The Magic Bus

 

This is the bus, home to Christopher Johnson McCandless, a young American adventure seeker. The story began in 1990,  when 22 year old Christopher (aka known as Alexander Supertramp :) ) decided to leave school and his family to travel around the western states of USA.  On his final quest, "Alex" hitchhiked to Fairbanks, Alaska at the head of the Stampede Trail near Denali National Park.  He brought with him few supplies, not even a simple compass.  He did bring several books, a rifle, minimal camping gear, and thankfully, a pen.

After hiking for a few days,  he stumbled across an old abandoned bus used as a hunting camp in which he used for shelter to begin his stay living off the land, which was a life long dream for Christopher.  Initially he was successful at hunting small game and even a moose (in which he failed to preserve properly leaving it to spoil).  During his time in the bus,  he kept a journal for 122 days expressing his successes, failures, failing health and his emotional condition.  Eventually, wild game was no where to be found and he had no food options other than picking berries and small plants.  He attempted to hike back to the highway after living in the wild for 3 months but the Teklania River he initially crossed was considerably higher and swifter then when he crossed in April.  Unfortunately, he was unaware there was a hand-operated tram that crossed the river less than 1/4 of a mile away.

He lived on the bus 113 days until he died of starvation at the age of 24.  He weighed only 60 pounds.  His body was found a little over 2 weeks after his death.   His story was initially published in Outside magazine and later adopted into a major film, Into The Wild, starring Sean Penn in 2007 with Emile Hirsch portraying Christopher . It was also the subject of a documentary by Ron Lamothe, The Call of the Wild. Some articles suggest he may have been paranoid and possible from schizophrenia..  he obviously was ill prepared.  His passion, youth, dream, foolishness and idealistic heart has definitely left a mark on this earth.  The movie, from my perspective was quite enjoyable and his bus.. remains for unique photo opportunities.