Not to defend Krakauer's latest theory, but this "grenade-lob" says as much about Craig Medred as it does about Krakauer. I've been reading (and often wincing) at Medred's articles for several decades. Before he became one of the main conributors to Alaska Dispatch, he was for many years the outdoors editor for the Anchorage Daily News. While he sometimes writes some good stuff, he also has a frequent tendency to go off in a flurry of outrage over some minor point or another. Medred also is certainly not above flogging a sensational sounding story, without really adding much (if indeed any) new info. For some reason known only to Mr. Medred, John Krakauer seems to have really gotten under Medred's skin.

That's really the gist of it. Most Alaskan's I know think Chris McCandless was just another dumb Cheechako who badly underestimated the dangers of Alaska. Whether or not sweetvetch seeds exacerbated his starvation is a moot point, at best.

Unfortunately, both Krakauer and Medred are both guilty of perpetuating this whole sad story. This only serves to encourage more dumb Cheechakos to make a "pilgrimage" to the bus.