Jgnat - thanks for those links. I'm going to read the material and yes, that's quite a story about Jaco Finley for sure. Sounds like his father at least made some provisions for him and his mom, the "country wife". The history of the people of the Canadian Rockies is something. My grandfather was raised by his older brother, an early park ranger, in the wild back country of Field. A few years ago, I made a trek to the little cabin where they lived, which is at the base of a mountain range that was later named after them. Parks is no longer maintaining the cabin and if I had money I'd love to fix it up as a memorial. It was quite a life they had, getting around the mountains on horse back and living in the extreme conditions of the mountains.
You mentioned Chris McCandless, for what it's worth, I read Jon Kraukauer's book about him 'Into the Wild' many years back. It's a short read and one of the best stories I've ever read. I highly recommend it. While the Alaskans beat McCandless up for being an idiot, which I can understand based on his plight, reading his story showed me he was also quite a remarkable soul and he did have quite a phenomenal understanding of nature, even though it took him in the end.
Many who try to get closer to nature in these extreme ways don't survive the call, and most of us don't understand their desires. But sometimes these people do raise awareness and leave behind a greater understanding of our natural world for others. According to Wiki, Grizzly Man educated 1,000's of children about grizzly bears, which to me is a thumbs up. It's species in peril - esp. in Alberta, where rednecks think nothing of shooting them (and every other wild animal) from the back of their motorized quads. One thing I know about "mountain men" is they all think they're smarter and better out-witting mother nature than the other guy.
(That being said if you see a bear get the hell outta there - lol.)