AS MORE "INTO THE WILD" FANS MAKE PILGRIMAGE, LOCALS CONCERNS GROW.

Anchorage Daily News (adn.com) ^ | June 28th, 2008 | Rachel D'Oro

[sinanju]

"...Sean Penn's "Into the Wild" only cemented the mystique of Christopher McCandless for Alexander and others heading to Alaska this summer to retrace the steps of the young adventurer along the Stampede Road near Denali National Park. In particular, they want to see the old abandoned bus where the 24-year-old Virginian starved to death in 1992 after more than three months alone trying to live off a harsh landscape.

"That's sort of the heart of the story," said Alexander, 44, of Arlington, Va. "It's almost like a Jim Morrison grave site, where people just want to go see it."

This is exactly what residents in the Interior town of Healy, 25 miles east of the bus, feared with the release last fall of "Into the Wild," adapted from Jon Krakauer's best-seller of the same name. They envisioned hordes of copycats making dangerous pilgrimages for a character portrayed as a spiritual visionary rather than an ill-prepared misfit, as many Alaskans view McCandless.

ADVERTISEMENT People from all over the world have journeyed to Fairbanks City Bus 142 over the years. But there are signs this could be a boom year for those captivated by a college graduate who turned his back on his wealthy family for his restless wanderings..."

[sinanju]

Sourdoughs blasted Chris McCandless like they belabored Timmy Teadwell ("Grizzly Man") when his death made the news. In retrospect, he wasn't nearly as crazy, but as Krakauer's book shows, he didn't try very hard to save his ass when he realized the Teklanika river had risen and cut him off from civilization.

The book turbocharged Krakauer's writing career, who had been an outdoor magazine writer and mountaineer previously. It's required reading in a slew of high school and university American Lit. classes. Krakauer has gone on to write "Into Thin Air" about the disastrous 1996 Mt. Everest climbing season and "Under the Banner of Heaven" that rips the lid off the FLDS polygamists, among other titles.

I'm kind of disappointed that Alaskans haven't moved more aggressively to take advantage of McCandless mania. Had I the capital, I would put together the full tour of the Southwestern wilderness and skid row locations he bummed through on his walkabout as well as his ill-fated Northern side trip.

After all, just look at the cottage industry "The Da Vinci Code" has inspired. It has become a (quasi) religious pilgrimage second only to the original.

[rlmorel]

I read both “Into the Wild” and “Into Thin Air”, and in both of them, the liberalism just completely oozes out of the covers.

They romanticize Chris McCandless, but as far as I am concerned, the guy is a stupid dope. It is one thing to find yourself in a situation where your life is in danger because you walked too close to the edge and something unexpected comes up.

But when you walk too close to the edge taunting it, you can’t expect sympathy.

Pilots and sailors partake in a dangerous pastime, but they know what is needed to keep from taking foolish risks. This dumb ass McCandless didn’t bother to learn, the arrogant dummy.

[retrokitten]

I enjoyed the movie, but did they miss the last half hour when he was slowly dying? It was disturbing. But I guess if you put something in a movie, no matter how stupid it is, some dummy decides it’s a good idea in real life.

Remember 15ish years ago when those idiot kids were injured for laying on the center line of a busy road like in the movie, “The Program”?

[redhead]

What I can’t figure out is why the state hasn’t gotten rid of that darned bus yet. Talk about maintaining an “attractive nuisance.”

[Hi Heels]

How about Tim...Treadmill? who was eaten by bears he had "befriended"? Ah think Ah'll go talk to mah bear friends up in the mountains with mah girlfriend and see if they still like to eat meat....

My dad told me one day when we were hunting, "if you ever come across a bear and all you have is a 357 mag with hollow points, be sure and keep one bullet back for yourself, cuz you'll never kill that bear in time." Yogi and Boo Boo were never the same for me after that.

[Bobibutu]

If you live - play - outside a populated area in AK you are on the edge. Snowstorms in July etc. Tourists bodies have been found months later within the Anchorage City Limits when they stepped off a path - were attacked by a bear etc. So what's new? Other than ignorance?

[Bobibutu]

into the mouth with a slight upward elevation as they come forward is the place to aim.

[JerseyHighlander]

I’ve read the book, haven’t seen the movie. I think Krakauer is straight forward in the chapter 18 regarding his interviews with Park rangers and speculating on wtf supertramp was doing after he found himself stuck out there.

Krakauer also goes into the point the guy had no idea how to maintain or fix his car, and if he had known he wouldn’t have gotten stuck in the Arizona desert.

I still can’t figure why anyone would want to make a movie out of this.

[A_perfect_lady]

Porn for ghouls.

[Hi Heels]

Although the temptation to run out and find a bear to try your theory on rings ever heartening to my hunter instinct, I think I’ll stick with the tried and true stay home and make spaghetti method. But thanks!

[Disambiguator]

Handguns used for bear defense should have at least two “4s” in the caliber designation.

[Eska]

Some hungry country up here. You have to learn the skills, not from books, from people who already have. The mnts look real nice, but you can't eat them.

We live 4 miles from Canada where the Yukon comes in. Boy, I tell ya, we see people come in going to live off the land; most bug out by xmas. A very few make it.

But when I watch survivor man ect on the dish; I scratch my head? Remember when he couldn't get any salmon in his fishnet and had to eat some fish he stole off an eagle. Reason was his net size was too small, salmon couldn't get their gills tangled up. Why did'nt he make a hoop outta willow and dip net some salmon? Or make a willow fish trap? I was down the village one night and a rerun of that came on. The Indians were fallin outta their chairs at the dumb white boy; heck I was even laughin.

[Hi Heels]

I prefer the one that has “flamethrower” in the designation.

[Hildy]

I walked out of the movie..for the life of me I don’t know how anyone, except maybe for a 14 year old boy, would think that story was interesting.

