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I don't remember spending a lot of time in the "wild" when I was a kid. My family didn't have any nearby adventure-worthy locations when I was growing up. The only thing I would typically do was get together with my friends and go a nearby park.

Every year when I was growing up, my family would gather together and we would spend the day in the mountains. Playing would be so much fun for me because I didn't get experience different types of environments very often.  I moved to Illinois when I was around 12 years old, and it was quite the experience. Getting to experience a different way of life was really enjoyable. Fortunately, my aunt enjoyed traveling and discovering new places, so I frequently tagged along and would have so much fun. Now I'm back in California and I haven't been able to experience many "wild" times.

I would absolutely like to explore the wilderness more as I become older. Going outside and being able to unwind in nature is something I really enjoy.

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Summary: Christopher Johnson McCandless was a young man that wanted more in life. Chris decided to settle off into the wilderness not taking the problems he can face later on very serious. He was determined and nothing was stopping him. Chris would go on to meet Jim Gallien. Gallien would tell stories to try to knock some sense into Chris, but he was just too excited and nothing was stopping him. Chris only had limited resources, which he thought he would be set to go.

Analysis: I know Chris is determined and I do like the mindset he has, but he really needed to stop and really think about what he was doing. I wish he would've been more prepared before doing setting of into the wilderness.

#ReadyToGo #Determined #NoStop

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Summary: This chapter begins by discussing the experience of arriving at Fairbanks City Transit System Bus 142. Ken Thompson and a few others that he knows set out for the bus on September 6, 1992. Their journey through the trail was no easy task and they faced difficulties, but they finally arrived at the bus in the late afternoon. They came upon a guy and a girl that haven't been in the bus, but seemed spooked. They found an SOS note that was written in August. The bus was examined through a window by Samel and he saw a blue sleeping bag that appeared to have something in it. He walked around to get a better look and saw it was Chris McCandless's which was dead. The Alaska State Troopers took the body to Anchorage where an autopsy took place. The remains weighed 67 pounds at the time and they believe the cause of death was starvation.

Analysis: You really have to stop and think what Chris was feeling as he was losing hope day by day. Knowing he's done for unless someone comes to help must be such a horrible feeling.

#RIPChris #Hopeless #DoneDream

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Summary: In this chapter Chris seems to face many problems along his journey. As Chris continues his path he is forced to leave his Datsun (p.26) behind due to a thunderstorm. Luckily, he was able to save his belongings (p. 28) before the thunderheads swept it all away. Instead of feeling  distraught (p.29), Chris saw this as a way to get a fresh start and continued his journey on foot. After some time he would meet a man named Crazy Ernie in northern California that would offer Chris some work. Chris soon realized he was not going to get payed so he left. After all of that Chris got a hitchhiking ticket that would eventually reach his parents. Regardless, Chris would head south to Mexico and face even more difficulty. Chris encounters officials (p.34) that let him know hes been going the wrong way and end up giving him a little assistance. After all of the adversity he would face with law enforcement (p.31) and so many other problems, he is still finding a way to continue.

Analysis: I just find it crazy how Chris was still finding ways to keep going with all the difficulty he was facing. Its kind of funny to think about all the problems he faced with law enforcement when we know he does not like them.

#KeepGoing #NoStop #OnFoot

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Analysis: This chapter starts of talking about Chris and what his life was like before all of these events. We really got to see what he was like and it was quite interesting. In 1991 Chris would move locations and get a job (p.39) working at McDonald's. Chris had some weird thing about wearing socks (p.40)  and couldn't stand them. His coworkers had mixed feeling about Chris. He never got fired because he was dependable and showed up everyday. He would eventually quit working there. Chris would experience a different type of life then he was going for. It was nice to see  be around those people. He was real friendly (p.44) and did a lot of socializing (p.44) surprisingly. Chris would do calisthenics (p.44) to prepare what was ahead of him.

Analysis: It really was nice that we got to see what Chris was like around other people socializing. And I was really surprised when we were reading and it was talking about Chris working at McDonald's. I would have never expected that haha.

