On the 6th of September, 1992, a group of hunters on the Stampede Trail near Healy in
Alaska came across an abandoned city transit bus.
Thinking that it might make a convenient shelter for the night, they ventured inside…
only to be repelled by a terrible smell that permeated the vehicle’s interior.
Suspecting the worst, the hunters radioed local police, who came out and searched the
bus.
They found the remains of a man who would later be identified as Christopher McCandless
– an individual with a fascinating life, and a legacy which has lasted for decades
after his death.
Christopher McCandless was born on the 12th of February, 1968.
Even from a very young age he was a bright and energetic boy.
He read widely, with his favourite literature being the stories of Jack London and Mark
Twain.
Outdoor adventure was a common theme in these books, and also a massive part of Christopher’s
life.
From as young as eight years old he took part in hiking and camping expeditions that would
challenge children twice his age.
Although there were happy parts to his childhood, it is clear that Christopher’s relationship
with his parents was not a good one.
His siblings report that his father was a violent alcoholic, and that there was often
physical violence in the family home.
Christopher’s parents dispute these claims.
But, even setting any domestic violence aside, Christopher frequently found himself at odds
with his mother and father.
He abhorred their materialistic ways, and felt stifled by the vision they had for his
life.
He complained that they were detached from reality.
He didn’t want to live the comfortable, middle-class life they had planned for him.
He wanted to find his own, more meaningful path through life.
By the time he turned 22 Christopher was determined to get away from home.
After graduating from Emory University in Georgia with excellent grades, he finally
put this plan into action.
Without telling anyone of his intentions, he donated the vast majority of his savings
– around $24,000 – to the charity Oxfam, then burned the small amount of cash he had
left.
He packed a few possessions into his car – a much-loved yellow Datsun – and set off on
a road trip across the country.
For the next two years, Christopher drifted from place to place, enjoying a life of freedom
and adventure.
He lost his car in a flash flood, and resorted to hitchhiking.
He spent some months working on a farm, before taking off for the open road again.
He kayaked along the Colorado River all the way to Mexico, and then was briefly arrested
when he tried to re-enter the United States on foot.
And through it all, he left a distinct impression on everyone he met.
Some people found his determination and enthusiasm inspiring, while others were unsettled by
his restless energy.
Throughout these years, Christopher lived with very little money.
He often foraged for food, and would get around by hitchhiking and stowing away on freight
trains.
He tended to refuse offers of help from other people, preferring instead to rely on his
own resources even when this caused him significant hardship.
He repeatedly noted that he wanted to escape from society, and live his life to the fullest
out in the wild.
During this time he went by an assumed name: Alexander Supertramp.
In his journal he wrote a third-person description of his new identity…
“Two years he walks the Earth.
No phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes.
Ultimate freedom.
An extremist.
An aesthetic voyager whose home is the road.
Escaped from Atlanta.
Thou shalt not return, ‘cause ‘the West is the best.’
And now after two rambling years comes the final and greatest adventure.
The climactic battle to kill the false being within and victoriously conclude the spiritual
revolution.
Ten days and nights of freight trains and hitchhiking bring him to the great white north.
No longer to be poisoned by civilization he flees, and walks alone upon the land to become
lost in the wild.”
The wild that Christopher referred to was Alaska – a place where he intended to live
off the land for a period of several months.
By April 1992, he had hitchhiked his way there, securing one final ride to a trailhead outside
the town of Healy with a local electrician.
On hearing that he planned to hike off into the Alaskan bush, the man became worried by
Christopher’s lack of equipment and supplies, and offered to drive him into town and buy
him more equipment.
Christopher refused this offer, but did accept a sandwich and a pair of waterproof boots.
Adding these to his meagre supplies, he marched off into the wilderness, never to be seen
again.
After three days of hiking Christopher came across an abandoned Fairbanks City Transit
System bus.
The vehicle had been hauled out there in the 1960s to provide shelter for labourers building
a road in the area, and had been abandoned when the project fell through.
After sitting empty for several decades, the bus was now to become Christopher’s home.
