Into the Wild

[Strider]

About third of the way through now, but the Chris McCandless (Supertramp) movie is on SBS 1 right now.

[Strider]

Oh and I should mention [**Part of post removed by moderator**]

[KANANGRABOYD]

Oh Aiden guess what!!!??- I've actuallt been right to the spot and been to the Green Bus!!!!!!!!!!!
Let me find some pics!

[KANANGRABOYD]

Oh Aiden guess what!!!??- I've actually been right to the spot and been to the Green Bus, aka Magic Bus!!!!!!!!!!!
Let me find some pics!. I've got some somewhere - will find them for you!
I drove from Edmonton, AB, Canada up the AK highway, through Tok, etc to Fairbanks, then on to Healy then up through Denali, then up the Dalton Hwy through to Prudhoe Bay/Deadhorse, then back down to Denali, then across to Chicken!, AK and Top the World hwy through to Eagle, then up/across to to Dawson City , then Inuvik and then back down to Edmonton. At the moment my wife is living up in Inuvik, NWT Canada.
Kinda creepy, but also veeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrryyyyyy popular to visit that area after the movie came out.

[KANANGRABOYD]

Im a super apple!

[KANANGRABOYD]

Where are the *&%$#! animals now, where are they, I'm *&%$#! hungry, I'm *&%$#! hungry!

[Drifting]

He he he he.....

Should have hooked up with Grizzly Man.

[KANANGRABOYD]

He he he he.....

Should have hooked up with Grizzly Man.

or what about that crazy guy with the long mullet, that made a transformers like suit to ward of bear attacks - can't remember his name but him and his team were crazy, and hilarious!
lol- found it - this is a MUST SEE!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Grizzly

[Drifting]

He he he he.....

Should have hooked up with Grizzly Man.

or what about that crazy guy with the long mullet, that made a transformers like suit to ward of bear attacks - can't remember his name but him and his team were crazy, and hilarious!
lol- found it - this is a MUST SEE!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Grizzly

oh boy, I might have found a past-time for a rainy Sunday....LOL

[perfectlydark]

I saw the movie a while ago. Interesting but the lack of preparation was pretty startling. Still I dream of just giving it all up for that lifestyle...if only lol

[Drifting]

I guess the secret of the Chris McCandless mystique is that so many people secretly envy him- all but the end, that is. I'd love to do what he did, and have it work. But then, the people with THAT experience very get movies made about them.

[puredingo]

You can live that life, Drifting. There are no special requirements or regulations, it's not like you need to inherit the right to go live a solitude life in the bush. The fact is if McCandles DIDN'T die they wouldn't of made a (mostly fictional) movie about him either.

What about that Moose kill! talk about inhumane hunting practices, taking an animal of that size down with a .22 calibre rife...It's equivelent to being stood in front of a fire sqaud and exercuted by BB gun.

[perfectlydark]

I didnt think it was legal to do that though, unless you owned the land? National parks for example are for visiting, not living in (ignoring hunting for the purposes of debate etc)

[TerraMer]

(personal opinion )
Western society, which McCandless shirked, has it's traps, namely career, partners, children, car loans, property mortgage. If you have not fallen into these traps you can go into the wild for as long as you want, live free of responsibility, get off and stay off the grid, let your mind break free of the previously unchallenged values and fears that have been instilled by educational, religious and family institutions, meet the most amazing people and thrive in solitude when and where you find it.
I've been doing the "Into the Wild" thing on and off since 1990, before i read the book, with the occasional failed attempt to conform to get people off my back but the further you get away from society the easier it is to stay away.

