usually. All in all, it’s often very young and young folks who underestimate what they are up against, not just in the wild but also with other potentially dangerous activities.

The worst part is that the trappers and mountain men of old did similar things to mccandless such as going alone and foraging for their food. The difference is that these where hard men who knew what it took to live in complete isolation in the wilderness for months at a time and even then a not insignificant percentage of them just died. It takes a lot of skill and luck to do what they did and the average hiker or outdoor enthusiast just doesn't have what it takes anymore.

Dustin Self situation is wild. He abandoned his car with all his food in it, but kept his debit card on him...

I live in the Yukon Territory and the Claire Ackermann story is very close to my heart. Her boyfriend is a French guy that used to live here. Truth is that his reputation preceeded him and next to no one wanted to join him on expeditions, as his recklessness and insane risk-taking was extremely well-known. Everyone was heartbroken about Claire's death, but knowing who she was with, we weren't surprised. He never took responsibility for any of it and continued taking insane risks in the wilderness and avalanche terrain, where he was partially buried but survived. Last news of him is when he left on a shitty sailboat from Skagway Ak with little to no sailing experience. Hubris and arrogance run rampant...

I grew up in Alaska and I blame it all on arrogance, lack of preparation, and lack of respect for mother nature. Can you imagine trying to cross a rushing river in Alaska on foot with no experience? Or trying to pet a bison in Yellowstone? Pure insanity. You are not in control out there, mother nature will always win. But if you have enough respect and prepare enough, you can enjoy the wilderness all your long life. Research the right gear, don't take chances, and _always_ let somebody know where you are going and when you plan to return!

A lot of people dont know that his ceremonial burning of his last 7$ was just kinda for show, or how he left his last 7$ with the guy in yhe truck. But he had about 170$ cash in his back pack. He was not planning to die.

Guys, don’t make the trek into the wilderness to try to go find that bus. It has been moved to Healy, Alaska. You can find it and take pictures with it in the parking lot of the 49th State Brewery. It is a very cool place to eat. It’s just north of Denali State Park.

I did a lot of backpacking in my younger years and I never ceased to be amazed at the number of people I ran across who had no business being in the wilderness. No food/water, no knife, no shelter, no first aid kit, not even knowledge about local wildlife (especially bears) or how to start a fire. Couldn’t read a map, didn’t have a compass. Ignorance kills. Ignorance + lack of preparation + denial of reality are an unforgiving combo. McCandless is not to blame for those who idolized/followed him.

Poor McCandless, he most definitely had depression, if not schizophrenia and he really was just trying to find peace

I appreciate the compassion you showed in the video for everyone involved. I think putting the bus in to a museum was the best option. It preserves the history and hopefully gets fewer people killed.

He is NOT responsible for anyone loss of life. They are responsible for their own actions.

The lesson I saw glaringly clear through the story of Into The Wild, was the fact that unless you spend years preparing for and learning how to survive in a situation like that, you're not going to. It blows my mind that so many people didn't get that and thought they could do better than he did.

I said it in some comment already. When I was a 2nd year university student my roommate would RAVE about this film. She felt so inspired, travelling the world, hobo life, all that. She warned me to not watch the film if I don't want to be consumed by the urge to travel afterwards. :D So I did not, had 2 more years to study. Then I just kind of left it in my IMDb list. But I have met people calling themselves Supertramp, even though I did not know what it meant at that time. Fast forward maybe 12 years and I decided to finally watch it on my birthday, for some inspiration, I guess. Let me tell you - I was enraged, in disbelief, confused. I was so pissed at this guy, pissed at people who romanticise the story. Maybe I was too old for inspiration by that time, but I am glad I watched the film at 30, not at 20.

Hero? No. Never. Just a good kid trying to escape family abuse and figure out how to heal. Reading his sister's book was incredibly insightful (after reading Into the Wild, obviously). Truly feel for her and her brother. Incredibly tragic story on all counts.

I heard they removed the bus for these reasons(expensive rescues & deaths) each person is responsible for their choices no one else.