#SocksRule #QuarterPounder #Workout

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Summary: In this chapter we got to learn about Ronald Franz and the horrible tragedy he experienced on New Year's Eve 1957. Ron would unfortunately lose his wife and son in a car accident that night. This would ultimately lead Ron to experience really tough times after that and started to hit the whiskey (p.50)  hard. Later on Alex and Ron would start getting closer and closer overtime. Maybe a little too close because Ron ended up asking Alex to adopt (p.50) him which made Alex uncomfortable. Alex wrote a letter (p.56) to Ron to give him an update and thank him. Alex also gave advice to Ron because he really wants him to change his current situation. Ron would end up taking his advice. When Ron was out there, these hitchhikers he ran into would inform him on what happened to Alex. They knew this because they read a magazine (p.48) about it. Ron was truly destroyed from these news that led him to drink after so long.

Analysis: So much happened in this chapter and I was not expecting that at all. It truly is sad knowing Ron went through all of this.

#Lonely #Change #ShatteredHeart

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Summary: This chapter really surprised me. We got a better understanding of what McCandless was like. So in this chapter we find ourselves in Carthage, South Dakota. Krakauer was down there to interview Westerberg, Gail Borah, Mrs. Westerberg. Most of them had known Alex somewhat well and they went on to describe what he was like.  They talked about a little bit of everything but what really stuck out to me was his sex life. Or not really :/ . Surprisingly Alex died a virgin. I guess it will remain a mystery as to why Alex decided to stay away from all of it.

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Summary: Jon Krakauer uses this chapter to show his readers that other men have come to their demise (p. 70) on Alaskan adventures, even if the circumstances are a bit different from those of Chris McCandless.  First up is Gene Rossellini, the modern day caveman!  Gene heads north from the lower 48 in the early 1970's.  He's a super intelligent guy looking to test himself in Alaska ...sound like anyone we know??  Well, "the mayor of Hippie Cove" as Gene is called lives a prehistoric existence, testing himself to see if modern day man can live in the same way as the cavemen did it back in the day. Gene tries his hardest, but sadly writes, "I learned that it is not possible for human beings as we know to live off the land" (p. 75) before plunging a knife through his heart when he realizes the true extent of his failure (p. 75).  Next up is crazy John Waterman.  Lots of similarities to Chris:  he's from the D.C. area, has MAJOR issues with his dad and is super smart.  John is an accomplish climber and alpinist (p. 79) before he starts losing his marbles, running for president of the United States on a platform to end hunger.  SPOILER ALERT:  He doesn't win the election!  Anywho, John comes unhinged, decides to climb the most difficult mountain in all of Alaska in the dead of winter and is never heard from again.  Alaska state troopers believe he probably fell down a crevasse (p. 80) to his death, although his remains were never found.  And last up is poor Carl McCunn.  Another transplant from the lower 48, Carl is the life of the party - just like Chris.  Good guy, fun to be around, charming, but lacks common sense & thinks someone will bail him out if he ends up in trouble.  Similar to Chris, he hatches a plan to go off into the wild for a few months BUT he fails to set up an Uber (think Uber plane!) to come back and pick him up.  The summer turns to fall and McCunn is starving and freezing.  But wait...a plane flies overhead and it looks like Carl is going to be rescued!!!  Unfortunately, Carl doesn't know that waving ONE hand in the air means you're good, no need to rescue you instead of throwing TWO hands in the air, the universal sign for HELP!!!  Carl is dying a slow and painful death by a mix of starvation and frostbite, so in his final diary (p. 81) he explains that he shot himself in the head to end his misery.  Guess Chris doesn't sound that crazy or unprepared after all, huh???

Analysis: Reading through these 3 stories really shocked me! I really wasn't expecting all of that. I personally think the 3 people from each story are quite cocky and full of themselves in a way. It also sucks that each of them go through a really rough ending in their lives. None of them go out peacefully which is heartbreaking because they all seemed so confident in being able to push through their goal.

