What were Chris’s intentions for Alaska?

[GoNorth]

Ok, so today 19 years ago Chris McCandless walked “into the wild”. Good occasion to wonder what were his intentions, on that day and some time later.

I got 2 questions:

1. When heading for Alaska, what were his initial plans?

Some quotes from the book:

Westerberg vaguely recalled that Chris might have purchased some seeds in South Dakota before heading north, including perhaps some potato seeds, with which he intended to plant a vegetable garden after getting established in the bush.

Jim Gallien said:

He explained that he wanted a ride as far as the edge of Denali National Park, where he intended to walk deep into the bush and "live off the land for a few months."

but

McCandless had told Gallien that he intended to remain on the move during his stay in the bush. "I'm just going to take off and keep walking west," he'd said. "I might walk all the way to the Bering Sea."

So remaining on the move and planting a vegetable garden? How does that fit together?

2. Another thing I first didn’t notice either, it only struck me when re-reading the book after having seen the movie more than 10 years later and thinking even more about the story: In the bus there was this declaration Chris wrote on wood, stating that he wanted “to become lost in the wild”. Written sometime in May.
Krakauer wrote in the book:

Ironically, the wilderness surrounding the bus — the patch of overgrown country where McCandless was determined "to become lost in the wild" — scarcely qualifies as wilderness by Alaska standards.

Well, I think that Krakauer was wrong with the assumption that THAT was the place where Chris wanted to get lost in the wild.
He wrote this declaration in May – however most of May he was not at the bus at all. So theoretically he could have written it in the last days of May (as he returned to the bus on May 26th), but I honestly think he rather did in the first days of the month (between May 1st – Magic Bus Day – and May 5th when he left the bus to walk further west). In my opinion not only this last sentence, but the whole declaration sounds much more like something he wrote at the very beginning of his wilderness trip. Well, at least, that’s my theory.
Which means that he wrote it several weeks before deciding to stay at the bus for the rest of the summer, right? He wrote it, when he still DID have the intention to walk into the “real” wild. Only when he reached the Toklat river 2 weeks later, he CHANGED HIS MIND by deciding to walk back to the bus, which he reached about a week later. So when changing his mind about his journey through the wild, he probably also changed his mind about the whole thing and found out that “becoming lost in the wild” is not exactly what he really wants. Probably, staying alone at the bus finally seemed fine enough for him to fulfill the dream of “living off the land” all alone for a while.
Any other thoughts about that?

[pezar]

I've been mulling over this question for a while. I think that Chris wanted to reside permanently in the Alaska bush, similar to the Mayor of Hippie Cove or any of the other offbeat characters who one can find living in solitude in the wild in Alaska. I think he headed through the desert in the Datsun at first because he wanted to spend some time with his old friends in El Segundo, where he was born and lived until age six. I think he wanted to pry more info out of them about Walt's past, the whole bigamy thing, and so on. After he found out what he wanted to know about that, he would have headed north on Interstate 5 to Canada, then on to Fairbanks. I think he wanted to ditch the Datsun at some point in Alaska, or maybe trade it to a local for a 4 wheel drive vehicle, and then head into the bush. I don't know how he decided on the Stampede Trail, quite honestly. But I'm pretty certain that he intended to live permanently in Alaska. At least at first. Then later, he intended to model it after his canoe trip down the Colorado River, and come back to the lower 48 at some point.

[GoNorth]

I think he headed through the desert in the Datsun at first because he wanted to spend some time with his old friends in El Segundo, where he was born and lived until age six. I think he wanted to pry more info out of them about Walt's past, the whole bigamy thing, and so on.

That's an interesting idea. I mean, I don't see anything really indicating that kind of intention, but you're right, it's possible or at least not excluded. Ok, so IF that's what he wanted to, he would have driven there with the car if it had not been destroyed before, which means that he would have left a trace with some relatives or friends at that point. Of course, he could have got there as well without the car, but perhaps - as mentioned in the other thread about the car - it was too late then, because with the loss of the car he decided to disappear completely from his old life.
Only a theory, as usual, but yes, why not.

I don't know how he decided on the Stampede Trail, quite honestly.

And by the way, here's another question: Why did he choose the Stampede Trail in the first place? He had shown the Stampede road/trail on a road map to Jim Gallien, asking him to drop him off somewhere on the way, what he did. But why this place to start? I know this is not really important, but I just thought that maybe he had already seen the beginning of the Stampede road when he had been to Fairbanks by car a year before his departure - which had only been a very short trip due to lack of time, but that's when he already decided to come back to this place as soon as possible.

But I'm pretty certain that he intended to live permanently in Alaska. At least at first. Then later, he intended to model it after his canoe trip down the Colorado River, and come back to the lower 48 at some point.

By "permanently" you mean longer than for the summer months? That would mean that he would have lied to people like Wayne to whom he promised to be back for work in autumn? I mean, you never know, but honestly I don't think so.
But perhaps he didn't know it himself when heading out. Perhaps he vaguely thought about both options: the possibility to get back to his friends, but without being forced to do so, without predefining anything concretely. After all, you cannot really "become lost in the wild" with a fixed date of return, right?