How Chris Mccandless Died: A Tragic Hero Or An Unprepared Fool

Many of you are familiar with the name Chris McCandless from the book, and subsequent movie, Into The Wild. The story is a true-ish account of the travels of Chris McCandless, who in 1990, after graduating from college, severed all contact with his family, and started traveling around the country. Eventually, in 1992 he made his way up to Alaska, where he traveled about 20 miles into the woods to an old bus which had been set up there as a shelter for hunters. He stayed at the bus for about 100 days, attempting to survive, until finally dying sometime in August of that year. His body was found soon after by hunters.

The author of the book, Jon Krakauer, has insisted since the writing of the book, that Chris McCandless did not simply die from starvation as the coroner's findings indicated, but that he was the unfortunate victim of poisoning. It is not clear on what he bases that instance, but it has certainly made for a better story than him dying because he didn't bring enough food.

Over the years Jon Krakauer has put forward several theories for this poisoning, each being scientifically disproven. Recently he published an article in the New Yorker, giving his theory yet another try. You can read the article here.

When I read the article myself, it raised a number of questions for me. Krakauer's conclusions, as conclusive as they were, seemed based on almost no evidence, and the rest of the evidence outright contradicted his conclusions. As a summary, Krakauer believes McCandless was poisoned from eating the seeds of wild potato. He bases that on a note in the journal of Chris McCandless, stating that on day 94 he ate potato seeds, and he was too weak to walk as a result. He combines this note with research done by the Nazis in a concentration camp during WWII, showing that prolonged consumption of such potato seeds over a period of a few months can lead to a debilitating crippling, making it difficult and then eventually impossible for people to use their legs.

Krakauer's conclusions struck me as odd for several reasons. For starters, there is no mention of prolonged consumption of these potato seeds, and if the consumption was in fact prolonged over the 94 days prior to McCandless' mention of the seeds on day 94, how could he have possibly linked them to this condition caused by accumulation of an amino acid. The dilemma continued for me because the condition is supposed to be continuous, progressive, and irreversible. Yet, there is no mention of symptoms prior to day 94, and his journal indicates that he was walking and hunting for at least 10 days after the note on day 94. In the last picture he takes of himself prior to his death, he is standing up with out any aiding device.

Anyway, as I was trying to write a list of all the things that struck me as odd about Krakauer's article, Craig Medred published an article in the Alaska Dispatch titled Krakauer Goes Further 'Into the Wild' Over McCandless Starving to Death in Alaska. You can see the full article here. He does an excellent job describing the issues that struck me as odd. I think it is well worth a read.

I think people are way too invested in this story, and I think it is for reasons largely unrelated to the wilderness or the way McCandless died. People seem to search for meaning in what he did, and as a survival gear consequence they want the death to fit the story of his life that each person perceives. I personally don't care about his life, and have little interest in figuring out the spiritual pursuits of some kid. As it related to the wilderness, for me it is very simple. He went into the woods unprepared, and he died. Whether he died due to lack of food, or because he was not familiar enough with wild plants to avoid the poisonous ones, the result is the same-he was not prepared, and he died. I don't say that to necessarily impart fault on him. Much of what we do as woodsmen is designed to test us and push our boundaries. I bet many of us have been in situations where the outcome might have been very similar. Granted, McCandless was an example of someone who camping gear was recklessly unprepared for the wilderness, but still, the risk of death is something that we must accept about going into the wild.

For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit http://woodtrekker.blogspot.com/2013/09/how-chris-mccandless-died-tragic-hero.html

Gear Update: Reducing The Weight Of My Cooking Kit

For some time now, I've known that my cooking gear was heavier and larger than it needed to be. I carry a 2L pot, but virtually never have to boil two liters of water any more. I carry an 8oz fuel canister, but have never come close to using it up on a single trip. However, I have kept the kit because it has functioned so well for me. The Open Country 2L pot, the Kovea Spider stove and a 8oz MSR fuel canister fit perfectly together and offer all season cooking capability on a stable and easy to use platform.

With deer season coming around however, I have finally gotten more motivated to put my cooking kit on a diet. My goal was to survival gear reduce the weight, but more importantly the volume of the kit.

