Christopher Johnson McCandless (; February 12, 1968 – August 1992), also known by his pseudonym "Alexander Supertramp", was an American adventurer who sought an increasingly nomadic lifestyle as he grew up.
After graduating from Emory University in Georgia in 1990, McCandless traveled across North America and eventually hitchhiked to Alaska in April 1992. There, he entered the Alaskan bush with minimal supplies, hoping to live simply off the land. On the eastern bank of the Sushana River, McCandless found an abandoned bus, Fairbanks Bus 142, which he used as a makeshift shelter until his death. In September, his body, weighing only , was found inside the bus by a hunter. McCandless's cause of death was officially ruled to be starvation, although the exact circumstances relating to his death remain the subject of some debate.
In the January 1993 Outside magazine, Jon Krakauer wrote an article about McCandless. Inspired by the details of McCandless's story, Krakauer published the biography Into the Wild, which was then adapted into a 2007 film directed by Sean Penn, with Emile Hirsch portraying McCandless. On September 29 of that same year, McCandless became the subject of Ron Lamothe's documentary The Call of the Wild.
Early life Christopher Johnson McCandless was born in El Segundo, California. He was the elder child of Wilhelmina Marie "Billie" McCandless (née Johnson) and Walter "Walt" McCandless, and had a younger sister named Carine, born in July 1971. McCandless also had six half-siblings from Walt's first marriage, who lived with their mother in California and later in Denver, Colorado. In 1976, the family relocated to Annandale, Virginia, where McCandless's father was hired as an antenna specialist for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). McCandless's mother worked as a secretary for Hughes Aircraft. The couple established a consulting business out of their home, specializing in Walt's area of expertise.'Into the Wild' Chris McCandless' Sister Says He Was Determined to Cut Ties with Parents. Eric Johnson, Gail Deutsch, Jasmine Brown, Alexa Valiente and Lauren Effron. ABC News. 9 November 2014. Retrieved 1 March 2022
Carine McCandless alleged in her memoir The Wild Truth that her parents inflicted verbal and physical abuse upon each other and their children, often fueled by her father's alcoholism. She cited their abusive childhood, as well as his reading of Jack London's The Call of the Wild, as the motivating factors in her brother's desire to "disappear" into the wilderness. In a statement released to the media shortly before the memoir was released, Walt and Billie McCandless denied their daughter's accusations, stating that her book is "fictionalized writing [that] has absolutely nothing to do with our beloved son, Chris, his journey or his character. This whole unfortunate event in Chris's life 22 years ago is about Chris and his dreams."
In 1986, McCandless graduated from W.T. Woodson High School in Fairfax, Virginia. He excelled academically, although a number of teachers and fellow students observed that he "marched to the beat of a different drummer." McCandless also served as captain of the cross-country team, where he would urge teammates to treat running as a spiritual exercise in which they were "running against the forces of darkness ... all the evil in the world, all the hatred."
In the summer of 1986, McCandless travelled to Southern California and reconnected with relatives and friends. While he was there, McCandless learned that his father had lived for a time in a bigamous union with his mother who was his second wife; he had also fathered a child with his first wife after the birth of Chris and his sister by his second wife.
McCandless graduated from Emory University in May 1990 with a bachelor's degree in the double majors of history and anthropology. McCandless was an academic high achiever. After graduating, he donated his college savings of over $24,000 (approximately $ in ) to Oxfam and adopted a vagabond lifestyle, working when necessary as a restaurant food preparer and farm-hand. An avid outdoorsman, McCandless completed several lengthy wilderness hiking trips and paddled a canoe down a portion of the Colorado River before hitchhiking to Alaska in April 1992.
Personal life McCandless had a particular interest in classic literature. According to Krakauer, some of his favorite writers were Jack London, Mark Twain, Leo Tolstoy, and H. G. Wells. He was also heavily influenced by 19th-century American writer and naturalist Henry David Thoreau, and was engrossed by his essay On the Duty of Civil Disobedience. McCandless highlighted a section on chastity in Thoreau's Walden, which has raised questions regarding his sexuality. There is no indication of McCandless having any romantic partners throughout his life, and he is believed to have remained celibate. While staying in Niland Slabs, a 17-year-old girl made advances, but McCandless rejected them.
Travels McCandless left Virginia in the summer of 1990, driving a Datsun west in an apparent cross-country trip to California. His car was in poor condition and suffered numerous breakdowns as he made his way out of the eastern United States. He also carried no car insurance on the vehicle and was driving with expired license plates. By the end of the summer, McCandless had reached the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, where a flash flood disabled his car. Fearful of fines or possibly even arrest due to lack of a valid license, registration, and insurance, McCandless removed the car's license plates, took what he could carry, and kept moving on foot. His car was later found, repaired, and put into service as an undercover vehicle for the local police department.