The sound track is good

[perfectlydark]

Cheers for the input the topic truly fascinates me although is totally impossible (have 2 kids)

[Hallu]

I didnt think it was legal to do that though, unless you owned the land? National parks for example are for visiting, not living in (ignoring hunting for the purposes of debate etc)

Yeah it was probably illegal but so was his stunt on the Colorado river. Although the story "seems" beautiful, the man in itself and his actions felt pretty selfish and pretentious, towards the people he met or his family he left behind. Besides, he didn't quite respect the wilderness in the sense that he didn't fear it. Sure you can go and live in the bush like indigenous people, but not until you've practiced and learned how to collect your own food and water, how to build a proper shelter, how to cure illnesses with medicinal plants, studied the topology of the area, and gathered information from locals : he refused to do all that, he just thought a book and some rudimentary tools were enough. Had he been rescued and returned to his family, I doubt the story would have had the same romanticism, he would have been catalogued as a young fool.

[perfectlydark]

Very true all of the above. I thought the river thing was a bit silly though, both the waiting list and his lack of self preservation!

[KANANGRABOYD]

You CAN do it - either full-time or just for a "season".
I spent 12 months living in that fashion in the High Arctic - mostly alone, and in a log/plywood cabin ( A local Inuit friend's) - the only thing I had extra was gasoline/petrol, and ammunition for rifle/shotgun. I resigned from my job, and wanted to see how easy it was to live up there and alone etc. I had a yearning to just "live off the land"
I had obviously modern luxuries as a sleeping bag etc, but the Cabin was rudimentary and plain. There was no nearby help. I had both an HF radio and also a Sat Phone for emergencies. I spent a full "season" up there by myself. Summer,Autumn,Spring, and Winter. I was visited a bunch of times and my visitors brought me nothing but petrol and ammunition, and also the odd food "treat", however hardly enough to add to my diet etc.. I had 3 firearms - a 12 gauge semi-auto shotgun, a Number 4 Mk II Lee Enfield .303 rifle, and a Ruger 10/22 rifle.
I also had an ATV ( an old 250cc Honda piece of junk), and a snow mobile ( Bombardier/Skidoo 500cc) and a small Zodiac inflatable with 25HP motor.( I took the Zodiac up by skidoo in spring and dumped it in a nearby lake, so I really had to leave it there until the following winter/spring, and then collect and take it back to Tuk. - Without these items, I could have still more than managed to fish/shoot/acquire food to keep me living - they just made life a lot easier. Had I had nothing but footpower I could have easily kept myself sated albeit have to expend a lot more energy to go to locations to hunt and fish. At times I had Caribou within feet of my door at the cabin. I had inquisitive seals come right into the creek to catch herring but also see what I was up to. Almost every lake up there is 110% full of fish - go on Earth and check out how many lakes there are up there, and they are all full of fish.To "harvest" ( yes shoot) Ptarmigan all I had to do is walk across the creek and go and walk around the small bushes and they would hang out there. Easy to shoot a dozen in an hour or two. Caribou come and go. They have patterns and also seasons. Somedays they were literally within feet of the cabin, other days they were a few km's. But consider 1 large male can provide a few weeks of food, and some days I could easily shoot 6 or more if I wanted. Seals were "extremely" difficult to catch. They have excellent eyesight, but their downfall is that they are super inquisitive - so come and investigate things and then you can catch them. That is in summer when the ocean is water. In Winter - it is a totally different game, and I was unable to catch even a single one.
Everything else I did was living off the land. I ate Arctic Char (Iqaluuk), Ptarmigan(Aqiggiq), Caribou and also Reindeer( Tuktu),Ringed Seal(ugyuk), Herring(Iituuq), Arctic Cod (ïgark), Lake Trout( Iviitauuq), Seaweed (kuanniq), Mussels/Clams (uviluk), Apiks (cloud berries), Blueberries, cranberries (kimminnaq). I also ate Nayaqs ( Sea Gulls), and their eggs.
I was living North of Tuktoyaktuk in the Northwest Territories of Canada. I will add a photo from Google Earth so you can actually see the cabin itself. The exact Google Earth co-ordinates are here: 69degrees 40'28.96"N 132degrees07'41.49"W

