I read "Into the Wild" a few years ago when I first started traveling alone. I hoped it would help gave me a since of calm at a time in my life when things weren't. I, like Christopher McCandless, was trying to find myself and live in a world that I couldn't sometimes understand. It seemed the world was out to get me. But, his words (aided by author Jon Krakauer) helped things make sense. I thought of taking a similar journey. I was young, what did I know?

So, when I heard that the brilliant Sean Penn secured the rights to the book and planned on bringing it to the big screen, I was delighted. McCandless' story deserved to be told, especially by someone who would give his story justice.

However, I'm a bit concerned to hear that people are flocking to Alaska to visit the abandoned bus where McCandless died. It's not a tourist attraction! If you're inspired by the destinations in the movie or want to retrace his footsteps and try to understand why he did what he did and make sense of your own life, I commend you. But, for those interested in only checking his gravesite off their list of tourist attractions, I say to you, stay away. Go visit the Empire State Building and the Golden Gate Bridge. He believed in something. Something that's not listed in a guidebook and costs $22.95.

But the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports that local tourism officials are also concerned about insuring the safety of tourists who might come on their own seeking to see the abandoned bus near Denali National Park in Alaska where McCandless died. The remote site is out of cell phone range, reachable only by hiking the Stampede Trail and fording the Teklanika River.

The newspaper reported that Fairbanks tourism officials plan to include an article about the book, movie and trail in an upcoming 2008 visitors guide, but that the article will include a cautionary note about potential dangers.

Alaska is only one of many places featured in the film, directed by Sean Penn and starring emile hirsch as McCandless. Scenes from the movie include shots of Hirsch camping in the Gran Desierto de Altar, part of Mexico's Sonoran Desert; taking a tram to California's San Jacinto Peak; visiting a bar in Carthage, S.D.; kayaking Colorado River rapids, and crossing the raging Teklanika River. A clickable map at http://www.intothewild.com offers shots from the film, links, and information about McCandless' odyssey.