Doc,

While I may have chosen other words to say it, in essence, I agree with you. I think romanticize is the key word with the McCandless story. I have to admit that when I first stumbled upon the book and then to a lesser degree the movie, I was quite enamored with the whole notion. I was raised a city boy...lived most of my youth in Hollywood, but always had a great interest in the outdoors. The thought of saying screw it....and moving to Alaska was a pretty magnetic one, so its easy to see how so many others got caught up in the hype.

It's only after you dig a lot deeper in to the knowledge well, as to what it takes to actually survive in the kind of situation that McCandless put himself in, do you start to have the sentiment that you and I share now. I spent some time in Healy Alaska...which is the town closest to where McCandless died....the few locals that I spoke with are even more matter of fact than you were when it comes to expressing their thoughts on McCandless.

Proenneke is pretty much the polar opposite of McCandless and truly does deserve respect and admiration. I hope his story is one day told to a wider audience.