[TNdandelion]

I didn’t find the movie enjoyable and turned it off after he reached the bus. Had I known he died....I would have watched the whole thing. LOL They made him seem pretty annoying. I got that whole, “I hate my priviledged life” vibe from him (the movie).

[Disambiguator]

I prefer the one that has “flamethrower” in the designation.

There is a reason they call them "firearms."

:^)

[vpintheak]

I just watched the movie a couple of days ago. I have the same opinion. I told my wife that only a person who had so much could ever act like that. It was annoying, I did have to give the guy props though, he didn’t start sponging off government programs. A little in LA but that’s it.

[saganite]

I remember the comments about the surgeon from Dallas in Into Thin Air that Krakauer disliked because he was a Republican but after the guy got up and walked into camp twice after being left for dead twice Krakauer praised his courage while at the same time ripping himself and others for their own stupidity. He’s liberal but I detect a sense of fair play in his writing.

[rlmorel]

Yes...I think that was Beck. He did mention how when they got into arguments, his conservative rhetoric would reduce Krakauer to a smoldering pile of frustrated silence.

I didn’t mean he wasn’t fair, it was the things he espoused, the characteristics he apparently subscribes to that stuck out to me.

[uglybiker]

How about Tim...Treadmill? who was eaten by bears he had "befriended"? Ah think Ah'll go talk to mah bear friends up in the mountains with mah girlfriend and see if they still like to eat meat....

[PalmettoMason]

Beautiful picture. Thanks for posting it.

I used to hunt near Healy (on the opposite side of the Parks Highway from Denali National Park. It is indeed a very unforgiving place.

In '90, a buddy and I went in to caribou hunt. The Totatlanika River rose very quickly due to rain, causing us to wait for several extra days to try to get out. Eventually we had to "go for it" because our leave time from the military was nearly up, and I went first, riding a loaded down 4-wheeler into the normally shallow river. The current overturned the 4-wheeler, spilling me into the river with LOTS of heavy clothing on. The 4-wheeler washed up on the opposite side of the river, without ALL of my equipment (i.e. guns, tent, sleeping bag, meat...EVERYTHING!). After getting my buddy and I across the river and getting my ATV started, we still had a long ride out to the pickup trucks, and warm clothing. By the time we got there, I was in pretty bad shape. Dry clothes and a hot meal at the Healy Hotel made all the difference.

Folks need to understand that this is no place to screw around. I attended the Army's Arctic Survival School at Arctic Village, Alaska in 1989, and STILL managed to get into trouble in the bush. It can certainly happen to anyone, even a sourdough who has been there forever.

Thanks for bringing back a memory... and be careful out there.

[NittanyLion]

I read both “Into the Wild” and “Into Thin Air”, and in both of them, the liberalism just completely oozes out of the covers.

I read them both as well, and thought Krakauer gave a very evenhanded account of events. I didn't see a lot of editorializing in either book, just a straight retelling of the facts.

[retrokitten]

How about Tim...Treadmill? who was eaten by bears he had "befriended"?

I never saw the whole thing, but what I did see cracked me up. It's like just when you thought he's done the stupidest thing ever, he does something else!

A few years ago a freeper told me about how he was leading a group of college students through, I think, Yellowstone. Very early morning, he saw a bear in a clearing a good distance away. The group walked over and quietly was observing it. One of the students tried to get closer and the freeper stopped him. The student said, "It's OK. I'm a vegetarian. The bear will sense it." I think he said something like, "You might be a vegetarian, but the bear is not."

I really don't understand these people who think all wildlife are cute, cuddly and love petting. My idiot lib sister in-law tried to pet a bison in Custer State Park, South Dakota and got mad when my brother literally pulled her into the car. She actually said, "They are used to people!"

[rlmorel]

I didn’t say he was editorializing, but I perhaps I wasn’t clear.

The values and lifestyles he espouses (and in the case of McCandless, romaniticizes) oozed liberalism and the worship of the Roussouian viewpoint. (He goes out of his way to say he WASN’T romanticizing it, but he could hardly help himself due to his self-admitted identification with McCandless.)

If he had been editorializing, I wouldn’t have read past the first chapter or two of either book.

[NittanyLion]

True, that’s a fair point. McCandless was obviously a huge liberal, and chances are Krakauer still is one.

[Eska]

Ya, Most people I know sorta figure on adversity happening here in Ak. I've done a few week flyin hunt trips over the years; end up weathered in an extra week, ha. Soaked to the bone, outta food, eating alot of meat and that's it; which isn't so bad.

Only ever walked out 27 miles once, always had alternative plans after that.

I see people come to Alaska all the time, searching for something or more likely running away from something. The smart ones live with/work for a rural family who has all these skills down; then go out on their own after a year. Dumb ones just try to learn it on their own, most bug out before it gets too cold, some even die trying.

The old time miners are the ones I really think about. They did it with practically nothing. We had one guy who had his claim out above water falls on 70 mile. He'd walk the 40 miles to claim and 40 miles to town. Anyway, he got injured when he was older and it was right at freezeup on his trip back to town. He knew he was going to die there and he didn't want the wolves to eat his carcass, so he marked the area nx to him with notes and his coat in a tree; left his last thoughts for everybody to read. He then layed down in creek with rocks on him so he'd stay put and died. THey had to chip him outta the ice when they did find him a month or so later, true story.

Just got a call, got to go with local Indian to check fish net. I like them Indians, they don't pay any attention to any thing the govt sez about much anything, especially fish & game.

[mysterio]

he didn't try very hard to save his ass when he realized the Teklanika river had risen and cut him off from civilization.

Well, considering he was half starved and probably poisoned, who knows what he could have done.

I loved the book and thought the movie was pretty cool, too.