Living off the land – even with the shelter provided by the bus – wasn’t an easy task.
Christopher foraged berries, hunted local wildlife, and at one stage even shot a moose…
although he was only able to eat a small part of its meat before it spoiled.
A few months on, with hunger setting in, Christopher made an attempt to return to civilisation…
only to find that the Teklanika River which he had easily waded across on his way out
was now swollen to the point that he could not possibly cross it.
He was, he realised, trapped in the wilderness.
Tragically, although Christopher didn’t know it, salvation was only a very short distance
away.
Just 800 metres (or half a mile) along the river was a cable crossing that he could have
used to get safely to the other side.
Unfortunately, with no maps and little knowledge of the area, he would never discover just
how close he had been to a possible way out.
Stymied, Christopher returned to the bus and soon posted a note on the door:
“Attention Possible Visitors.
SOS.
I need your help.
I am injured, near death, and too weak to hike out of here.
I am all alone.
This is no joke.
In the name of God, please remain to save me.
I am out collecting berries close by and shall return this evening.
Thank you, Chris McCandless.
August?”
Over the next few weeks he began slowly to starve to death.
There are various theories about how Christopher met his ultimate demise.
Some believe that he may have accidentally ingested a poison that made him too weak to
forage – others that he simply couldn’t find enough edible plants or game.
Whatever the cause, though, in the end it was a lack of food that ended his life.
He kept a diary until the very end, writing a few brief words to describe each day.
His entry for his 100th day in the wild paints a grim picture:
“Day 100!
Made it!
But in weakest condition of life.
Death looms as serious threat.
Too weak to walk out.
Have literally become trapped in the wild.
No game.”
There is no entry for day 113.
It is likely that this is the day when Christopher passed away.
Just 19 days later hunters would stumble across his body in the bus, the police would be called,
and by close examination of his writings and possessions, the full sad story would emerge.
Since the death of Christopher McCandless, this tragic narrative has been told the world
over.
Numerous books have been written, and in 2007 the story was adapted into a phenomenally
successful film.
Many thousands of people have described the way in which Christopher’s story resonated
with them, noting how it spoke to their desire to live more freely, to escape the constraints
of society, or to reconnect with nature and the wild.
At the same time, his actions have drawn criticism.
Some people – including Alaskan natives who live near the Stampede Trail – have
described him as foolish and naïve.
They point out how severely underprepared he was to live off the land, and how his vision
for his life may not have been realistic given his knowledge and abilities.
There is nothing that illustrates Christopher’s complicated legacy as clearly as the bus in
which he sheltered during his time in the wild.
It remained in place on the Stampede Trail for several years after his death, during
which time it became a popular attraction for people who had heard Christopher’s story.
Hundreds would hike out to visit it each year, writing tributes on the shell of the vehicle,
and leaving behind objects and messages in memory of Christopher McCandless.
Reaching the bus was, however, no easy feat… and over the years many would-be visitors
got into difficulty while trying to find it.
Some were simply underprepared for the hike, and had to be rescued after getting lost on
the way out.
Others reached the bus, but became stranded in exactly the way that Christopher had, with
the river rising behind them to cut them off from civilisation.
In 2010 a visitor drowned while attempting to cross the Teklanika River.
Nine years later another tourist also lost their life by drowning in the same spot.
By this time, local police and rangers were spending a significant portion of their time
rescuing people from the trail, and it was concluded that something would have to be
done about the bus.
In June 2020, an operation was mounted to move the bus.
It was airlifted off the trail and transported to a safe storage location, before finding
a permanent home in the Museum of the North at the University of Alaska.
There, tourists who admire Christopher’s philosophy are able to visit the bus without
taking on the risks and dangers of the Stampede Trail.
The legacy of Christopher McCandless is an unusual one.
He was a fiercely independent and courageous young man who lived life by his own rules.
But he was also extremely idealistic and underprepared for what he wanted to do – something which
ultimately sealed his fate.
His example, tragic though it is, has proved hugely inspiring to many, but deadly to some
who have tried to live by it.