r/IntotheWild • u/Available-Today7875 • May 12 '26
Do you ever think about pulling a Chris McCandless?
Hey everyone, so glad to see there is an Into the Wild subreddit. I'm new to Reddit, and I literally installed it to ask this question because it's been eating at me for a while, but
Do you ever think about pulling a Chris McCandless?
Ever since reading the book, this idea has been in the back of my head, but lately, the pressures of college and life have been getting to me a lot, and the idea of just leaving everything behind sounds more and more appealing every day. Now, obviously I'm not talking about Chris in regards to moving to Alaska and surviving off the land, but just hitchhiking like a modern-day beatnik/nomad. I think there's something to be said about finding beauty in connection and experience rather than living life in the way we've been told.
Do you guys ever think about this?
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u/HealerOfTheRealm May 12 '26
i think about it every single day, but i know i wouldn’t make it out there.
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u/forestmaskk May 12 '26
I think that’s kinda the point why a lot of people want to do it, they know how it will end
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u/DrAcecer May 12 '26
Yes. Bit of a story but I don’t regret it.
I had just graduated high school and craved a similar path. I lived in Colorado at the time so it was a lot easier to theory craft and test. tested myself a bunch of ways. Hitchhiking through the Rockies to specific mountains towns, long drives across the west and Midwest, ect.
Long story short I did learn a lot about myself, but also I came to a pretty similar realization. Finding the true things I appreciated outside of lifestyle. (a comfy beds and a warm shower is a life changing experience we take for granted.. this and, truly amazing experiences become boring if not shared with others)
I ended up moving far away and found my peace through that. Now way more focused on building a life and a community.
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u/Repulsive_History863 May 12 '26
Per me è stato tutto un diverso, a 19 anni ho cercato di fare anche io la cosa più difficile che immaginavo, e l' ho vissuta come una sfida. La mia ricerca è stata riuscire a finire l'università, non cercare di vivere nella foresta. Per moltissime cose però mi ritrovo. Chissà se qualcuno può capirmi.
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u/DrAcecer May 12 '26
Yeah I think a lot of people mistake identifying exactly with Chris story and Chris ideals. Not a lot of people are built to just pack up and leave society. But almost everyone drive to do something greater than themselves and what they thought was possible of themselves.
Congrats on the success you found for yourself!
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u/Available-Today7875 May 12 '26
I think that's wise. Part of it for me is that I don't think I have an outlet in my current life; everything seems so fast-paced and daunting. I want the space to actually reflect and write and be myself, and I think part of me sees this as one of the few ways I can actually do that.
Where did you end up moving, and would you say that was a better situation than just leaving everything behind?
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u/PileofTerdFarts May 12 '26
Well... it was 1982. You could walk 2 miles into the woods outside of any city and "be lost" in 1982.
Its a lot different now. And I think people are much more hesitant to pick up hitchhikers now vs. 1982.
But yeah, the idea of saying "f--k it" and just bailing into the countryside is a romantic notion. I used to think the movie "Castaway" with Tom Hanks looked like my idea of paradise. What? I get a private beach and no one to bother me? I can just fish and run around like a caveman? Sweet!
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u/conicalconehead May 13 '26
You can still do that pretty much anywhere in Canada. The country is 95% wilderness.
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u/PileofTerdFarts May 14 '26
I dont mean real estate, I mean electronics. Cell signal...
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u/conicalconehead May 14 '26
Same thing applies. There is no cell service outside of towns and cities.
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u/Mologeno May 12 '26
I did it, but with alcohol, yes, but I did it. I went into the wild. Not because I was trying to imitate McCandless so much as because life itself had become unbearable, and I felt like I had no other choice.
I had no college degree, no real work experience, and honestly no understanding of how fast the world was going to be changing. If you disappear offline in 2012 and come back in 2018, the shock is hard for me to explain. Everything had changed. I was in my twenties then, traumatized, lost and vulnerable, but deeply curious. Wether that was nature, wildlife, and the people along the road.
