"McCandless didn't conform particularly well to the bush-casualty stereotype. Although he was rash, untutored in the ways of the back country, and incautious to the point of foolhardiness, he wasn't incompetent-he wouldn't have lasted 113 days if he were. And he wasn't a nutcase, he wasn't a sociopath, he wasn't an outcast. McCandless was something else-although precisely what is hard to say. A pilgrim, perhaps."
Chapter 8. Page 85. Paragraph 1.
Krakauer believes that McCandless wasn't a crazy person. He was an explorer that would explore the true meaning of life. Life means something different to everyone and to McCandless, life was being with nature and enjoying her beauty with no noise, people, or vehicles. Krakauer had gone on many adventures that people would call him crazy to go on. He knows the feeling of having to do something that you've wanted to do your whole life. Krakauer can relate to this, because that is exactly what McCandless wanted to do. No matter how crazy people thought he was, he was going to accomplish the journey he had his mind set on even if it killed him. Krakauer has had his life in danger plenty of times and so what McCandless did wasn't irrational in his opinion. Krakauer was a pioneer in many ways and so was McCandless. It means a lot for Krakauer to call McCandless a pilgrim, because Krakauer has done a lot of things that were pilgrim like in his life. This is what makes the two so similar.
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