I raise my glass to CM and the proud few...

[SteveSalmon]

~SS

[SteveSalmon]

~SS

[SteveSalmon]

~SS

[Ascetic]

I mean this genuinely when I say, "Good for you." I did the same this past summer, except I went to Wyoming; not the Stampede Trail.

Are you planning a return visit?

[SteveSalmon]

~SS

[SteveSalmon]

~SS

[bobenns]

Hey, Great picks Steve. I admire your making the trek to the bus on your own. Although not the wisest decision, especially if something had gone wrong, I do understand your desire to do it alone. Its a spiritual thing, a personal connection. Perhaps I will go there myself one day. I should put it on my bucket list.

That bus has been sitting out there for a long time and serves a purpose for many people. Hunters had used it for for decades before CM found his way to it. Obviously it now sees many more visitors and the occasional hooligan that does damage. My experience with remote cabins etc is the farther out the less vandalism. If drunk teenagers can get there easily it will be destroyed.

As I learned more about CM and the details of how he perished out there I felt very strongly as if I had lost a close friend. I related to his story and felt connected. His story was my story. Intuitively I understood what he was trying to do and I wanted him to succeed. I think for a lot of us his story has opened a window in our minds. A window that sheds light on ideas and beliefs we have held inside instinctively, unconsciously, thoughts and feelings about being connected to that vital life force that connects all living things.

When I watched the movie, I cried, even though I knew the story and the outcome. I cried for Chris and his family, but I was also crying for myself, for nearly missing something so important and I cried for the way our society has become and how lost we really are as a species consuming this planet.

There is a powerful message for many of us in this story. Its great to have this forum to share with others who relate one way or another to Chris McCandless.

[SteveSalmon]

Thanks Bob.

[stilltrekker]

Any manmade object left untended will gradually revert back to its raw materials in time, and the further out in nature, the faster it happens. The vandals are helping this process along, unfortunately, but it's to be expected. There's a certain nostalgia in seeing the bus decompose, but let's keep in mind that, since none of us (we hope) will be stranded there for survival reasons like Chris was, the bus is just a SYMBOL of Chris' freedom flight to independence, struggle for his life, and (in happier times) commune with nature. As Ascetic said, it's not really about the bus. Someday the bus will be gone--maybe some rusted pieces of metal in the dirt--but the "hallowed ground" will always remain--at least until someone builds a souvenir stand there selling buttons and keychains with a picture of Chris on them.

[SteveSalmon]

~SS