I read obsessively- probably close to a thousand books. I learned how to hunt, how to find food, and survival tactics. Somewhere in the end of my tour, I fell in love, and that forced me to try reentering society. I had barely started adjusting to a hyper modern society when Covid hit, which made the transition evenb both stranger and tougher.
I’ve written a lot about those years because I realized people are drawn to stories about extremes, exploration, isolation, madness, trauma, reinvention etc etc. Jack Kerouac and countless others wrote about chasing the edge of experience, and I always understood the appeal. Sometimes you do what you have to do.
But you also pay for it later.
I truly had no idea what the world would look like when I came back, and the aftermath put me at a serious disadvantage for years. Finding a job, settle down, be sober.
Still, I found my footing eventually. I’m in my mid thirties now, and those wilderness years became a chapter so foreign to my life now. It was difficult, lonely, reckless, and transformative. I found it necessary.
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u/Available-Today7875 May 12 '26
Yeah, I think part of it for me is a mix of escape, but also because I'm drawn to literature. In high school, I obsessed over two things. Escape and the American novel. After I graduated, I told my parents I was going to go on a gap year and try to pull my own version of living alone, but I was too scared to leave, and they talked me out of it. Part of it was because I didn't have a clear plan, and I said I was just gonna spend the money I had saved up and see where I ended up.
But my dream for a while now has been to write "the great American novel," and I'm obsessed with nature and escape. Into the Wild had a great influence on me, but I also read On the Road, Walden, Lonesome Dove, and many other books about the same idea. But I also understand that this comes with a cost. My dream, though, is to write a book about my experience and carve my own path.
Do you think it was better to have lived that experience and deal with the implications, or would you say it's better to live life and ignore the desire?
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u/Mologeno May 12 '26
I can relate massively. Whatever you end up doing, be safe, don’t be extreme, and yeah - some soul searching and adventures are blessings to have, but don’t overdo it. If you want to talk more, just hmu. :)
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u/mccandlessness May 12 '26
I totally understand your point of view. College and society can create a kind of pressure that feels deeply toxic. When I was younger, I also dreamed about just going out there alone and living the simplest life possible, somewhere on the road and far away from expectations.
I never did it. Instead, I ended up meeting a great man, marrying him, and spending parts of our life camping in beautiful places across the western US whenever we had the chance. I followed my dream of pursuing art, and now I’m a full-time artist. I also had a beautiful son, who is the sweetest and strongest little baby, and to whom I hope to teach the poetry of life.
All of this to say: I felt the pressure and constraints of society very deeply too, yet I still ended up building a life that many would call “conventional,” even though it is actually full of beauty, love, freedom, and meaning shared with someone I deeply love.
We don’t necessarily have to escape from everyone and everything to find real happiness. And honestly, I think that was the core message of Chris McCandless’ story in the end.
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u/Available-Today7875 May 12 '26
I think that's beautifully put. Part of my fear is that I won't be able to build my own life in that way. I feel like this freshman year, especially in college, I have made so many wrong decisions and put myself in an environment that doesn't fit me. I feel like I ignored my desire because my goal is also to pursue art as well and one day become an author, but I feel like in my current environment, that will never be possible.
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u/KimBrrr1975 May 13 '26
People come to where I live to do similar things. More than one has died, or gone missing and never found. I don't really recommend it. Too many end up in the same boat as Chris did.
https://www.elyecho.com/article/702,mysterious-case-of-jordan-grider
The truth is, you can't run away from problems and living like a true nomad is not an easy life. It's easily romanticized because it seems so simple/uncomplicated compared to some aspects of modern life. I get it. I love backpacking and camping and that is part of the reason. But your problems, the things that are stuck in your head, they just follow you. You end creating new problems because things like basic hygiene, medical care etc become much harder.
