Into the Wild

As I was leaving work yesterday to prepare for the trek ahead, one of my coworkers told me that I should read the book Into the Wild. After checking it out on the internet, I took his advice and headed over to Blockbuster.

The movie is about an Emory grad who gives up all his worldly possessions and heads off to Alaska to live in the wilderness. He runs out of supplies and is trapped by the water from melting glaciers. He keeps a journal about his final days, in which he ends up starving because he is unable to provide for himself.

Last time before the trail I read a book that really got me pumped up. All this movie did was make me angry. It would have been more accurately titled if it was called Amateur Hour: One man's tale of being a douche. First of all, why would somebody give up all of their stuff? He gave away his savings account of $24,000. If he was smart, he would have used some of that money to buy a tracking device for the followers on his blog. Not only that, but how did he expect to survive out there without any navigational equipment or state of the art electronics?

If anything, Into the Wild made me realize just how prepared I am this time. I survived the first go round with only a shattered foot and bruised ego. But I lived. This time there is no telling how far I'll make it. I have been thinking about hiking back from Maine to Georgia if I can get the vacation time approved.