[pct-l] Into the wild

[Don Billings]

I'm not sure why the topic is something to be ignored. Its something that people can learn from at a minimum.
i.e. people get trapped / people die. Same as John Donovan who died from exposure only a few miles above Palm Springs. 
He was close to safety, also, but was trapped by cliffs and died within sight of city lights.

Your maps of 2 years ago does not necessarily equate with the maps of Chris's time frame. The ranger cabin you
mentioned was in the documentary but that doesn't mean it would have offered anything other than shelter.
It sounds like you're assuming there was a radio or telephone or food there. I think you might even be assuming
that a ranger was on duty there. All assumptions. The bus was shelter just as much as a cabin.

Chris also mentioned in his note that he was injured. You don't know what kind of injury it was nor whether 
it would have precluded him from hiking 20 miles. The documentary took that injury into consideration
and suggested it may have been the reason he didn't try to ford the river. After all, its better to try and
make it across the river despite freezing temperature water and flood level... rather than starve to death.
But he didn't try. Or he couldn't due to pain.

And as I said, I'm not sure where the idea came from that he didn't have a map. The police didn't even
find his backpack even though it was right there in the bus. So, you may be leaning on an urban rumor.
Maybe he had one and it was lost or damaged beyond use?

Personally, I think he mustered the courage to do something most young guys only dream about. The
very fact that he took photos of himself for his family as he neared death was a far greater thing to do
that most of his critics could ever accomplish. He just gambled and lost.