Into The Wild - Lance Wood
Into The Wild Essay
Into the Wild
By: Lance Wood
Imagine, opening your eyes to discover the vas, unseen wilderness.
Waking up in a place without any yes’s or no’s, only you and your
surroundings, hearing nothing but the sweet sound of Mother Nature.
Listening to the tremble of your heart beating through your veins
like a drum. Pondering on life and what is in store for you during
this time of individuality and prosperity of the land. Really taking
in natures grace to better determine what life truly means. Not many
can say they have honestly experienced the wild, but of those few
who have the memories will be cherished forever. The story of one
man by the name of Chris McCandless is one of triumphant beauty that
has inspired me to better understand his epic journey.
Chris was a young man in his early twenties with a bright and
prosperous future ahead of him. He had graduated college with honors
and qualified for Harvard just as his parents Walt and Billie had
pressured him to do. Growing up in a home filled with expectations,
differences, and wealth Chris was apart from his parents. He was a
thinker, a believer, an ambitious person with the compassion for the
wild and a hate for everyday society. Chris, unlike many was very
bold, called it how he saw it, but had the self control to know when
it was time to stop. Along with Chris I myself have inherited many
of these same exceptional qualities. His story is one of honor,
dignity, courage, and the gratification for the wild. It’s a story
of inspiration for those who don’t fall into society’s lies, but
into the truth of the soul, and the love for true beauty.
Chris embarks on his expedition alone, no money, no car, no phone,
only the things that meant the most to him in his backpack. Filled
with books from various philosophical authors, some rice and other
items he comes across on his journey, his backpack is his life. He
begins as a hitchhiker in the mist of an unbarring journey
eventually leading him north to Fairbanks, Alaska. As he begins he
is only a man amongst a world filled with greed and disgust. With
the strength of his heart he conquers many obstacles within himself,
such as no contact with any immediate family. Using an Alias, “Alex
Supertramp”, he begins a journey not only within the land but within
himself.
Along Chris’s path of righteousness he meets a lot of great people
whom he gets very close with. So close to the point where these
strangers considered him family, as did Chris. Hitchhiking across
the country is indeed dangerous but Chris didn’t think about the
danger. Instead he focused on the light at the end of the tunnel
which was his reward. This determination took a great sense of
bravery that is very admirable to many. Chris viewed life in a way
that was unlike most Americans. He saw things with an eye that could
see straight through it. He took risks and wasn’t afraid of the
outcome. Using boldness as if it were a .50 caliber machine gun with
a thousand rounds in it, unleashing the power without the fear of
what’s at stake because you can always reload with logic and fire
again. It’s that kind of character that truly led me to open my eyes
and realize who I am. To not be afraid when backed into a corner,
but to use words and logic to get to others hearts as well as my
own, to stand for what I believe in.
After many months of hiking across the country, sleeping in places
that would be looked upon as awful, and being judged as just another
homeless guy, Chris finally arrives at his final destination.
Gasping on the open land, open air, and the open heart of nature,
Chris is now in Alaska. Walking along the Stampede Trail Chris is
amazed by the honest beauty of the land. He uses word to describe
the land that would be used to describe a precious diamond. Painting
a crystal clear picture to try and imaging the beauty that you see
in a dream or hear in a fairy tail. Endless greenery, pine trees the
size of buildings, flowers flowing across the land like an ocean of
colors. The crisp thin air flows through your nose giving a sense of
being abandoned. But at the same time a cold chill gives you a sense
of comfort and protection, you are now into the wild.
After many hours of hiking as well as a few nights of camping beside
the river Chris stumbles upon a deserted bus with large markings,
142. As Chris approaches the bus he begins to get a feeling of
weariness, but at the same time gives a sigh of relief realizing
this could be a good sign. Finally inside the bus Chris discovers
that this bus was once part of a running transit system, but was now
turned into hunter’s temporary living quarters. With a small bed, a
dresser, and a fire place that works also as a stove it makes for a
good living area. Chris settles himself in and decides this will be
his home for the next few months. With his maturity and knowledge he
marks his territory with many philosophical speeches of freedom, and
quotes from various authors. Books flourished the interior like a
garden of knowledge. In his journal entries there is a set list of
rules that proves his awareness with preparations: organization,
food conserving and supply, self sufficient shower, and other
principles that kept him grounded. This proved his will to survive
because it shows that he didn’t get himself into a situation without
any comprehension of what it takes to survive properly. It
demonstrates the honor and responsibility of a young man with
sincere morals.