I think Les Stroud said it best, Chris McCandless was probably a very charming, intelligent young man, but he had no idea what he was doing. His experiences all ended with someone else saving him, pulling him out of trouble. He had no idea how to survive in the wild

It’s not fair to blame McCandless for any deaths of other people. His story is heartbreaking 💔

It's amazing how many people are affected by movies. I read the book, and saw the movie, but was never compelled to go there. These people acted on their own.

As an Oregon native, the Oregon wild is no joke. I would never go out anywhere into the woods unprepared, you never know if you need extra blankets, food, water, ect.. even for a day trip. You truly never know what's going to happen, from your vehicle breaking down, to it getting stuck, to getting lost, to many other things like animal encounters, natural disasters and or just an accident of sorts .You just need to always be prepared for anything to happen. Also please tell someone where you're going to be and for how long so someone knows when to start an alarm if necessary.

When i was a travel agent in the 80s, i booked a one way ticket to alaska for a teenager with a crossbow who was going to live off the land. I always wondered what happened to him

He starved to death because he ate a certain plant, he died before the Internet was a thing! The book had me in tears.. he regretted his choices..

Weirdly further down the rabbit hole of deaths related to Chris is a woman who took the life of her lover. She had changed her name to Ezra McCandless because she had gained some inspiration from his story.

Can we put to rest the idea of "living off the land?" Alaskan here. Subsistence living is hard anywhere, and especially so in Alaska. The green lushness of summer is an illusion--this is starvation territory. Living off the land requires extensive knowledge of flora and fauna and no small set of back-country skills. The indigenous population followed the migrations of the caribou and knew when the salmon runs came in. This land never could support a large subsistence population and even today, growing crops is a struggle. Even the cast of Alaska "reality " shows shop at Safeway. Chris was ignorant of what exactly he was attempting. If he had possessed the knowledge to know which plants were edible and how to preserve moose meat from the animal he killed, he would have probably survived.

Great analysis. Here's my Chris McCandless story, for whatever the heck it's worth. I went to university in Fairbanks, Alaska from 1990-91. Worked in Denali Park in summer of '91. Transferred down to university in Juneau and had another summer of work in Denali lined up for summer of '92. I was already an experienced hitchhiker, so in early May of '92 I took a ferry from Juneau to Haines, Alaska and hitchhiked up through Canada and back into Alaska to get to Denali. This was a week after Chris had hitchhiked the same route, coming from the lower 48. He hiked into the wilderness outside of Healy and I started my job in Denali. I had friends in Fairbanks and would regularly hitchhike the route from Denali to Fairbanks, oftentimes getting dropped off in Healy and standing there waiting for another ride, with no idea at that point that Chris was just a few dozen miles to the west, living in the bus and fighting for his survival. Later that summer one of the employees for the company I worked for disappeared while on a solo backpacking trip into the park over the weekend. He had died of exposure and his body was found a few days later. Not long after this I heard about another guy who had died somewhere outside the park. Very little information was included with that story, just a report going around about another death in the area. I finished working there and then moved back to California to continue university. I had a subscription to Outside magazine. Later that fall I got the magazine in the mail with the article by Jon Krakauer telling the full story of what happened to McCandless. I made the connection and realized this was the other guy who had died that summer. I was blown away to read the full account of his life and especially to realize that I'd hitchhiked right behind him and then was living my life not far away from him while he was going through his ordeal. Years later, in 2017 I went back to work in Denali once again. Employee housing was in Healy. While I was there I learned that the bus that was used in the movie was parked at a bar right down the road, so I went there to visit it. It was filled with photos of Chris and copies of his journal writings. I really wanted to hike out to the real bus, but I only had weekends off and that didn't give me enough time to make the trek. Later I learned they had moved the bus out of the wilderness and it was now on the UAF campus in Fairbanks. In the fall of 2022 I had a trip planned to Alaska, including to Fairbanks. So I went to UAF and visited the bus, which was parked inside a room in one of the buildings on campus, where they were doing some work on it, I guess to place it in a museum somewhere. So that was a real full circle moment for me. As for who is responsible the other people's deaths, I would say that McCandless has zero responsibility. Anyone who hikes into the wilderness voluntarily is at the mercy of the wild and must take full responsibility for the risks involved. Still, they're all very sad stories. Life is a risk, be smart, do your homework, be prepared but eventually, if you want to go on an adventure, you'll have to make a leap into the unknown without knowing what is going to happen.

