The really sad part is what it says about his Education. Sorry but by the age of 13 I had taken both basic geography, a number of years of Outdoor education and what I learned in scouting by then.

By the age of 13 I had a clear understanding that US State of New Jersey which is located beside the US State of New York was not somewhere I could walk to whether with "two packs of cookies, trail mix, tortillas, honey and four bottles of water" or all the food I could steal out of my parents basement supply and a toboggan to haul it with.

He is alive because at least he did some basic planning and preparation. He carried a few Critical Items including a compass that probably saved his life. He failed completely in his attempt because he apparently could not read a map, possess a map or even download one from a computer, and his geographical education was woefully inadequate.

Most of the 13 years I know are computer literate, all he need to do go to go to Google Maps and ask for directions. It took me about 2 minutes: Snohomish County to Tom Brown Jr.'s Tracker School in New Jersey is a mer 4,662 Km or 2,897 Miles by road. He hoped he could cover that distance in "several months" let say 3 or 90 days. Thats 51.8 Km (32 Miles) per day. Even the best Infantry Platoon was was even in could not keep that pace up for 90 days.

I am hoping that a little while in "middle school" will be a good thing for him. He certainly has a bright future if he chooses to learn as much as he can from his wilderness experience.