Actually, I see plenty of similarities between Reuss and McCandless, as does
Wikipedia's entry on Reuss See also
Christopher McCandless, subject of Jon Krakauer's book Into the Wild and later adapted into a film by Sean Penn (2007)
Carl McCunn, wildlife photographer who became stranded in the Alaskan wilderness and eventually committed suicide when he ran out of supplies (1981)
McCandless was not ignorant, he was well educated and very well read. He was simply inexperienced and took on more of a challenge than he realized. He studied the Alaskan backcountry in books, read survival tactics, had a gun, knew how to hunt, was taught how to butcher a kill etc etc, but he just hadn't ever done it. To not bring a map was a stupid mistake, but he was not a stupid or ignorant person. He was warned about the dangers by many people, but for an invincible youth pursuing the adventure of a lifetime, common sense warnings don't mean much.
Reuss walking off into the remote Utah desert in 1934 with two burros is not all that different in my opinion. He may have had some good cowboy skills, but it was still a dangerous adventure.
