What Happened to Christopher McCandless

I'm almost certain I encountered McCandless in spring of 1992 in Banff, Alberta when I worked night security for the youth hostel there. I checked in a guy who signed in as A Supertramp and I remember laughing, thinking of the band name and saying something like, "cool name". He said he only wanted to use the shower and sleep until morning, then go. It wasn't until the movie came out when I remembered the name and thought to myself. 'I'm pretty sure that was him". There could be a signature there, if they stored all the sign-in slips from back then.

I always love the fact that he went all the way out into the middle of nowhere to get away from civilization and died on a bus.

I grew up in Alaska. Nearly everyone up here uses this guy as an example of what not to do. It sucks that they had to air left the bus out. Hunters who knew what they were doing used it for shelter. We were actually required to read the book in class during Highschool.

Who’s here after the bus got air-lifted from the original site?

the thing that will haunt me the most is the loneliness when he died in the middle of the forest in an abandoned bus alone

His biggest mistake, and one that showed he had little survival skills or experience as an outdoorsman, was when he returned to the bus, thinking he had no options. Nothing could have been further from the truth, and this thinking sealed his fate. Krakauer wrote he got rid of his map, he did not. He simply didn't reference it. It was a standard map, not a topo, but had he followed it with logical thinking, and looked at the terrain around him, he quickly would have realized two options. First, he could have gone south following the Teklanika, heading towards the park for 1-2 days, eventually running into the park road, or a bridge crossing the Teklanika. Had he gone downstream (north) exploring for a place to cross, in just a half mile he could have come across a gauging station with a pulley crossing, and easily crossed the river, and gone on with his life. There's also the chance he could have found a cold night and cool morning in late July or early August, when the river was at it's lowest point in the day, and found a place to carefully cross. But he had another option, a three hour hike south along the Sushana River near the bus, towards the park, he likely would have likely run into a NPS Ranger cabin at the park boundary stocked with food, wool blankets, bedding and more. He likely didn't know this was there, and had he somehow missed the cabin, the river trek would have led to even rougher terrain, but that terrain also would have naturally pushed him east, again towards the Teklanika, and south again to the park road. These would have been tough treks, but logical assumption should have told him he'd eventually run into the national park, and a road, or trail, or something, if he just pushed on. Finally, he supposedly explored the area. But within an hour of the bus, there were three, empty hunting cabins. All had boot beaten footpaths near them, and he easily could have broken in, in an emergency. Just like people trapped in a burning building, he wrongfully assumed the only way out, was the way he entered, and never opened his mind to even the remote chance of another possibility. I agree that no one should be discouraged from pursuing their dreams. But don't think this man was more skilled than he actually was, and just unlucky. His lack of experience, and caution to the wind, caviller attitude cost him his life.

Horribly unprepared led to his demise. A 10 pound bag of rice? He should have had months of food brought for the first year and spend a year or longer learning how to dry meat and survive in the wilderness

I think people really underestimate how brutal nature truly is. Very few people are knowledgeable about how to truly survive in pure nature.

I tried something similar, damn near starved to death in the woods behind my house.

Sounded like a suicide mission. No sane man would go that deep in the Alaska Wilderness alone to survive off the land without basic survival skills.

I'm sorry but at some point, I would have risked the river. Not finna just sit there and die of starvation

He's a survivalist in the same way I'm an NBA center.

remember kids. always tell someone where you're going and when you're coming back.

His last entry : “I’d punch a squirrel dead in the nuts for some French fries.”

As much as I love the story and the movie this was made into, This young guy had next to zero real life experience it would take to survive in Alaska. The entirety of his nomad lifestyle was less than a year, and his time spent in Alaska was a little over 3 months. He brought next to no provisions and expected to "live off the land" with no experience on how to even do that. He died because he was Ill equipped to survive in the climate and no knowledge of hunting or foraging. So I have no idea why many of you are arguing that he was this smart and skilled nomad, when he died after only a few months.

I'm also a survivalist but I live in a city where I can buy food at the grocery store so that I can survive. So far it seems to be working.

Apparently, if he had a map he would have known that there a river crossing less than a mile from him. He shot a moose and wasted the meat because he didn't have enough knowledge and experience. The guy who dropped him off in Alaska was worried about his lack of experience and equipment and tried to talk him out of it or even buy him suitable supplies and equipment but Chris refused his advice and help. Then he starved to death a few months later... Look, I can respect his motive. But his planning and execution was seriously flawed. He basically committed suicide and caused his family unnecessary hurt and heartache.

Spent the daylight hours reading and writing in his Diary instead of hunting And drying that moose Meat near a fire.

I remember as a kid I went for an epic hike. Then I set up my tent, and proceeded to nearly starve to death. Then my mom came out and yelled it was time for supper. I'm still scarred by the experience.

I became an adventurist just like him, did 6 months in the wilderness in the middle of nowhere in the PNW. I was very unexperienced and not well supplied. I barely survived.