this woman/movie is going to kill people

I enjoyed the book and movie. I enjoyed Into the Wild (both book and movie) and I enjoyed "A Walk in the Woods".

I am into tent camping but I know there are other more experience people than myself (such as yourself). And even I couldn't believe the mistakes she made.

and then there's a scene where she's clearly putting up a tent for the first time. again, why wouldn't you check out how to use ALL of your equipment PRIOR to starting your hike?

You were watching the wrong film at the wrong time with a wrong mind. This was not a hiking movie, it was something else which you wouldn't grab.

What I get from your post:

"Look at me, I am an experienced hiker and so much smarter and more mature then everyone else."

Seriously, what exactly is your problem with the movie? The movie showed her being very unprepared because she was. And it showed what happens: You don't bring enough water because you rely on the tank in the desert --> it might be empty and you'll be lucky to find a dirty waterhole to get something to drink...or you'll die! You don't check your equipment e.g. the gas for the stove --> you'll be eating cold meals. You don't check your proper boot size --> You'll be in pain and lose toenails. ;)

Do you really think people will watch this movie and say "Hey, almost dying of thirst and all that sure looks fun. Let's go hike the PCT without preparing for it at all!!"

The movie tells a story, about one particular person, who exists in real life. And I think it does tell the story very well.

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Oh for fu#ks sake. You'd have to be a moron to take your post seriously. If somebody did emulate her; maybe they'd clean up the gene pool or learn something. It's respectful to let people figure things out for themselves ... even if they hurt themselves ... as long as they don't take someone with them. Duh.

I was an avid backpacker most of my young adult life and I can tell you that it was almost always some idiotic, egotistical male who would go off the trail, forget key survival items and put people in danger. Women hikers rarely do that. Ask any experienced packers and they'll tell you the same thing. I recall the famous and annoying Tom Brown, wilderness hiking teacher, said the same thing about women. It's the men who will most likely put folks in harm's way ... not the women.

Cheryl learned very quickly what mistakes she made, fixed them, and had the sense to have a water filter .... unlike the neanderthal males who were hunting.

We should ban all films that show drunken male morons who run around with guns injuring god knows what .... because they're too fu#ked up to know what they're shooting ... if we go by what you say. What film shall we start with? What about those guys stupid enough to go hunting in Deliverance .... in crazyville? Yup, let's ban it.

Good grief.

Apologies for not mentioning the quality of the film and answering an idiotic post. It's that kind of day.

Cheers!

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I completely agree. I haven't read the book but it seemed from the movie that it was kind of the point that she had no clue what she was doing and could have easily ended up dead. I would have liked the movie to focus on that a bit more. Why she decided to go out there with so little preparation.

The thing about other people doing this is a tough one. People will always do dumb things and I don't think writers and film-makers can take responsibility for that.

Lots of people look to the books and movies they see for inspiration to help them deal with their own lives. It's just a thing that we seem to do. Doesn't mean the books and movies shouldn't exist. You're right though - we all need to find our own inspiration and our own way of dealing with our problems, not copy someone else and try to get what they got out of it.

After Eat, Pray, Love became such a big deal, tons of women started trying to do the same trip. Elizabeth Gilbert was totally distraught about it. She said women would write her and say 'I'm so inspired, I'm going to do it to.' or 'I can't afford to do this trip, how will I ever get what you got'. She said she just kept thinking 'no, no, no, that's not the point. The point was not that particular trip, it was about just listening to myself and accepting. You can do that anywhere.' But of course, people don't want to do that, they want the 'Eat,Pray, Love' experience.

I think the problem is in the very first line of your post: former infantry. The military spent a lot of time and effort to beat the stupid right out of you, which is a luxury Cheyl didn't have, so she did a lot of stupid things. I'm guessing you had a lot of experiences saying, "The next time I come out here, I'm bringing an extra canteen," or whatever the case may have been. In the movie, this chick brought a bunch of books, and most of them were fiction.

I think she said she was doing five miles a day. For planning purposes, we used three miles an hour and at the end of the day, you had to dig a hole and you probably had to spend half the night on guard duty or awake in that hole.

If people really are influenced by this movie to go out and hike, then I think this movie is negligent in it's portrayal of the survivability of an inexperienced hiker undertaking a long journey of this nature. She did just about everything wrong and she still made it out alive, plus everyone was falling all over her.

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I'm just expressing my opinion.

You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas.

Do you understand that all the stuff you point out is deliberately included to show that she didn't know what she was doing? It's not a how-to video on backpacking. The whole point is that she went into it unprepared, and had to get strong and think on her feet to survive at all. The experienced hikers in the movie actually make fun of her (amiably) for bringing a houseful of stuff with her in her pack. Twenty years ago you couldn't go on the internet and find out all the stuff you needed to do to make a trip like this. An inexperienced hiker, doing it completely by herself, would just have to figure it out through trial and error, and that's what she did.

For a dollar, name three white people. . .