Dog, we're in total agreement about McCandless and Dustin Self not "doing" enough to be prepared for their adventure. I wrote that over and over, they were not experienced. Experience is what they were looking for, and they got more than they bargained for. For McCandless, it seems he was after a very ambitious experience similar to Lewis and Clark. Since he went alone, perhaps that would be Lewis or Clark.
I think it misses the point to call some of these people smart, others stupid, some heroes, and other others fools based on their level of experience or amount of supplies they had with them or how their adventure turned out. We could continue debating endlessly about IQ scores, level of education, wilderness skills, how many camels or donkeys they took. We could rank them by categories and play Monday morning quarterback forever. No thanks. All of them seem to be reasonably intelligent and it's impossible to be 100% prepared for what they took on.
Each one knew their adventure could turn into a life or death situation, but that's part of what they were after, the adventure of it. They all seem to have deep rooted motivation for their desire to escape society by connecting with wilderness. From that perspective, they are all quite similar. I think it explains the fascination with these stories - that youthful adventurous spirit that we all have (or had) inside us. People don't read these books and watch these movies to go over gear lists, IQ scores, and transcripts.