As the snow begins to melt in late winter transpiring to spring,
Chris is learning how to live off the land. Hunting and gathering
his food just as prehistoric man did, he killed many animals,
rodents, and other sources of food. Killing only in a means of
survival, he still respects the land and nature. With a sufficient
water supply from the Toklat River that flows from the glacier
filled mountains, Chris has established a working shower to maintain
personal hygiene. Keeping normal eating habits and water
consumption, Chris is healthy for the most part. He spends his days
thinking of life, family, other ways to survive, places to go, what
book to read or write, and ultimately experiencing freedom. His days
are now filled with serenity, being alone in the wilderness and
waking up each morning not thinking about the last because there is
just simply too much that has to be done. Chris is truly living off
the land but one mistake could determine his demise.
When Chris first crossed the Toklat River it was in the mist of
winter still and the water was only around knee deep without much
power. As the spring begun and the sun grew hotter, in turn the snow
on the mountains began to melt. Without any acknowledgement of the
Toklat River sometime becoming impassible Chris there made his first
mistake. During his time in the wild Chris finally decided it was
time to head back to his family after almost two years. Little did
he know the river would be suddenly unfeasible. With the water
almost ten feet high and the roar of the raging rapids washing
anything and everything down with it, Chris found himself at a stand
off. This is a test of his courage and his mindset because when he
first came to Alaska his mind was all set on what he was conquering.
But now with it already been conquered he had changed his mind set
to going home, however he must turn back and continue to live off
the land.
With the seasons changing, Spring to Summer, Chris is at ultimate
survival, not much hunting game around or rodents he is finding it
hard to make a means for food. Out of his many books one is a
botanist book describing all the plants that are edible in the wild
and those that aren’t. Chris turns to a panic and begins to collect
a bag full of roots, seeds, stems, and other pieces of various
flowers that will be his source of food. After one day while he was
in search for food he came across the “Eskimo potato”, which is
sweet and good to eat in the spring but later becomes too tough to
eat and inhabits poisonous alkaloids. Chris wrote in one of his last
journal entries, “EXTREMELY WEEK. FAULT OF POT. SEED…” This later
proved fatal when Chris McCandless was found in that same bus in
September by a group of hunters. His remains looked week,
contaminated, and had a sense of comforting tragedy. His family was
alerted of their son and immediately they took a helicopter to the
sight of their sons’ downfall and where he took his last breath. One
can hardly imagine what it would be like to be the family, one can
also hardly imagine what it would be like to be Chris. To lie dying
in a bed staring at Gods Sun, life as you know it flashing before
your eyes, gasping for that one last breath to keep your memories
going, until finally you meet death with a smile on your face. For
once in his life he lived with no regrets, and measured himself more
than once to prove how important it is to not necessarily be strong,
but to feel strong. That’s why it is so important to not just know
of the story of Christopher McCandless but to understand and
appreciate the journey. Chris was given a test of true courage, and
a fate of ultimate sadness that proved to be fatal.
Chris did not die because of stupidity or ignorance. Upon my
research I have discovered that he may have not eaten the wrong
plant at all, nevertheless that the seeds, berries, and stems inside
of the zip-loc baggie began to mold. Within that mold there is also
a poisonous alkaloid that is deadly. It shuts down the bodies
nervous system, destroys stomach digestion which later makes the
person starve to death. Chris just so happened to finally hit his
last break and later come to his death because of a common mistake
that could happen to any of us. It wasn’t stupidity that killed him,
it was survival.
His story is gratifying to those who don’t choose to live their life
the way society tells them too. But otherwise lives their life a
step at time with the picture of what life is really about.
Boldness, courage, all testaments of how we were meant to live, not
how one man or many men have told us to do but what life has told
us. To be free and aware of nature, see things from a view which is
unlike any other, and experiencing the wild in a way that you become
one with it. Chris took a brave step and was awarded all the things
we couldn’t ever dream of, no people, no society, no politics, just
the true land, the earth, the world. It’s because of his journey
that has allowed me to open my eyes and realize a whole other world
apart from ours; it is because of Chris McCandless that I myself
will one day step foot, Into the Wild…
