i thought the guy was an idiot. if you know you're going to die of chemical starvation because you ate the wrong plant you don't just sit there an wait. you start hiking out right away before your condition gets worse.
He did start hiking but the water in the river was getting too gnarly for him to cross, so he had no where to go, and not enough strength to build a boat. I am pretty sure the day he died he must have become enlightened and just accepted it. His notes refer to him talking about if he saw his parents, "What if I were smiling and running into your arms? Would you see then, what I see now?"
if he hadn't stayed and hunted exclusively around that bus but moved his camp and did his hunting in different areas he wouldn't have been driven to eat poisonous plants. critters aren't stupid. you hunt in one place long enough they'll avoid that place. i found the film irritating because the guy didn't even have common sense, much less any survival skills.
he waited too long. had he started hiking out as soon as he realized he had poisoned himself he might have made it. even if he couldn't cross the river he could have hiked along side of it and perhaps encountered help downstream, trappers, hunters, someone fishing or panning for gold. instead he just sat there waiting to die.
I love the book. I didn't know there was a movie. I don't think he was stupid. But he blindly walked into complicated terrain.
He should have had a plan. But then, that was the biggest part of his adventure I think- not having a plan. I almost went to Alaska a few times, I learned a few important lessons from others that had been there and done that and survived. Biggest lesson is to know your limits. Push the envelope if you can, but you can't go into a situation you're not ready for and expect to come out on top.
I watched the movie. I liked the movie. When he got to Alaska he didn't have any understanding of what he was getting into. He didn't even have snowboots. That guy that gave him a ride gave him his..But I thought he looked in the book after he ate the plants..Then of course he was stuck out there..
I liked the book and the movie, but I agree with the consensus here. The guy was an idiot. If he only had a simple map of the area he would have realized there was a hand operated bridge up the river only a quarter mile from where he tried to cross. Just complete stupidity.
