What mistakes did Chris McCandless make that led to his death?

Answer 1

The most simple answer to this question is that Chris McCandless starved to death. It is undecided exactly why he starved however. In his book "Into the Wild," John Krakauer implies that a toxic alkaloid was present in seeds (named Hedysarum alpinum)McCandless which caused him to be unable to digest food and therefore starve. Since this theory was presented a number of contradictory theories have been suggested, for example that a different fungus R. leguminicola managed to grow on the seeds McCandless ate. Despite all this, a lot of forensic data states that Chris simply starved in the most basic sense, from lack of food.

Answer 2

He ate a potato seed that was poisonous

Hi! New person: according to "Into The Wild" by Jon Krakauer, he hypothesizes that it was the mold growing on the potato seeds that killed Chris McCandless, not the actual potatoes. Chris had survived in the wild for a long amount of time and, although it would be common to mistake poisonous potato seeds, had survived for a long time and so why, of all times, would he make that mistake after so many months? Therefore, he hypothesizes with scientific blah-blah that it was actually the mold growing on them. He also got rid of his map. When he was ready to leave he was unable to cross the river because it was too rapid and he was a bad swimmer. If he had had a map he could've seen that there were multiple ways to get across the river as well as multiple cabins that stored food he may have needed when he got poisoned.

He also brought a gun that, I've been informed, was just a little bit stronger than a bebe gun and he was pretty unprepared to hunt. He did survive off some hunting, but he was rather inexperienced.

He also had no idea what he was doing, proven by many other people who had lived in "The Bush" in Alaska and knew what it required and he went in with the minimal equipment. When he got there, he had planned to go deeper and truly 'live in the wild' but found himself incapable (because he was so incredibly unprepared) and ended up living in a bus that was therefrom a failed building project in Alaska.

He did address in a letter that he knew this trip could be fatal, but it didn't seem to bother him and even when he was about to die he seemed to have made his peace with it.