One of the worst things that McCandless did was disappear and have absolutely zero contact with his sister, who he was supposedly close to, during that period of time. To me, that is inexcusable. I understand the supposed "explanation" of why McCandless was pissed at his father, but to disappear for 2 years with no contact, not even bothering to check in to let them know that he was okay, then ending up dead in the Alaskan wilderness?! McCandless was most definitely NOT a hero! Closer to a zero, IMO.

Even before I heard about Chris McCandless, I've been in the outdoors (from so-called "glamping" to "roughing it") and I have never fooled myself into thinking that being permanently off the grid and living from the land would be easy, liberating, or fun. It's hard work. Very hard work. Much respect to those who have done it successfully. Chris's story was tragic. I'll never forget one of the takeaways from Chris's experience was the realization that Mother Nature was just as brutal and unforgiving as the human society he left behind.

Thank you for this!!! I appreciate your respect towards the influence this story has had on so many. ....I was not aware that the bloody bus was removed. My son is an Eagle Scout and my niece has been hiking all along the south east. Every time they go into the woods, the wild, as family, we will always worry for them and their safety. The key note here, as you so eloquently put it out of respect for the ones who met an untimely demise and not using common sense, I agree,,,,,,, A chilling reminder.....Caution to all... It's a tale to show you what not to do.

In 1991 I worked at a lodge in Glacier Bay Alaska. After a few months I got a job at the only cafe in the small town of Gustavus, AK, and lived in a shack. There I met a variety of odd characters coming through on their search for some kind of new life. One of these people was a very thin young man who had been making his way across Alaska living in plastic garbage bags. He told me his life philosophy, which is that people actually need a lot less to live than they think they do, including “proper equipment.” I went back to the lower 48 in the Fall to continue my studies, but I always wondered if I encountered McCandless, or just someone like him. These folks, totally unprepared for the winter, seeking a life closer to the wilderness, mostly anti social or a bit “off,” are all over Alaska. Some of them don’t make it.

I think McCandless' story should be told but as a warning story about living your life but being prepared for whatever that means. If your that passionate about anything in life then you should learn about it all the good/bad stuff. With proper education and supplies his pilgrimage into the wild would be inspiring.

Certainly the deaths of all the young people are tragic, but I'll never understand how the story of one young man dying a tragic death serves as inspiration to anyone. Heartbreaking.

I read that there was a proper cable crossing with a basket a mile or so down river for crossing during floods, but as McCandless didn’t have a map, on which the wire “bridge” was marked, he thought he was stuck on his side, and suffering from giardia, he slowly starved to death.

I can't think of a worse hiking destination than the death-site of Chris McCandless. I don't understand people...

As John Wayne once said, Life is hard. It's even harder when you're stupid."

I find it interesting that people want to re-create McCandless' story, but no one is trying to follow in Timothy Treadwell's footsteps. The people telling his story do have somewhat of a responsibility to avoid romanticising McCandless' story. I'm glad the Alaskan government removed the bus. Unfortunately, there will always be people who think they can do it, where others have failed.

I remember when I read Into the Wild. It struck me as a tale of hubris and arrogance.

I never thought he was a hero, I just thought it was sad. He seemed to touch many of the people who he encountered along the way quite deeply, which compounds the sadness of his passing.

Young man with childhood trauma that went out there to live and die. Not a hero but a sympathetic character. Lots of young people didn't know and don't know how to deal with it. Get professional help and qualified support. Nature can help with healing but it's not a cure.

I flew to Alaska a year ago to see the bus , they were working on restoring it for a museum.. very happy they moved it.

If I was going to point to anyone, it would be the film makers who made starving to death _so inspiring._ What did they think would happen?

Blaming him is not right as he didn’t make the movie… I went to Alaska when I was 15 after my mom died and lived for 17 yrs in a old shack and made a outhouse and my life was very hard but only difference is I didn’t die. By the time I watched the movie , I felt like I was watching myself but only in reverse as I had traveled to all the places Christopher had in the movie not knowing and settled down on the Colorado river where I have been since . I thought I had made a bad mistakes going to Alaska after surviving each winter with no utilities the whole time I was there and Christopher really made a bad decision but in no way did he cause others to die

One thing to learn is that you cross rivers, creeks, and streams in the morning. The water is lower. Not as much melt water rushing past. Always look for other areas to cross the river.