I also flew up my best friend at the time.He was living in Narrabeen in Sydney,NSW and I convinced him to come up and live with me for 3 weeks over the summer/fall. Later, at his wedding, he spoke about it and said it was "the best 3 weeks of my entire life".He has some issues with the weather, and also being a person who has lived his whole life going to a supermarket to get food, had some "difficulty" adjusting to shotting, skinning, gutting and preparing meat - Caribou.
Winter was quite difficult due to having to chisel through 8ft of ice to get through to water to fish, and also to get fresh water to drink. Although the local Inuit are quite adept at catching seals in Winter, for me it was almost impossible to learn in 1 winter. Fishing is easy - EVERY single lake is filled with fish, almost every cast you catch a fish, you can catch a few hundred fish a day if you want during summer. In Winter it is total hit and miss through a small hole in the ice.You can spend hours "jigging" through the hole and get either nothing - or tens of fish. But learning how to fish and where to fish certainly makes life easier.
In spring, Ptarmigan abound - you can catch 20+ a day easy. Also you can catch ( shoot) Arctic/Blue/Silver/Red Fox - and eat if you want, plus Arctic Wolf and Wolverine. - But I never ate them. Polar Bear in some places - 1 big male bear can not only provide clothing for many years, but enough meat for easy an entire Winter/Spring. However even though I came across numerous Nanook/Nanuq's - I never shot any. To be honest as a Qallunaq ( white man) - I would have to go through an "outfitter" and pay for a hunt. It costs US $50,000 +. I could have gotten around it by having my partner/girlfriend at the time saying "she" shot it - however I never had any real reason to kill one of those majestic and kings of the Arctic.
What McCandless did was irresponsible. He thought he knew it all, was ill prepared and in an area that suffered from big spring run off snowmelt etc.
Most people think "up North" is a wasteland, but actually it is much easier to survive up there than in many other places in the world.
I have travelled extensively throughout the Arctic - in Canada, Alaska and Greenland. The movie actually is based on an area around Healy - not "really" remote.
Anyone of you that read this should and I totally encourage that you watch the documentary about " Dick Proenneke" - I know many of you will have done this and when I hiked the 6ft trail a few months ago ( where I met the AWESOME Phil UL ) - what a great guy, I also on the first day in the Megalong at the 1st camp - met a guy and we camped together and got talking, we spoke about Dick - and I challenge anyone to say anything but "gospel" towards this guy -0 he is amazing.
Anyway I will post a tonne of pics of my 13 months living up in the wastelands, and way apart from any help - even though I had a sat phone etc - real help is a long way away ( depending on weather).
I also spent 9 months living in Grise Fiord - yes look it up - arguably the MOST REMOTE community in the world. Someone actually prove me wrong in terms of locality, population et al. When I was living and working there - 126 people in total - I knew them all.
What I am trying to say in this total post - is not to give myself any accolade, but try and explain that just like the movie - DEPENDING on where you are - you can easily live if you want - but the biggest thing I found out is that to live solo and "IN the Wild" you need to have a certain attitude, live in an area that support this kind of living etc. Here in Australia, the longest I have tried to live in a semi-wild scenario close to what I did up in Nunavut, was in Kanangra Boyd. I spent 6 weeks in total, I caught Trout, Yabbies, Tortoise,Macquarie Black Perch, and European Carp. I also almost managed to catch a feral pig by hitting it with an axe - other members of this forum can attest to this. Had I actually taken certain traps etc, I could of caught many birds, rabbit etc. - HOWEVER, I do not think for one moment hat it is easy.
Anyway would love to continue this topic - I'm no Bear Grylls et al - but I honestly think that you can actually live in the "wild" - but so much depends on what you have and where you are.
McCandless had a .22LR I think - under equipped for that area. Where he died at the Magic Bus near Healy isn't actually that far away from "reality". He was incompetent, idealistic and also just not equipped and not educated enough for that kind of life.
It is great to actually want to live the lifestyle, however you actually need to have certain skills to enable it.
Anyway, just my lil opinion........