I considered several options. I thought about using a kit based around an alcohols stove and a cup. I do in fact have such a minimal kit, which I will share at a later time. I also considered a small canister mounted gas stove. I didn't use any of those options for one reason-they do not offer good all season operation. I like to use as much of the same gear year round as possible. I don't like having one stove for summer, another stove for fall, winter, etc. I want my cook kit to use the same set up no matter what time of year it is. Unfortunately, both alcohol stoves and canister mounted gas stoves do not function well in winter. With care they can certainly be utilized in cold weather, but they are far less than ideal.

The solution was the same one that I used in my last cooking kit. That is to use a remote canister stove. My favorite in that category, as you guys already know is the Kovea Spider that I currently use. It is light and compact, yet offers good all weather performance as it can utilize a wind screen and liquid gas operation due to the remotely mounted canister.

So, once I decided to stick to the same stove, my weight and volume reduction strategies became limited. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the pot and canister are the major places where weight and volume can be cut.

Here is a side by side comparison between my old and new systems.

The 2L pot (left) had to go. I replaced it with a 1L titanium pot from Snow Peak (right) that I have had for many years. They haven't made this model in a while. It came with handles on the side, which I have removed. I've also added a small knob on the lid so it is easier to remove. The lid can still be used as a plate, although I have not had the need for one.

The smaller pot wouldn't accommodate the stove as well as a 8oz fuel canister, so I switched to one the 4oz MSR fuel canisters that they released in the beginning of this year. The result was a smaller, lighter cooking kit that was still self contained, keeping all of the components within the pot. The kit is completed with an aluminum foil wind screen, a Mini BIC lighter, and a bandana. It is closed off with a rubber band.

 

Here is a table with the weights of the two cooking kits.

	Old Cook Kit		New Cook Kit
	Type/Brand	Weight	Type/Brand	Weight
Pot	2L Open Country Pot	7.7 oz	1L Snow Peak Pot	4.7 oz
Stove	Kovea Spider	5.9 oz	Kovea Spider	5.9 oz
Canister	8 oz MSR Canister (Empty)	5.0 oz	4 oz MSR Canister (Empty)	3.5 oz
Lighter	Mini BIC Lighter	0.4 oz	Mini BIC Lighter	0.4 oz
Bandana	Cotton Bandana	1.1 oz	Cotton Bandana	1.1 oz
Windscreen	Thick Aluminum Foil	1.3 oz	Thin Aluminum Foil	0.4 oz
Total Weight		21.4 oz		16.0 oz

As you can see, the weight of the kit has been reduced by 5.4 oz, bringing it down to 1 lb total. More importantly, the volume has been reduced from 2L to 1L. Now, I know this is not a drastic reduction. Initially my intention was to do a much more significant reduction of both weight and volume. Unfortunately, I could not figure out a way to do it yet still have all season performance capability. I could easily reduce the kit for three season outings, but this is as small as I can go with a kit that would still allow me to effectively melt snow for drinking water during winter trips.

A downside is that while the new 4oz canister is lighter, it is actually heavier in terms of canister weight per fuel stored. It stores half the fuel of the 8oz canister, but weighs empty more than half the weight of the 8oz canister. That is typically the case. A larger contained can hold more volume while weighing relatively less. So, if I had to bring 8oz of fuel using the smaller canisters, their empty weight would be 7oz as opposed camping gear to the larger canister's empty weight of 5oz. It is indeed a downside, but since I very rarely need more than 4oz for a weekend trip, it's not a problem. It is also necessary to keep the volume down.

Since my new pot doesn't have handles or bail, I use the bandana to lift up from the fire. Also, due to the lack of a bail, it can't be suspended over a fire. It's a minor downside, although there is little need to suspend a small pot like this one. I just use it directly over the fire.

The only other thing I will look for is a light nylon bag in which I can put the pot. That way I don't have to worry about any sooth getting on my other gear when i have been using the pot over a fire.

For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit http://woodtrekker.blogspot.com/2013/08/gear-update-reducing-weight-of-my.html