It doesn't really matter who is responsible, there's enough blame to go around. What does matter is that somebody finally removed that bus. Now the people who want to see it can do so from the safety of a museum.

"I want to go get high and rough it in the mountains of Oregon" Meanwhile, I know that even stone cold sober, not to mess around with the mountains of _Georgia_ I don't like people, I'm plenty resourceful, I am growing increasingly sick of the intrusion of technology in our lives, and I _still_ don't mess around with this. I can know how to build shelter, forage, etc all day long, but a timber rattler is still going to get my ass. The responsibility lies on the people who struck out into the wilderness. No one else. No one forced them to do that. My grandmother lived in the mountains of western North Carolina, and I grew up within walking distance of Chattahoochee River flood plains. It's real easy to learn what not to mess with.

I can understand why McCandless did what he did, but being so unaware and naive is just dangerous.

I read at the end of the book, the author conjectured that by throwing away the map, he was an explorer in terra incognito. Had he still had the map he’d had known that a bridge that would save him was within a days hike away.

I was fascinated with Chris’s story back when Krakauer first wrote the book in 1996, but it never occurred to me to want to follow his tracks. I mean, he DIED. Even when I went to Alaska 30 yrs later, I didn’t want to follow his trail. I’m not understanding the impulse to follow death.

He doesn't deserve the blame, he also doesn't deserve the praise. Plain and simple Christopher McCandless was 24 years old at time of death he was still a baby and he made some bad decisions and it cost him everything.

McCandless went out to those woods seemingly without much intention of coming back, but like many he changed his mind after it was too late. Krakauer and the producers of the film framed his slow suicide as aspirational. Before Alaska he was living out in Slab City, which is another place people should not be following his footsteps.

Romance? Charm? There was nothing romantic or charming about the obvious slow train reck to death that McCandless took.

Extremely well done! Touchy subject - Many perspectives. I was actually angry through most of this for personal reasons BUT when you closed with the removal of the bus & (most importantly) the Official Statement it was so uplifting, honest, & compassionate I was just stunned. Fine job!

Theres no giant sweeping statement to make. The mistake seems to be trying to cross a river that was not safe to cross. We can't comdemn them for hiking, they just made a bad decision at the river. One had an escape plan, the other didn't. Seems they should have discussed that part. Its a tragic mistake but has nothing to do with anything else except that.

We moved to Alaska when I was 12. We were very poor and had to live in a shack the first winter there. The window above my bed was broke and caused ice to form on the INSIDE of my room and my blankets would get froze to the wall! We also had to use an outhouse and that is an experience that you will never forget. It's no joke living in Alaska. I loved it though. Miss you guts!!!

"Hey! I heard about the Into the Wild story and that guy who died a there. Oh! Yes! Let's go there! And we'll climb Everest next. It'll be fun!" People are crazy. Love your channel :-)

As a Canadian...i did his trip...and more, 2 yrs.before him. Not the same paths or any of that, but safely, with $ and connections. It is knowledge and survival skills, with support that allows the journey. 9 months i trekked . Alone. Depends on you. ! Not society. P.s. John Krakauer is a great man, and i thank him for the book!

The movie "Into the Wild" did not paint Chris as a hero. I believe it portrayed him as an idealistic kid who was trying to figure out his life. Chris did NOT want to die. It was a tragedy made of naive, bad decisions he made along the way. The poisoning by eating the wrong berries sealed his fate. He was already weak. Imagining losing 35-40lbs of your body weight, then getting the worst sickness of your life, then try to trek out 25 miles to the nearest town with no food. Just sad.

I don't think Jon Krakauer romanticized McCandless's story; I read "Into The Wild" very much as a cautionary tale.