Google Earth pic of cabin

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fresh caribou

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collecting wood from the shores of the Arctic ( beaufort sea) ocean

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[KANANGRABOYD]

few more

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A lil add for Macpac ( Tuatara) in the Arctic

Winter

Trout through the ice

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[perfectlydark]

Kman that is fascinating! Sounds like a rare unforgettable experience!

[Strider]

Are they Arctic charr in the second pic?

[KANANGRABOYD]

Are they Arctic charr in the second pic?

Aiden nope they are Lake Trout.
Here are Arctic Char.

[Strider]

I was close - all within the Salvelinus genus. I did my honours research on brook trout. Beautiful fish

[KANANGRABOYD]

I was close - all within the Salvelinus genus. I did my honors research on brook trout. Beautiful fish

Yes - Arctic Char are such beautiful, and majestic fish - and as for taste - do your research et al - they are by far one of the MOST sort after fish in any good restaurant in north America and Europe.
I never got sick of eating them.
Also as a fisherman - holy Toledo they were awesome fighters on light gear - especially the ones that were coming in from the ocean into the streams.
Don't even ask me to talk about the Inuit and using spears, "kakivaaqs" to catch them.... cause that is another whole world.
If you want to know..
My BEST DAY OF FISHING-: 10 of us in Taloyoak, Nunavut going out to a big lake, in August, caught over 500 Lake trout ( most over 5-6 pounds) in about 6 hours in 1 day. Yes we kept all the fish - I took almost 100 fish myself in big plastic buckets, back to town ( Taloyoak) and gave out to elders and friends.I gave fish to elders that needed them, as they had no access to fishing et al. I never fished just to catch a record fish!.
Arctic Char are one of the most sort after fish on the commercial market in the world,as they are only found in the Arctic and also only at certain times in the year. Lake trout - Ivitauuq, are almost the same, however Arctic Char - Iqaluuq - are more red flesh like Salmon. For those of you that don't know - Arctic Char are likew the best Salmon flesh x 100 in taste, and they are MASSIVELY sort after in Canada and the US. The 2 commercial places I know of personally are in Pangnirtung on Baffin Island and also Cambridge Bay in Nunavut. - There are many other places to catch these amazing fish like in Kugaluktuk ( Coppermine) - but the best places are in the remote places in the Eastern Arctic - so remote - but places I have lived - every cast a 10kg fish - no joke, almost ridiculous, almost crazy........

[Giddy_up]

I agree KB, I had the pleasure of doing some ice fishing on a winter sojourn into Canada a few years back and we caught a couple of Char. They were not as big as that one but they were delicious.


"Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards"

[puredingo]

I'm glad you didn't knock a polar bear off, I stick strickly to the rule never eat another carnivor...in fact i think most animals do?

Looks like a great adventure, I'm green with envy I never got the oppertunity to do something like that. Although I do live a little like that from day to day here but i guess the difference is if all fails I can always shoot down to Westfeilds for a thickshake...That and I don't need 18 jumpers on to go fishing!

[GPSGuided]

Incredible story Kanangraboyd! Really enjoyed reading it. Thanks for sharing.

[Travis22]

As the others have said Kanangraboyd, thanks for sharing your experiences with us. What a magnificent adventure.

Have you got more photos online from your times spent living in the 'wild', id love to see them.

Like Puredingo, im green with envy. I do my best, usually heading into the high country a couple of times a month but with a wife and recent addition of a child i dont think ill have any similar opportunities any time soon.

Travis.

[perfectlydark]

Its not always fun and games


http://mobile.news.com.au/world-news/ph ... 6705355671

[andrewbish]

Recent thoughts on the cause of death of Christopher McCandless

http://www.outsideonline.com/news-from- ... cebookpost