"April 27, 1992.

Greetings from Fairbanks! This is the last you shall

hear from me, Wayne. Arrived here 2 days ago. It

was very difficult to catch rides in the Yukon

Territory. But I finally got here.

Please return all mail I receive to the sender. It

might be a very long time before I return South. If

this adventure proves fatal and you don't ever hear

from me again I want you to know you're a great

man. I now walk into the wild. Alex."

— Christopher McCandless (Alexander Supertramp)

(Postcard received by Wayne Westerberg in

Carthage, South Dakota.)

#IKITAO

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Discussion

The feckless Chris McCandless, one to admire, grieve, and pity all at once. His bus/tomb still resides in place as a solemn reminder of a grand journey ended in darkness. His diary entries from just days before his death are not despondent and sad, but more resigned to his fate, if I recall. Starvation is one of the worst deaths.

Well said. Though, the bus was recently moved and is now a museum exhibit.

"Too many visitors, inspired by her brother’s story, had gotten into trouble while attempting to visit the site; too many formal and informal rescues had been necessary. In the previous decade, in separate incidents, two young women died on their treks. Both drowned while attempting to cross the cold, fast-moving Teklanika—the same river that had barred Chris, who was 24 when he died, from retreating to the highway as his food supply ran out."

https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/exploration-survival/chris-mccandless-into-the-wild-bus-142-alaska/

Remembering Chris McCandless on what would have been his 57th birthday. His journey as Alexander Supertramp inspired 'Into the Wild' and continues to touch countless lives today.

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I love that movie and soundtrack!😊😊😊

Into the Wild! Something Like Idea of North by Glenn Gould, what do you think?

The same intrigue—a similar romance, perhaps. Chris and Glenn had two very different lived realities. Chris was opting out of society to live a life of freedom, non-conformity, and self-reliance.

Not all, but many of the stories in "The Idea of North" have to do with the importance of reliance on community as a result of the solitude. I feel Chris came around to this understanding shortly before his death.

"On July 2, McCandless finished reading Tolstoy's "Family Happiness", having marked several passages that moved him:

"He was right in saying that the only certain happiness in life is to live for others..."

— Into The Wild, Jon Krakauer

According to his notes, he finished the book "Dr. Zhivago" around three weeks before he left the body, and had underlined this passage (*):

"And so it turned out that only a life similar to the life of those around us, merging with it without a ripple, is genuine life, and that an *unshared happiness is not happiness*…and this was most vexing of all.”

— Dr. Zhivago, Boris Pasternak

Next to the passage, Chris scrawled in the margin, “HAPPINESS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED.”

Thank you for mentioning "The Idea of North"; it was a pleasure rewatching it.