I read the book. Chris McCandless’ story is one that infuriates me because it was completely senseless. He was totally unprepared, and had no skills. He didn’t believe in being a slave to the working system, but had no problem taking from others who had to work. There’s so much wrong with his idealistic views

They have since removed the bus for the very reason that people started using it as a destination to give homage to this unfortunate man's story. So for anybody out there who wants to visit the mccandless's last campsite, the bus and the campsite are longer there.

Into the Wild inspired me but not to go into the actual Alaskan wilderness. It inspired me to leave behind the dead end job I had for years and pursue an actual career. I started my own business in this career too. This experience took me to so many places and I met so many people good and bad. I grew up and went from being a meek and sheltered rich kid to someone who is maybe a little more attuned to the rest of the world. My journey didn't end well too because like Chris I didn't know how to thrive in this kind of way. My business imploded, I was in debt, all my savings were wiped out, I owed taxes, could not afford basic necessities. But I was alive and not stuck in Alaska, I recovered and here I am. So I'm writing this to say maybe you can be inspired by Into the Wild without hitchhiking to Alaska. Or maybe you do.

I appreciate that you have done this video downplaying the “heroism” of Christopher Mcandless (sp?). I go back to something all parents have said to their children - “if so and so jumped off a bridge, would you also jump off the bridge?” Going to Alaska is no joke and living off the land is no joke.

in Boy Scouts we did a survival campout where we lived off the land for a day. We gathered cattail tubers, sassafrass tea, watercress, and gigged frogs (I was a champion frog catcher). Cool, but we spent all day working on just gathering food, and didn't eat until after dark. And it took teamwork, a couple dozen people locating various sources of food, not to mention the source book of what to look for to eat. One thing our scout leaders told us is back in simpler times, acquiring food took six to ten hours a day. Not that easy.

I live in Queensland, Australia. We have the flip side here. From time to time, we get foreign tourists, sometimes with their kids, driving off into some outback trail looking for adventure and getting bogged or otherwise stranded. Often they break down, run out of fuel, didn't bring enough water, food etc. You don't last long in 50 deg heat and no shade or water.

Yes. The answer to your question is Yes. McCandliss' story AND the people to follow are to blame. His story romanticized the idea. Inexperienced people followed his mistake.

The most obvious indicator that Chris was not cut out for wilderness survival is that he couldn't build a shelter and had to squat in an abandoned bus. Not a good role model.

I sat next to his childhood next door neighbor on a long flight back home after the holidays with family. She said his parents are absolutely to blame for that young man’s demise. She said the yelling coming from the house by both parents could be heard inside her house next door. She said they also presented well kept but it was no secret that the family was deeply troubled. She said she often tried to help in non threatening ways but the children would do their part to keep up appearances until Chris finally snapped. Was really hard to hear this. I grew up in a similar home and it’s scars are easily seen.

Part of the untold story is the abuse and family disfunction Chris and his siblings went through when growing up. His actions were driven by undealt with trauma, much of this info is from his sister's book "The Wild Truth"

I've been born and raised in Oregon, and I'm not sure if it's just me, but I feel like every single Oregonian is at least taught to be respectful of the wilderness. Not only are we taught that the land gives back if you are resourceful and take care of your surroundings, but we're taught that Oregon has a wide range of weather conditions, potentially from hour to hour, and it can be difficult to predict. Many people here, including myself, say that the weather here is bipolar, and there are almost no full days that are completely perfect for outdoor activity, despite how much we love the outdoors here. Whether it be -8° (F) nights in the winter, 110° (F) summer days, 6 feet of snow, a nearly unbearable drought, flash floods, or simply whipping winds that send a chill down your spine, none of it is pleasant when your in it for hours at a time, and it's always good to carry some amount of gear and a method of self-defense if you're going more than 300 ft. away from a building and your vehicle. The animals and terrain can be brutal here, and the same goes for Alaska

Into the Wild was a sad story because along the way McCandless met all kinds of people who loved him & wanted him to stick around with them. He ended up dying along because he refused to see that.

