Christopher McCandless

When he decided to turn and go home, he came upon the ever so flowing Teklanika River. He realized that it was too high and too fast for him to cross. He then turned back and headed towards the bus where he became lonely and scared. Why didn't he just keep living his life like he has been doing? I think he could have found food long enough to live until August. Then he could have went back to the river and hope that is was lower and slowed down. I think after he realized he could not cross the river, his whole mind set became how he is trapped and he is never going to get out of the taiga. Knowing he was trapped, he did not do anything to try and survive and get out of the wild.

He starved to death after returning to the bus because he was already on a steep trajectory towards starvation when he left the bus to try and cross the river and return to civilization. A very good analysis of Chris' health status by Sam Thayer is reproduced under the "Plant Theory" tab on the main website. It clearly shows how Chris' trajectory toward starvation started the day he entered the wilderness because he brought, collected, and hunted way too little food to cover his daily caloric needs right from the beginning of his journey. That would have been ok if he had managed to get back to civilization and its food sources before this trajectory reached the inevitable end point (death from starvation), but clearly, he didn't...