#TWOHANDS! #DoneDream # HorribleEnd

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Summary: Another chapter about a dude who isn't Chris McCandless.  Everett Ruess shares many similarities with our main character though - he's a wanderer (p. 90), free spirit, well liked risk taker and lover of all things solitude and wilderness.  Everett is a bit younger than Chris when he begins his vagabond (p. 91) journey, dropping out of UCLA after only one semester to follow his dream (p. 96) of living a nomadic existence.  Unlike Chris, Everett focuses his travels in the southwest rather than north, but like Chris he also renames himself choosing the moniker Nemo after the character Captain Nemo in the Jules Verne classic Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. And yes, Nemo the fish we know today is named after that character, too!  While on a solo expedition in Utah, Ruess seemingly disappears, never to be heard from again.  A search party is sent to find him after he goes incommunicado (p. 93), but other than finding his donkey, some cave drawings/graffiti he made and pieces of his gear, Ruess was never seen again.  Stories vary on what happen to him - maybe he was a victim of his own reckless innocence (p, 97) and fell while hiking or possibly drown, but some speculate that he was murdered by Native Americans.  No one ever found him or his remains, so Everett's end remains a mystery.  Like Chris, Everett's passion for nature and adventure won out over a conventional life, yet neither man made it out of the wild...

Analysis: Okay I will say I do like how all of these guys are following their "dream" and doing what they love, but I mean c'mon man. I feel like they're taking it way too far. Anyway who am I to say anything, I'm not living their life so I don't understand the desire to do things like that.

#Passionate #TrueDesire #Determined

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Summary: This chapter made the readers a little more engaged which was nice. So in this chapter we learned that Alex died with a Santa Barbara towing company sweatshirt ( p.99) which was strange because the police called this company and they had no clue how he had acquired it. The police also received so many calls (p.100) from people thinking they had some type of lead, but nothing was turning out. Then later while talking to the police we learned he starved (p.100) to death. We eventually start to get somewhere when Westerberg informs them that he might have his social security number (p.100) and sure enough he did. The would lead to many other clues that would be very helpful. By the end of this Sam verified it was Chris and worried on how he would tell the parents their child was dead. (p.102).

Analysis: I really liked this chapter. It was a fast read but I did feel engaged trying to put the pieces together. Chris was a very clever man and I found it very funny when he put his name as "Iris Fucyu" haha.

#"IrisFucyu" #Clues #Detective

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Summary: This chapter really dives into the McCandless family. We get to see what the family was really like. Walt is a very hard working man and super smart, but very demanding (P.114). He doesnt really share a really special bond with anyone and would fight (p.  ) with Billie often. Walt got a job at NASA when Chris was six and moved to Virginia, but would eventually quit just four years later. Walt and Billie would then start their own company and had a pretty rough start. This wouldn't benefit the kids because they didn't get much attention. Chris was very good academically (p.109)  and was a good protective brother. He was also good with sports ( p.110) and took them very seriously. Chris was not a fan of college (p.114) but attend anyway because his parents convinced him. Chris graduated in 1986 and would continue his journey.

Analysis: Its too bad that Chris's parents worked so hard and didn't give much attention to the kids. I find it funny how Chris and Walt are kinda alike and like to do things their own way. I also respect Chris for working hard at everything he did.

#Athlete #Demanding #ScholarKinda

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Summary: This chapter starts off talking about Chris and his pictures. They realized he had some type of squint ( p.128) in his pictures for some reason which was odd. Then it moves on to Carine and focuses on her recovering (p.128) process.  Well kinda... She talks about how she thinks of Chris everyday and gets very emotional every time she's in the car and breaks down crying (p.128). She also shared some things about the family dog (p.128), Buck. It got really  bad to the point where she lost 8 pounds. In the end they get the ID (p.131) and verify.

Analysis: It's really sad to hear that the McCandless family had to go through all of this. I really do wonder what the outcome would have been if Buck was with Chris through all of that. I guess we'll never know :/.

