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Annandale, VA, USA
McCandless's hometown where he grew up with his parents and his sister Carine. His parents had many verbal arguments that sometimes became physical. He left without telling his family his plans, and cut ties with them completely. -
Detrital Wash, AZ
This is where he abandoned his car and many of his belongings in it due to it not starting right before a flood. He burned the rest of his money and his social security card here. -
Astoria, OR
McCandless meets a woman named Jan Burres, who was similar to him. She was a rubber tamp who became friends with Chris, who reminded her of her son. -
Cut Bank, MT
This is where Wayne Westerburg discovers McCandless hitchhiking. He offered him a ride to South Dakota -
Carthage, SD
Westerburg offers McCandless a job working in a grain elevator. McCandless stays until Westerburg is arrested. -
Topock, AZ
Here McCandless bought a cheap kayak, and plans to use it to get across the border to Mexico. -
San Diego, CA
When trying to cross the border back into the States, he is caught by the immigration police. He manages to explain his situation and return to America without an ID after a night in jail. -
Los Angeles, CA
McCandless comes here to get an ID and a job, but leaves shortly after. -
Las Vegas, NV
McCandless buries his ID and his money in the desert, and then works in an italian restaurant for a few months. -
Bullhead City, Arizona
McCandless picks up a job as a fry cook at McDonalds. After a few months, he sends a post card to Jan Burres and reconnects with her. He meets her halfway and stays with her and her boyfriend. While he was there, he constantly talked about his plans to go to Alaska. -
Salton, CA
McCandless meets an old man named Ronald Franz. McCandless helped him with physical tasks that Franz was not able to do himself. The two became close friends. -
Grand Junction, CO
Franz gives McCandless a ride to Colorado. Although McCandless tells him that he will visit him again after he goes to Alaska, this is the last time they see each other. -
Carthage, SD
McCandless returns to Carthage to visit Wayne Westerberg now that he is out of jail. He stays for a while and continues to work for him. -
Liard River, British Columbia
McCandles is picked up by a truck driver who drives him up to Fairbanks, Alaska. -
Fairbanks, AK
McCandless spends three days in a library studying edible plants and wildlife that are local to Alaska. He buys a small rifle to hunt with. -
Healy, AK
McCandless meets a man named Jim who gives him a ride to the edge of the Stampede Trail. Jim tries to convince him that he needs better equipment and even offers him a pair of his own rubber boots. McCandless declines. He is the last person to see McCandless alive. -
Stampede Trail, AK
McCandless comes across an abandoned Fairbanks City Transit bus, and in his journal he wrote "Magic Bus Day!" -
Period: to
McCandless's Life in Alaska
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Stampede Trail, AK
McCandless manages to shoot and kill a moose. He felt very accomplished at first, but after failing to preserve the meat, he felt like a failure and regrets shooting the moose in the first place. -
Stampede Trail, AK
McCandless makes the mistake of eating the potato seeds when the potato root became inedible. The seeds were covered in alkaloid, slowly resulting in poisoning. -
Stampede Trail, AK
On the 18th of August, McCandless dies of starvation. He realizes this beforehand, and wrote a note stating that he had a happy life and thanked God. Only 19 days later, McCandless's body was found in the sleeping bad in the bus. It only weighed 67 pounds.
