Why Chris McCandless Disappeared Into the Wild

Chris McCandless was an ambitious man with an aching need for adventure and a stubborn penchant for self-reliance.

Known by many as the young man who starved to death in a bus in the Alaskan wilderness, Chris McCandless, or, as he preferred, Alexander Supertramp, was on a journey that was years in the making before he met his end on the old Stampede Trail north of Denali. His cross-continental wanderings took him from his well-to-do home in California to the streets, back alleys, train yards, and desert washes across the United States, Mexico, and Canada. His story was covered by Jon Krakauer in the book Into the Wild and by Sean Penn in the documentary film of the same name.

After graduating college, Chris McCandeless donated his $25,000 in savings to charity and abandoned his family, friends, and entire way of life to start anew as Alexander Supertramp. Having thrown himself into the words of wanderlust among the writings of Leo Tolstoy, Jack London, Henry David Thoreau, Mark Twain, and other notable romantics of nature, Alex set out upon his own adventure of worldly exploration and self-reflection.

Though he needed and appreciated his time alone, McCandless was known to be quite charming and chatty when the mood struck. He left a lasting impression on many of the people he encountered along his wanderings, and perhaps the deepest of emotional scars he left was upon an 80 year old man named Ron. This barrel-chested career soldier had lost his wife and adult son to a drunk driver while he was stationed overseas, had sunk into a deep depression at the bottom of countless whiskey bottle, and lived a solitary life until Chris hitchhiked into his life. Chris spent time learning leatherworking from Ron and picking up odd jobs while he was in the area. Chris kept emotionally distant from Ron. The lonely old man offered to adopt Chris as his grandson, and this is when McCandless skipped town.

But he never forgot about Ron, nor the time they spent together. Chris wrote several letters to his friend before starting his “ultimate adventure” in the Alaskan bush.

This particular letter struck a chord with me. I can feel the transcendental philosophy of Henry Thoreau, the call for adventure from Jack London, the inner dialogue of Leo Tolstoy within Chris McCandeless’ passionate words written to a friend he cared for deeply. These compelling words may just inspire you to embark on your own adventure. They worked on Ron.

Letter from Chris McCandless

Alex here.

I have been working up here in Carthage South Dakota for nearly two weeks now. I arrived up here three days after we parted in Grand Junction, Colorado. I hope that you made it back to Salton City wihtout too many problems. I enjoy working here and things are going well. The weather is not very bad and many days are surprisingly mild. Some of the farmers are even already going into their fields. It must be getting rather hot down there in Southern California by now. I wonder if you ever got a chance to get out and see how many people showed up for the March 20 Rainbow gathering there at the hotsprings. It sounds like it might have been a lot of fun, but I don’t think you really understand these kind of people very well.

I will not be here in South Dakota very much longer. My friend, Wayne, wants me to stay working at the grain elevator through May and then go combining with him the entire summer, but I have my soul set entirely on my Alaskan Odyssey and hope to be on my way no later than April 15. That means I will be leaving here before very long, so I need you to send any more mail I may have received to the return address listed below.

Ron, I really enjoy all the help you have given me and the times we spent together. I hope that yo will not be too depressed by our parting. It may be a very long time before we see each other again. But providing that I get through ths Alaskan Deal in one piece you will be hearing form me again in the future. I’d like to repeat the advice I gave you before, in that I think you really should make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing or been too hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one piece of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more out of life, Ron, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty. And so, Ron, in short, get out of Salton City and hit the Road. I guarantee you will be very glad you did. But I fear that you will ignore my advice. You think I am stubborn, but you are even more stubborn than me. You had a wonderful chance on your drive back to see one of the greatest sights on earth, the Grand Canyon, something every American should see at least once in his life. But for some reason incomprehensible to me you wanted nothing but to bolt for home as quickly as possible, right back to the same situation which you see day after day after day. I fear you will follow this same inclination in the future and thus fail to discover all the wonderful things that God has placed around us to discover. Don’t settle down and sit in one place. Move around, be nomadic, make each day a new horizon. You are still going to live a long time, Ron, and it would be a shame if you did not take the opportunity to revolutionize your life and move into an entirely new realm of experience.

You are wrong if you think Joy emanates only or principally from human relationships. God has placed it all around us. It is in everything and anything we might experience. We just have to have the courage to turn against our habitual lifestyle and engage in unconventional living.

My point is that you do not need me or anyone else around to bring this kind of light in your life. It is simply waiting out there for you to grasp it, and all you have to do is reach for it. The only person you are fighting is yourself and your stubbornness to engage in new circumstances.

Ron, I really hope that as soon as you can you will get out of Salton City, put a little camper on the back of your pickup, and start seeing some of the great work that God has done here in the American West. You will see things and meet people and there is much to learn from them. And you must do it economy style, no motels, do your own cooking, as a general rule spend as little as possible and you will enjoy it much more immensely. I hope that the next time I see you, you will be a new man with a vast array of new adventures and experiences behind you. Don’t hesitate or allow yourself to make excuses. Just get out and do it. Just get out and do it. You will be very, very glad that you did.

Take care Ron,

Alex

If you’re at all interested in a real life adventure story and the philosophy behind I greatly encourage you to read Into The Wild. It’s a fairly short, gripping read. Author Jon Krakauer expertly weaves Chris McCandless’ tale through journal entries, letters, interviews, and peppers in some fascinating speculation.

Want to see what inspired Chris McCandless? We have Jack London’s The Call of the Wild ready for you to read or you can listen to our podcast episode featuring Henry David Thoreau’s journal entries.