What a great story

[wilderness]

I was really inspired by this story. I would love to visit the 142 bus and will do so one day.
Jeff, USA.

[krdjis]

Thanks for having this site up with pictures, etc. Truly a remarkable story. Not knowing about "Into the Wild," I hitchhiked across the country in 1997. And spent some time in Alaska, but not in the wilderness. When I got back to college, I wrote about my trip for the school newspaper and many, many people told me I should read "Into the Wild." I never did, but finally watched the movie. Wow. This is an important story. I'm blown away. Near the end of the movie they show him writing words about happiness being nothing unless it is shared. The wisdom of that message speaks for itself.

Jeshua Erickson

[Gozome]

My Wife and i watch the Film Into The Wild recently and found it very moving and inspiring, Chris was a free spirit who lived his life exactly how he wanted to a, something many of us would like to do but are not brave enough or to involved in living our mundane lives to be able to do it.
Chris's parents volatile marriage obviously had a deep affect on him when he was growing up,i wonder if he'd had a more stable Family background if he'd have ever embarked on his quest to go to Alaska and the fact he never contacted his parents on his trip across the USA was his way of getting some sort of retribution.
All in all a truly remarkable and Brave young man who did it his way.

[Barbara Taylor]

What a beautiful movie, not only the cinematography but the story line itself. I was moved to tears by the young man's quest to find "truth", not only in the world but in himself. He was a free spirit, much like I wish I could truly be, free from the things that shackle me to this life of "normalcy". I often dream of wandering the globe, finding my "truth" and living my life from day to day, as free as a falcon finally untethered. But truth is a double-edged sword. “Happiness could only be real when it was shared”, so to drift through life w/o someone to anchor you to the mundane task of living can be a very lonely and empty existence. We need others in our lives because we aren't meant to exist as islands unto ourselves. It is the connection to our families, spouses/lovers, friends and even chance encounters that validates the "truth" in us.

I was deeply saddened that when he finally shed himself of his anger and distrust of his parents that he died. How ironic that it was by his own hand. I know that this movie was based on a book and that there was journalistic license taken in telling the story. For me the bottom line of the movie was that it is a common quest we all share, not necessarily the wanting to escape from society, but our need to find the truth in ourselves so as to give our lives meaning and purpose.

Barbara A. Taylor
Charlottesville, VA 22903
434-970-3302
"Not everything that can be counted counts,
and not everything that counts can be counted." Albert Einstein

[lisachat]

I agree Barbara and Gozome!

Forgiveness is peace and peace is happiness. That resonated with me. I think those of us that are sensitive can be especially pained by life's cruelty. It seems Chris wanted to protect himself from hurt and pain by going somewhere he could not be hurt further. It sounds ideal, but facing our pain and learning to forgive can free us from the past. Happiness, truth and meaning can be found in the mundane world if that's what you seek out. Sharing our lives with loved ones is happiness, and we all need someone outside ourselves to validate it.
Gozome, I think you were right on! It seems to me those who would criticize Chris are the very ones who would be too fearful to leave what is "safe". It took great character and bravery to go on a meaningful quest for truth and honesty.
lisachat

[jwalters]

I just saw Penn's movie and wanted to learn a little more about McCandless.

I spent a summer after high school hitch-hiking, fifteen years back. I don't see many people on the road nowadays. The last guy I picked up was a meth head on the run from a warrant out of Pensacola heading to Sacremento. It was cool back then though, living to see what was going to come up next, seeing the world from the bottom up. Can't fault the guy for guts. He was a trier.

[peter force]

very cool brother.i wish he had gotten out of their though.the world would be better off.

here is another fella that hit the alaskan frontier.built log cabin by hand.
made his own dishes.another very cool bro. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Proenneke

[blackdog]

If a great tragedy is a great story, then I guess it's a great story.

I found him to be rather naive, and perhaps a tad too idealistic. I suppose we should take his story as an intimation of fate, that idealistic fiction can have serious consequences when applied to real life situations.

Oh well, he said he had lived a happy life, so perhaps we should leave it at that. I mean who are we to judge him in the end, but then it's human nature to make such pronouncements, isn't it? Why of course it is.

Myself, I let Pearl S. Buck's novels lead me on an Asian adventure/quest where I almost died. Fiction and reality are two different things, mon amigoes. I've also read Autobiography Of A Supertramp by W.H. Davies and Thoreau's Waldon, and can sympathize with Chris's quest, but then no man is an island complete unto himself. We're all part of the whole, and what's wrong with that I ask you ever so humbly. What's wrong with that?

So don't let idealism lead you down the garden path. If you're going to escape to the wilderness, you better know how to survive on your own. Books can only take you so far ...

[billd500]

I am like most of the people who watch this movie, i think. Everytime I watch it I think to myself; "why have I let my free spirit INSIDE wilt in the shadow of my OUTSIDE shackled down-"normal" life?" I don't think it's a question i want to answer frankly. I have a very good friend, Marty. He's a missionary currently walking the path in China. His emails are always full of honesty, love, and self discovery. This man is 15 years my younger and yet he has lived 15,000 more times than i ever will. After seeing [b]Into the Wild[b] I can't help but think about Marty and imagine that at the end of his days I can only imagine what memories he might have. What revelations will he have on his death bed? What revelations will I have on my own?

[anaisnun]

This is my first time posting here. I watched the movie for the first a couple months ago and was blown away, not just because the cinematography is incredible & the soundtrack amazing.
I was 22 and hitch hiking myself that year, up the Alaska Highway. It hit me that I was in Alaska at about the same time Chris was dying. I didn't go all the way to Fairbanks, I took the fork at Tok, Alaska that sends you back down to Anchorage. It was the beginning of June, I don't know the exact date -so long ago...I stayed a few nights at the youth hostel in Anchorage where I met quite a few other kids who'd stopped at the youth hostel before going up to Denali, where I understand the bus is located.
There were many, many young people hitchiking in Alaska that spring, it was so safe -mostly retired folks in RVs or long haul truck drivers. I am female and there were many other girls doing the same, it was easy to get a ride in an RV or truck going through BC and Yukon Territory & up to the AK border.
I recognized other places in the movie that are regular stops for people who are on the road; Arcata, CA for instance. Seeing those places combined with the whole emotional experience of the movie made my soul sing. I have no regrets about the times between age 22 and 27 that I needed to be free from the bonds of what was expected of me. It is part of my identity.
I do not judge Chris for being unprepared, because I understand that push to go, to separate yourself from "society", babylon, the chains of drudgery and live in nature and by your wits. Is it stupid to do that? Most likely. I wouldn't have gone off by myself into the bush to live alone, but I made all sorts of stupid decisions of my own, he he.
There was/is a whole loosely knit community of like minded people on the road, Chris was not an anomaly in that respect; but I'm very sad he passed away and have tremendous empathy for his family. I'm so glad his story was passed along in the way it did.
It is easy for me at 39 to look back and see myself engaging in foolish behavior, but I believe it is normal to be ultra-idealistic in one's youth, it's so easy to be that way when you know so little about the world but are also convinced you know everything.