I did a lot of crazy shit like that in my youth. In my early teens I spent a couple of summers living off the land out in the swamps around SE Texas to stay away from my crazy ass mother and grandmother then returned when school started. I had learned how to survive on my own from my grandad who was estranged from them by the most part and I lived with him whenever I could after my dad was out of the picture. He was an old cowboy, former US Marshal and gunslinger who spent most of his life living on the trail off a horse. After my mom died of cancer I lived with him in Indiana for a couple years and when he died I ended up with my crazy grandmother again as a late teen. That's when I got into crime, went to work for a local mob guy mostly as a gofer and drug mule. He got whacked and a local war broke out so I disappeared into the Marine Corps at 18. The Marines straightened me out as far as my aspirations of being a career criminal was concerned but I felt I was just being used by them and did my 4 and got out. I spent a year living off of my motorcycle working temp jobs and under the table jobs up the west coast, stealth camping most of the time and staying in fleabag motels to save money. I was also hiding caches that I would need along the Pacific Crest Trail that I was planning to hike the next year. I did the hike way low budget doing some sketchy legality shit along the way to survive since I didn't have any support other than a buddy who helped me out for a bit until I hit the Sierras then I was on my own. I made the hike way behind schedule and almost died on several occasions including having to deal with snow and ice on the last couple hundred miles. I hitch hiked and road the rails back to Southern California, got my bike out of storage and road it to Indiana in the fucking winter and almost died again. I spent the rest of the winter with my crazy grandmother just working a handful of temp jobs here and there then worked for a few months on a construction project in South Bend that next summer stealth camping in the area off of my bike then as a forklift driver for a printing company in Berne. I got fed up with the shitty jobs there and road back to California on my motorcycle in the fucking winter again almost dying. Got a good job there and and a career going on and stayed there for 30 years. Now I live off grid in the AZ desert, everyone I have loved is dead including my kids. Just me and a couple of my deceased wife's cats. I will probably die out here alone and the cats will eat me. At least that dude died doing what he loved to do. I feel I wasted my life trying to live a normal family life which just resulted in heartbreak and failure. The happiest times in my life was when I was living on the road or trail despite the survival hassles nature threw at me that I had to deal with. Dealing with people the last 40 years that has majorly sucked and not proved to be rewarding.

Hi, I enjoy watching your videos. The detail and lengths you go to is fantastic. I was sitting here and thinking how it's the young ones that go looking. It got me thinking that alot of young people are so mixed up with all the things that can get your mind going in all directions looking for the meaning of life. I just felt that that's what alot of young people are doing through different circumstances in life and tragedly alot loose their life but I pray that alot more find their way and meaning in life. Life is full of challenges for forever🙏🏻✨

"He did what many of us only dream of doing" Dying of hunger alone in the middle of nowhere? No, thanks. (Yeah, obviously I know what you meant, but still, one would think that if anything, his story would be a cautionary tale.)

Chris McCandless had a home life that was not all peaches and cream. In some way he was was running from those demons. Chris never advocated or encouraged anyone to follow in his footsteps, they were his alone. The somewhat glamorization of both the book and the movie was in many ways a fantasy. Those that chose to totally believe in that fantasy and follow in the footsteps of Chris McCandless did so on their own and their fates rest in their own hands. Glad Alaska removed Bus 142 in 2020.

If only he brought a map of the area with him and he would have discovered that there was gauging station just 1.5 mile away with a steel cable and basket setup that could have safely carried him across the river. This was the equivalent of college student starving to death in his room, because he did not know that there was a kitchen and stores of food down the corridor from him.

Common sense tells us that when someone dies from their reckless behavior, we actively avoid following in their footsteps. It’s not a dead man’s fault that some people view his cautionary tale as an invitation. McCandless was reckless and stupid sure, but the only death he caused was his own. And if anything, the copycats are far more reckless and stupid than McCandless was.

There is a story about a young university student in Central America who wanted to fight the government abuses in his country, so he saved until he could buy himself a military rifle and ammunition and food and he set off to find the guerillas in the mountains to join them; he got lost in the forest and did not find the guerrillas or his way back home His corpse was found three months later, he had starved to death. Like McCandless his dreams did not match his abilities. I wish I remembered the name of the book.

The Alaskan government's removal of bus 142 was a good move. People are curious and they would have continued to try to visit the site. Even without the draw from the McCandless story, people will still try to live out in the wild for the sake of adventure. Some will survive, some will die. People will do what people do.