Krakauer did make a pretty big deal about Chris not having a good map and how a good topo map would have indicated the presence of a gauging station about a mile down the Tek River from the trail crossing. Couple thoughts about that....
Chris had been on enough back country trips to know that detailed topographic maps were available for the whole country. If he had wanted to he could have easily bought a map in Fairbanks or at Denali Park headquarters. I don't think he wanted to have a detailed map with him. He was a minimalist looking for adventure. In his romatic mind the less info he had the greater the adventure.
Even if Chris had brought a topo map that doesn't mean he would have known from the map that a cable car existed. If he had brought a "section map" (they are smaller scale-divided into one mile wide squares) he would have seen the notation of a "gauging station" down the Tek. The quadrangle maps (quad maps are divided into 6 mile wide squares) that I've seen didn't show the gauging station. So, he would have needed a small scale section map and he would have needed to know that the gauging station included a cable car. (By the way, the Savage River also had a cable car which was not indicated on any map I've seen.) Krakauer also seems sure that the cable car would have been on the west side of the river where Chris could have used it. He assumes this because the cable car was on the west side when he went there one year later. Krakauer also assumes that Chris was physically capable of operating the cable car.
Krakauer notes that Chris did have a road map which showed the Stampede trail. Any map that showed the Stampede would have also shown the Denali Park Road to the south of the outer range. It would have shown the bridge crossing the Teklanika River. But, there was no marked path or gravel road leading south from the bus so Chris would have needed to do some real bush whacking to get over the outer range and down to the Park road.
When Chris walked out and found the Teklanika to be running high and uncrossable he may have looked up and down the river for a safe crossing. How do we know he didn't?
The problem is that when the Tek is really high all those channels can flood together and become one. There really isn't a safe place to cross without swimming until you get miles upstream through the canyon to the Park road bridge. And high water means he couldn't even walk on the flooded gravel bars. He would have been forced to walk in the wet, mossy taiga woods and climb around the steep banks. As Krakauer noted, Chris probably thought it was best to return to the bus and try to walk out sometime later.
Which brings us back to the question of why didn't he try to walk out later? Or do something other than leaving a note on the bus to initiate a rescue? Perhaps he was too physically debilitated to walk out. Starvation must also affect mental capability, too. Maybe he just got so weirded out that he couldn't think straight.
I was watching a movie called "The Edge" the other night. Anthony Hopkins and Alex Baldwin are in a plane crash and are lost in the woods. Alex is freaking out and Hopkins says to him, "Most people lost in the wilds, they die of shame. See, they die of shame. What did I do wrong? How could I have gotten myself into this? And so, they sit there and they die. Because they didn't do the one thing that could have saved their lives...
THINKING."
FAQs
Chris was likely afraid of crossing the river because of his prior experiences. He almost drowned twice that we know of, one was at Detrital Wash during the flash flood, the other was in the Gulf of California during the storm. He told Jim Gallien that he was afraid of the water, and mentioned the storm in Mexico.
What happened in chapter 18 of Into the Wild? ›
In Chapter Eighteen, Krakauer examines the mistakes and reversals that colored McCandless's final days in detail, providing a final series of implicit answers to his investigation of McCandless's fate and concluding Into the Wild's primary plot line.
What had McCandless previously confessed to being afraid of? ›
McCandless was a weak swimmer and had confessed to several people that he was in fact afraid of the water. Attempting to swim the numbingly cold torrent or even to paddle some sort of improvised raft across seemed too risky to consider.
Who has a crush on McCandless? ›
When Christopher McCandless visits Jan and Bob in their trailer park in California, he also meets a young girl named Tracy staying there with her family. Though Tracy has a crush on Christopher, he cannot take her seriously because she is so young.
What is Alex afraid of into the wild? ›
As the truck lurched over a bridge across the Nenana River, Alex looked down at the swift current and remarked that he was afraid of the water.
What does Chris's SOS note state? ›
In the name of God, please remain to save me. I am out collecting berries close by and shall return this evening. Thank you, Chris McCandless.
On what did Chris blame his weakness? ›
On July 30th, McCandless wrote in his journal, “EXTREMELY WEAK. FAULT OF POT[ATO] SEED. MUCH TROUBLE JUST TO STAND UP. STARVING.
How did Walt and Billie react to Chris's death? ›
In the epilogue of Into the Wild, Krakauer describes traveling with Chris's parents to the site of the bus where he died. Billie and Walt have been devastated by their son's death, but they are both glad to see where he lived and died. They take in small reminders of his presence there and leave a plaque in his memory.
Why did Chris regret killing the moose? ›
Chris regretted killing the moose because the only way to make it's death morally defensible was to eat every single piece of meat on it's bones and he knew how difficult it would be to preserve all of that meat. His speculation came true when maggots infested the meat and so it had spoiled.
What ultimately killed McCandless? ›
Chris Mccandless did not die from starvation, he stumbled apon a bush with berry's that seemed edible but turned out to be the cause of his death because the berry's were in fact poisonous.
His body weighed only 67 pounds. Chris had written one final note that he was photographed holding before his death. The note read, "I have had a happy life and thank the Lord. Goodbye and May God bless all!" His journal was also eventually found with his last entry being, "beautiful blue berries."
How did McCandless react to the flash flood? ›
Instead of feeling distraught over this turn of events, moreover, McCandless was exhilarated: He saw the flash flood as an opportunity to shed unnecessary baggage. He concealed the car as best he could beneath a brown tarp, stripped it of its Virginia plates, and hid them.
How did Chris McCandless feel about nature? ›
To really understand McCandless motives for going into the wild we have to turn to the book the movie is based on. Author Jon Krakauer explains McCandless quest for nature not only as a search for the beauty and quietness of nature, but also as a desire for danger. McCandless wanted to escape from safety and security.
What mistakes did Chris McCandless make in Into the Wild? ›
After killing a moose (no small feat with the pea shooter he was carrying), McCandless failed to properly preserve the meat and it spoiled. Slowly starving to death, he tried to run, but found the river was now too high to cross. Had he brought a map, he would have seen there was an avenue of escape with a day's walk.
Why did Chris McCandless not wear socks? ›
Chris McCandless did not like to wear socks; he felt confined in them. He demonstrated Transcendentalism through reduce dependence on property, self-reliance, and nonconformity. Chris McCandless utilizes the transcendental key self-reliance throughout his journey.
