Human Side Podcast 06: McCandless in the Wild

A discussion of Chris McCandless, Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild, and why some young men must go on adventures.

A Dialogue on Surplus

Moraline: I feel a restless in the city. I have rested for long enough and must return to training and writing. The city imprisons me while far away, in some frozen north, I feel there is what I am looking for.

 

Maximin: But anything is better than the West. I just wonder if the bike has any place anymore. I now think it may be the backpack and the hiking boots to explore the wilderness.

 

Moraline: Got to go and get your wilderness skills up first with some small trips.

 

Maximin: Right, perhaps a base camp of some sort, then exploration in well organized efforts to gain the skills.

 

Moraline: I'm more unsure of myself and my next move than ever before. Acquisition of skills makes sense.

 

Maximin: Indeed, you have moved beyond boundaries. Perhaps the gods are now wondering your next move.

 

Moraline: I looked into learning Inupiat but there are less than 2500 speakers left now in Alaska, and the young Eskimos have no interest in it.

 

Maximin: You have travelled so far from the system that you are in an ether few men know.

Two in the Wilderness

"Too many men work on parts of things. Doing a job to completion satisfies me."

--Dick Proenneke

Who lived inside a dilapidated bus from the civilization he fled, who left for the same wilderness as Proenneke but without the proper gear, who died stupidly and youthfully and is celebrated with 2 films, 1 book and countless articles and tributes.