A nihilist? If you think Christopher McCandless was a nihilist I don't think we share the same conception of nihilism. Nihilism is the philosophy that says reality contains no values what so ever and that what we think are values are just an illusion. Christopher McCandless clearly has values, a lot of them. His adventure inlcuding Alaska, freedom, all the people he meets etc etc...But it's fair to admit that McCandless was irrational to some exstent. His visit in Alaska was after all not well planned and it led to his death. Although you cannot deny that he lived a happy life, into the end. A