Today, millions of travellers from around the world visit the Stampede trail. The remainder of the trail is a primitive and dangerous hiking route through the tundra. The Stampede Trail, located in the U.S state of Alaska, is an old mining road that is only partly paved. We look back at the big screen adaptation of his life’s adventures.īy Nikhil Sreekandan A self-portrait by Christopher McCandless in front of the ‘Bus 142.’ © If the bus is moved, people will simply erect a memorial in its place and continue to go there.The month of August marks the 25th anniversary of Christopher McCandless’ mysterious death. “And as far as the lure of the bus - it’s not about the bus, either. “It is not Chris’s story they are following, it is their own, even if they don’t realize it at the time,” she said. She said people send her messages every day from all over the world, identifying with her brother’s story, and she understands why people continue to make the trek. Carine McCandless believes people will keep trying to reach the site, regardless of what locals decide. I am skeptical about the wisdom of either of these proposed measures, however.” “I have no objection to removing the bus, or building a bridge to it, if a persuasive argument can be made that doing either of these things would solve the problem. “I really don’t know what can be done or should be done about the unprepared ‘pilgrims’ who get into trouble and perish or need to be rescued,” he said in an email to the AP. He’s also skeptical building a bridge or moving the bus will solve the problem.

It’s outfitted with a barrel stove and bunks, and McCandless wrote in his journal about living there for 114 days, right up until his death.Īuthor Jon Krakauer, who wrote “Into the Wild,” said he is “saddened and horrified” by the deaths of people trying to cross the Teklanika. Travelers often traverse park land to get to the bus, which was left in the wilderness to house construction crews working improve the trail so trucks could haul ore from a mine, according to the book. The long-discarded bus sits in a clearing on state land roughly half a mile from the boundary of the Denali National Park and Preserve.

Some attempting the trip are ill-prepared. There are other hazards, including harsh weather and dangerous terrain. “This bus has meaning to a lot of people, and the challenge will be to put together a plan that works for all,” Walker said.Ī bridge would not have made a difference in the latest rescue, this one involving five Italian tourists - one with frostbitten feet - who were rescued Feb. “It’ll only encourage more people to go,” says Denali Assembly member Jeff Stenger, who rejects the bridge idea and would prefer to see warning signs posted in the area instead.īorough Mayor Clay Walker wants to see the bus relocated to a safer location on the other side of the Teklanika with the help of federal and state agencies. It is also a constructive and humane way to learn from people who died there.”īut some local officials in Denali Borough in Healy, about 25 miles away, fear a footbridge could give people a false impression of safety that doesn’t exist. “Making the crossing safer is a social responsibility. “People keep going there despite multiple accidents reported,” said Piotr Markielau, who was with his wife Veramika Maikamava when she was swept away by the river. The effort is led by the husband of a 24-year-old newlywed woman from Belarus who died last year trying to reach the bus. Now families of some of those who died are proposing looking at building a footbridge over the Teklanika. The legend of Christopher McCandless has led to scores of travelers following his journey along the Stampede Trail just outside Denali National Park have been rescued and others have died in the harsh reality of back-country terrain that’s marked by no cell phone service, unpredictable weather and the raging Teklanika River, whose swollen banks prevented the 24-year-old Virginian from seeking help before his 1992 starvation death. His mother, Billie Johnson McCandless, grew up in Iron Mountain.

McCandless, by the way, had a connection to the Upper Peninsula. For many, Christopher McCandless’ legend was cemented in the “Into the Wild” book and movie.

Into the wild book and movie