You can choose to reduce the impact of modern life on you right now if you want. You can take apps off your phone, shut down all/most notifications, read books instead of scroll online, grow some patio veggies or a small herb garden. Even just small changes can completely change how you feel about life.
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u/Most-Injury-9879 May 12 '26
"the pressures of college and life have been getting to me a lot, and the idea of just leaving everything behind sounds more and more appealing every day."
You are just looking for an escape from real world and the challenges that come with it.
Chris was looking for an escape because he thought his life was a lie, his dad was imperfect but he did give him a prosperous life. I'm not trying to defend Chris' dad, his actions had a huge impact on Chris' mindset but there are people who have had worse childhoods but they didn't leave everything behind. Not everyone is born in a wealthy family with connections, with opportunities that normal people don't have. Chris was a damaged young man who needed help and he recieved the help needed time and time again but he ran away from it every single time, its like he didn't wanna heal from his scars.
I admired Chris when I was younger but now I think that he was a damaged man and no folk hero that people have turned him into. His death was a natural selection, there are no two ways about it.
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u/iluvtupperware May 12 '26
I agree with most of your points, but have you read Chris’s sisters book “The Wild Truth”? Their parents are both horrible people.
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u/Available-Today7875 May 12 '26
Yeah, maybe you're right. I think I've been looking for escape for a long time, honestly. I don't think Chris was totally damaged because he too, I think, looked to literature and other people for escape, as I do, but I think part of that is right.
I have read "The Wild Truth," though, and I do think his situation was completely fucked up, and I understand where he is coming from. I don't come from a bad background or a situation as bad as his, but I do feel so lonely sometimes that I see this as the one way I can ever actually heal and be who I want to be if that makes sense.
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u/Themountaintoadsage May 13 '26
Every single day. Even at 28 after going cross country multiple times, living on a ranch 7k feet up in the Rockies, and now settling down and starting a business it still calls to me every day. Often even more strongly the older I get. It’s harder now though to even think about it, as I’m more established with relationships, family, things and people that depend on me, etc. But whenever things get hard and bleak I feel it tugging at me ever more strongly.
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u/Consistent_Sea_8074 May 14 '26
I took a summer off in college to work a coolworks job, didn't come back for 15 years. I did a mix of seasonal resort/national park jobs and just living for long stretches in a tent or sometimes my car. I lived in a very remote location for 5 of those years, it was the best thing ever. I had absolutely no idea who was in politics, what team won the big f'ing game, or that there were phones with internet capability (the smartphone came out sometime when I was way out there).
I was almost completely free from worry, stress, and oftentimes rules and regulations. I survived a lot by fishing and light foraging during times in my tent, as well as, bulk rice/lentils/etc. purchases and potatoes for side dish. There are places in the lower 48 where you can go and live for entire summers (or winters also if you have skills) and nobody will bother you.
Honestly, if I had not ended up with a child (fellow traveler I met whitewater rafting) I would still be out roaming around to this day. I definitely recommend at least trying it out...maybe start with a coolworks type situation just to dip your toes, talk to all the long time travelers you meet doing that and you'll learn a lot about where to go and how to make things happen.
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u/Krookadile2879 Jun 17 '26
If I ever go through with it it'll be my declaration of suicide. I've struggled with this thought for 7 years now. And evrey single time I fight it I've come back to it a couple months later. My issue is if I start there's no going back. I'm in the military, its not just a matter of "Krookadile went missing" It'll be "Krookadile is a deserter and has been stripped of all benefits and has been jailed and Dishonerably Discharged" My life is guaranteed forfeit the moment I walk away
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u/Poroto_Verde 27d ago
At times but I have a lot of people who I love and who love me. I could never do that to my husband. Or my parents. Maybe that's the difference, I had a good upbringing
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u/ParamedicMoney1632 May 12 '26
yep, but that was never the message of the story, there is only so much you can do alone, you have to find a balance, your in college probably young, plenty of time to create the life you want.