Traveling northwest, McCandless then hitchhiked into the Sierra Nevada mountains, where he broke into a closed cabin to steal food, supplies, and money. Throughout the winter of 1990 and in 1991, McCandless appears to have lived in hermit camps with other vagrants in the Sierra Nevada region. He was suspected of burglarizing other cabins when food and money ran low, but only one case was ever positively confirmed by authorities after his death.
Mexico and arrest In early 1991, McCandless left the Sierra Nevada and hitchhiked in a circular course south through California, into Arizona, and then north to South Dakota. Completely out of cash with no means to support himself, he obtained a job as a grain elevator operator in Carthage, South Dakota. He worked at this job for the remainder of 1991, until one day suddenly quitting and leaving his supervisor a postcard, which read:Tramping is too easy with all this money. My days were more exciting when I was penniless and had to forage around for my next meal ... I've decided that I'm going to live this life for some time to come.McCandless then headed to Colorado, where he used money from his job to buy a kayak and kayaking gear as well as a handgun. He then navigated the Colorado River, without a permit, and was occasionally pursued by wildlife and park rangers who had heard of his exploits from other river travelers, several of whom had been concerned that McCandless had been seen white water rafting in dangerous areas of the river with no safety equipment. In all, sightings of McCandless were reported at Lake Havasu, Bill Williams River, the Colorado River Reservoir, Cibola National Wildlife Refuge, Imperial National Wildlife Refuge, and Yuma Proving Ground. The authorities attempted, but never succeeded, in locating McCandless, who was wanted due to his lack of proper river training as well as kayaking on the river without a valid boating license.National Park Service, "Papers and Working Files of NPS Employees" (February 2020)
McCandless eventually followed the Colorado River all the way to Mexico, where he crossed the international border through a spillway at the Morelos Dam. After encountering waterfalls, through which he could no longer navigate in a canoe, McCandless abandoned his river journey and spent a few days alone at the village of El Golfo de Santa Clara, in the state of Sonora. Finding Mexico intimidating, with no way to support himself, he attempted to re-enter the U.S. and was arrested for carrying a firearm at a border checkpoint. McCandless was briefly held in custody but released without charges after his gun was confiscated. Following this experience in Mexico, McCandless began hitchhiking north, eventually winding up back in South Dakota.
Alaska In April 1992, McCandless hitchhiked from South Dakota to Fairbanks, Alaska. After his death, witnesses stated they had seen McCandless in Alaska first at Dot Lake, with several other sightings in Fairbanks. McCandless was stated to be traveling with a "big backpack" and would give a false name if asked his identity. He was described as very suspicious of people around him, unkempt, and smelling due to lack of hygiene. One witness described McCandless as "generally strange, weird, with a weird energy". McCandless was then last seen alive at the head of the Stampede Trail on April 28 by a local electrician named Jim Gallien. Gallien, who had given McCandless a ride from Fairbanks to the start of the rugged track just outside the small town of Healy, later said he had been seriously concerned about the safety of McCandless (who introduced himself as "Alex") after noticing his light pack, minimal equipment, meager rations, and obvious lack of experience. Gallien said he had deep doubts about "Alex's" ability to survive the harsh and unforgiving Alaskan bush.
Gallien tried repeatedly to persuade McCandless to delay the trip, at one point offering to detour to Anchorage and buy him suitable equipment and supplies. However, McCandless ignored Gallien's persistent warnings and refused his offers of assistance (though he did accept a pair of Xtratufs, two sandwiches, and a packet of corn chips from Gallien). Gallien dropped McCandless off, believing he would head back towards the highway within a few days as hunger set in.
After hiking along the snow-covered Stampede Trail, McCandless came upon an abandoned bus (about west of Healy at ) alongside an overgrown section of the trail near Denali National Park. McCandless, according to Krakauer, attempted to continue "heading west until [he] hit the Bering Sea." However, he was deterred by the thick Alaskan bush and returned to the bus, where he set up camp and lived off the land. He had of rice; a Remington Nylon 66 semi-automatic rifle with 400 rounds of .22LR hollowpoint ammunition; a number of books, including one on local plant life; some personal effects and a few items of camping equipment. Self-portrait photographs and journal entries indicate he foraged for edible plants and hunted game including porcupines, squirrels, and birds such as ptarmigans and Canada geese. On June 9, 1992, McCandless illegally stalked and shot a moose. However, the meat spoiled within days after he failed in his efforts to preserve it. McCandless would experience profound regret as a result of this experience, expressing in a journal entry "I now wish I had never shot the moose. One of the greatest tragedies of my life."
It had been speculated that McCandless was responsible for vandalizing several cabins in the area that were stocked with food, survival equipment, and emergency supplies; however, he was not considered a viable suspect by the National Park Service.Into the Wild, p. 197
Death McCandless's final written journal entry, noted as "Day 107", simply read, "BEAUTIFUL BLUE BERRIES." Days 108 through 112 contained no words and were marked only with slashes, and on Day 113, there was no entry. The exact date and time of his death are unknown. Near the time of his death, McCandless took a picture of himself waving while holding a written note, which read: