* SLIGHT BOOK SPOILER *
What was most amazing was the fact that there was a USGS gauging station a few hundred yards from where McCandless tried to ford the river. At the station was a cable suspended across the river for a basket which was used to traverse the waters. When Krakauer visited the site, the seat was on McCandless's side of the river, so he could have had a chance to simply pull himself across if he had bothered to check.
If McCandless had possessed a topographical map, he might have known about it, but IIRC all he had was a road atlas.
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