#Buck #Doggo #Recovering

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Summary: To answer Billie McCandless' question at the end of Chapter 13 about why anyone would do what Chris did, Jon Krakauer flips the script and tells his own story of Alaska adventure.  At the age of 23, Krakauer decides to head to the great north to find himself not by living in the wild, but by climbing the major mountains in the 49th state.  He becomes obsessed with hiking Devil's Thumb, a very steep, challenging ascent on the glacier (p. 138) known as the Stikine Ice Cap.  Like Chris, completing this climb becomes the only important thing in Krakauer's life.  Chris obsessed over the bush, while Jon's obsession (p. 134) is this rare climbing achievement.  Much like he anticipated, the ascent is dangerous and potentially deadly.  Krakauer proceeds with caution during whiteout snow storms while crossing over delicate crevasses (p. 140) which could crack and send him tumbling down hundreds of feet.  On a beautiful May day, Krakauer decides that this is it, he must summon the courage and concentration (p. 142) he needs to summit this peak today or else...Even with the warm temps and sunny day, the ice is impenetrable and Krakauer panics (p. 143).  He can see the summit, but he can't reach it.  His only option is down.

Analysis: It's actually really cool knowing that the author of this book can relate to Chris in some type of way. He also shares the same obsession like Chris did with mostly everything he did in his life. Nice to see their passion and dedication.

#MountainClimber #DownYouGo #Obsessed.

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Summary: So Krakauer makes it back to his tent, all butt hurt that he didn't achieve his goal of summiting Devil's Thumb.  In a genius move, he decided to smoke a joint to make himself feel better since he's a bit depressed.  Well, he ends up setting his tent on fire causing it to vaporize one of the walls so the temperature inside drops by 30 degrees or so.  Good job, Jon!  Anyway, this causes him to think about his reason for running away to climb:  his volatile (p. 147) history with his father!  They have a very similar relationship to Walt and Chris - dad is stubborn, treats his son poorly, pushes him away with his medical school expectations (p. 148) since he himself is a doctor.  Yeah, I know: we've heard this story before.  Jon uses these complicated (p. 147) family memories as motivation:  he's going to attempt to summit the Thumb to prove his disbelieving dad wrong!  He fixes his tent by packing it with snow and forges a plan to begin his final ascent on a slightly "easier" side of the mountain, the southeast side.  At sunrise, he summons ALL of his courage and overcoming all of the terrifying (p. 150) obstacles, he finally makes it to the top - YAY!  He enjoys the view for a minutes, snaps a few pics, and begins his descent.  When he finally makes it off the mountain, he tells a few people what he did.  They aren't extremely impressed.  This makes Jon think about what he did and why he did it, causing him to say, "I thought climbing Devil's Thumb would fix all that was wrong with my life.  In the end, of course, it changed almost nothing.  But I came to appreciate that mountains make poor receptacles for dreams. And I lived to tell my tale" (p. 155). Years later when writing this book, he realizes that his hubris (p.155) pushed him to his limits to achieve his goal, but that the impact his possible death had on those who loved him would've been catastrophic.  This is why he believes that Chris had NO intention to die in the wild, that he was only chasing his young, irresponsible dream.

Analysis: I like that after all of what Krakauer went through, he was able to realize that climbing that mountain changed nearly nothing. It was nice seeing that he used all the bad going on around him and turning that into motivation to accomplish his dreams.

#DreamOn #NoLimit #GoalAchieved

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Summary: So in this chapter we're back to the book. Chris heads out on April 15, 1992  to continue his journey to Alaska from Carthage. McCandless was hitchhiking and started to face some difficulties along the way. Luckily he met a man named Gaylord Stuckey which was on his way to deliver a motor home (P.158) to a Fairbanks RV dealer. He wasn't allowed to pick up hitchhikers due to his company policies, but he took him the full way in the end. They would spend three days together and he described McCandless as real courteous ( p.159). They got to Fairbanks on April 25th and he goes on to buy McCandless a big bag of rice (P.159).  On the morning of April 28th he started walking and was surprised when a car stopped and it was Jim Gallien. He was dropped off and faced a few more difficulties. He eventually found the bus he would later die in. McCandless would have a really hard time hunting (p.164) in the beginning but would improve as time went on. He would also keep updating his journal. Later on he killed a Moose (p.166) which is just mind blowing knowing how big those animals are. Unfortunately  he didn't get much out of it because it got infected with maggots.  In early July he decides to head back to civilization but unfortunately can't...

Analysis: Man it really sucks Chris wasn't able to go back to civilization and had to wait there and suffer. It was nice knowing Chris had nice help along the way and he got meet all these new people. My mind is still blown about the Moose haha. How did this man manage to kill Moose?!?

#MagicBus #Moose #BigTimeHunter

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Summary: This chapter opens up by talking about Jon Krakauer and three others and how they tried to follow Chris's footsteps. These guys were actually smart enough to carry a map (p.173) with them which is VERY useful if you didn't know! These men continue their way down to the trail ( p.175) until they find the bus (p.174). When they reach the bus they begin to search it. They describe seeing the mattress he died on, little bones, books, etc... They ended up  making a fire outside decided to stay night. They respect (p.181) Chris and talk about him for a while. He did make a some mistakes (p.183) but these men don't share the same thoughts as others might on Chris's death in the forest.

Analysis: I respect these guys for going out and trying to get a better understanding on how Chris's death went down. Not to sound mean or anything but it does annoy me that Chris didn't have a map.

#MapsAreIMPORTANT #CarryAMap #Moose

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Summary: This chapter begins talking about Chris not attempting to cross the Teklanika River and how he decided to settle down and continue what he was doing before. He continued hunting (p.188) and surprisingly he got really good at it. Unfortunately the meat he was consuming was really lean (p.188) and he was burning more calories than he was eating, which was no good. McCandless would also keep reading and would leave a bunch of notes behind in his journal (p.189). The notes he wrote down let us know that he was having a really tough time. On July 30th he wrote down on his journal. MUCH TROUBLE JUST TO STAND UP. STARVING ( p.189). There are three different ways Chris possibly died. First, he was really hungry and ate really old plants that had became poisonous overtime. Second, He ate poisoned (p.190) seeds. Third, he ate the wrong plant that was filled with bad things.

Analysis: All of these a really rough ways to go. It sad to think that Chris knew his end was near and was letting notes behind. Those must have been a really rough last few days.

#StarvationSucks #NotesLeftBehind #SeedsSuck

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Summary: It was about ten months after Chris's death when Jon Krakauer goes with Walt and Billie to visit (p.201) the bus (p.201). Although they took a helicopter (p.200) they really wanted to walk the trail to see what it was like for their son. They were walking around trying to see what Chris was experiencing but after a while they walked into the bus. They explained how some of the belongings still smell (p.202) like Chris which is sad because he was gone (p.203). The parents left after a while.

Analysis: I personally liked that the parents didnt go right away and waited a while. I think it was a much better idea to wait so they would be able to clear their mind and have a way better visit.

#Gone #Visit #WayUpHigh

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Reading this book has truly impacted my life in a way. Im not much of a reader and I was not expecting a book to have a significant impact on my life haha. Few things I liked about Chris was he truly lives his life by his rules. There was no stopping this man. If he wanted to get something done he was going to get it done. Simple as that. I respect his work ethic and his determination. Some things that annoyed me was he was really confident and that screwed him over in the end. I know he’s not one to ask for help, but he should’ve knowing he had very limited recourses.

Chris McCandless has really given me the confidence to do whatever I want in life. Knowing that he followed his dream when he could have lived the perfect life just inspired me. He did what he loved and I respect that so much.

#FullRespect #Inspiration #FollowYourDreams

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The main goal I want as I get older is to travel and really experience life. Once I’m done with High School I plan to save up money and start living life. Growing up I didn’t travel much so I think that’s the main reason I have grown to appreciate it so much when I do get the chance to now. I love being able to see how the world works in different places. Hopefully I will get the chance to do so later on in life.

Recently I have picked up a new interest in photography. I was at a wrestling dual and my friend let me snap a few photos of the matches and I was instantly hooked. Ever since I have been looking up videos about this industry and it is so awesome. Maybe one day I’ll be able to travel and do photography at the same time.

#SayCheese #LiveLife #TravelFullTime