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I've always thought of Dick Proenneke[1] as what McCandless could have/should have been. Despite attempting a similar thing (go detach from civilization as much

I've always thought of Dick Proenneke[1] as what McCandless could have/should have been. Despite attempting a similar thing (go detach from civilization as much as possible, though Proenneke didn't take it to the same extreme), Proenneke was actually prepared and talented in the kinds of crafts necessary to have a good life in the wilderness - guy was a crazy-good outdoorsman in general, on top of great carpentry/woodworking[2]/general jury-rigging. The best part is that he took an 8mm camera and filmed a lot of his work, including building his cabin from almost entirely indigenous materials. Those films ended up as the (PBS-involved?) documentary Alone in the Wilderness[3]. --- [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Proenneke https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Proenneke [2] https://www.nps.gov/lacl/learn/historyculture/proennekes-cabin.htm https://www.nps.gov/lacl/learn/historyculture/proennekes-cab... [3] https://youtu.be/iYJKd0rkKss https://youtu.be/iYJKd0rkKss (partial)

kerkeslager 6y ago
Totally agreed. Alone in the Wilderness is such an inspiration to me.
lioeters 6y ago
This. Every time McCandless comes up - and bless him for his youthful misadventure - I think of the documentary Alone in the Wilderness. It's one of my favorite films of all time, and have watched it numerous times. He had the right training and planning, knowledge, skills, equipment and support (a friend visisted regularly with supplies) to achieve it successfully. I love that the film footage was recorded by himself, some of it is just gorgeous scenery. He demonstrates the hard work necessary to build everything for survival.