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Atlanta, GA Emory university
After finishing High School in Virginia with exceptional grades, Chris attended Emory University for four years. In his senior year of college he moved in to a small apartment that only had basic necessities such as water and electricity. The last time his parents and sister ever saw him was at his college graduation. Shortly after, he donated his twenty five thousand dollars in savings to the OXFAM foundation, (an organization that obliterates poverty and starvation around the world) and took o -
houstan TX
After having his money stolen, Chris decides to bury his money outside of Houston before entering, in a place that he knows he can dig it back up when he leaves. -
detrital WASH,AZ
Here, in the desert below Lake Mead, Chris McCandless's car was found after being tossed around in a flash flood, with most of his belongings still in it. A guitar, a twenty five found bag of rice, a fishing rod, a pile of old clothes, jumper cables, four dollars and ninety three cents in loose change. Chris mentioned in his journal that he had burned the rest of his money and his social security card, because he Had the most fun adventures when he was broke.
Chris was camped a few feet above t -
lake tahoe
After losing his car in the flood, Chris hitch hikes up to Lake Tahoe over the course of several months. -
Red Bluff, CA 96080
From here, Chris spends a few weeks off the map hiking the Pacific Crest Trail and living off of the land. -
Orick CA
An old hippie couple noticed Chris alongside the road outside of Orick, California and offer him a ride. He was a nice kid... and he was big time hungry. Hungry, hungry, hungry. But real happy. Chris camped with the couple on the beach for a few days and became very close with them. Just a few days before meeting them, Chris had received a hitchhiking ticket, and when the officer asked where his permanent residence is, he gave his parents' address in Annandale. This was the first time since he l -
Cut Bank Mt
While travelling through Cut Bank, Chris crosses paths with a man named Wayne Westerberg, perhaps Chris's closest friend that he makes throughout the journey. -
Carthage, SD
Chris comes back to South Dakota with Wayne where he works for him for several months in a grain elevator. Wayne remembers him as being an incredibly hard working kid who did not even accept pay. Chris stays until September when he decides to head for warmer climates. -
needles CA
Chris hitches a ride with a trucker all the way down to Needles, CA, where he hikes along the Colorado River -
Topock,AZ
Chris walks for twelve miles until he reaches the nearby town of Topock, Arizona, where he finds an old aluminum canoe for sale. Out of impulse he decides to use it to paddle down the river all the way to Mexico -
Lake Havasu
Lake Havasu is one of the many reservoirs fed by the Colorado river, one of many which Chris passed through on his way to Mexico. After the Hoover Dam, the Colorado river turns into a much slower, weaker current: much different from when it passes through the Grand Canyon in a wildly fast and violent torrent. -
parker strip,AZ
Near Parker Strip, Chris gets off his canoe for a day to track a herd of wild horses. He comes across a sign that warned him that he was trespassing on Highly Restricted Government Proving Grounds. Chris, being a free minded spirit, ignores the sign completely. -
Yuma,AZ
Finally Chris is nearing the U.S. - Mexico border! He stops in the city of Yuma to replenish his supplies and send a postcard to his friend Wayne in South Dakota. -
Gulf Of California
Unfortunately, after reaching the Mexican Border, the Colorado river diverts into a vast network of canals used for irrigation. Chris spends days and days trying to navigate the narrow waterways but finds himself going in circles. Luckily, he runs into a couple of duck hunters who explain that the canals do not actually reach the gulf. They offer him a ride to a small coastal town called El Golfo De Santa Clara. -
EL GOLFO DE SANTA CLARA,SONORA,MEXICO
From here, Chris paddles south through the Gulf of California in his canoe for miles and miles. High winds kick in, however, and he is forced to seek refuge in a cave on the beach for twenty days. As soon as the storm clears up, he paddles back north, abandons his canoe near El Golfo de Santa Clara, and hitches back to the border. -
SAN DIEGO,CA
Chris is caught by immigration authorities trying to slip across the border just south of San Diego, and he spends a night in custody. Eventually, without needing to show I.D., he re-enters the U.S. but is not allowed to keep his .38 handgun. -
LOS ANGLES,CA
For the next six weeks after coming back to the U.S., He roams the western united states and enters Los Angeles to get an I.D. and a job but feels awkward and annoyed in society and feels compelled to hit the road. -
DETRITAL WASH
After escaping Los Angeles, Chris returns briefly to Detrital Wash where he recovers his license plates and a few other items that he buried nearby. -
LOS ANGLES,NV
It is recorded in his journal that on February 27th, 1991, McCandless buried his money and I.D. in the desert outside of Las Vegas and entered the city to find a job. He works in an Italian restaurant for a few months until he again feels displaced in society and goes back on the road. -
SALTON CITY,CA
McCandless spends the next few weeks in the desert until he crosses paths with an old man named Ronald Franz near the Salton Sea. Ronald and Chris become very close, the two accomplish many household projects and other tasks that Ronald would not be able to do himself as an old man. The two even drive to San Diego together, where they part ways for a brief time. Not much later, Chris calls Ronald from the nearby town of Coachella, California asking for a ride back to Salton City. -
GRAND JUNCTION,CO
After spending a night on his couch, Ronald drives Chris up to Grand Junction, Colorado where the two part ways forever. Chris promises to return and visit after his trip to Alaska, but this proved to be their final day together. -
CARTHAGE,SD
Chris's FINAL major stop before he heads north to live out his long awaited Alaskan wilderness fantasy. He goes back to Carthage to visit his good friend Wayne Westerberg, who he met a year and a half earlier. He spends the last half of March, 1992 working for Wayne in a grain elevator. In the very end of March, he begins hitchhiking north. -
LIARD RIVER,BRITISH COLUMBIA
Chris waits out a 3 day blizzard at a truck station in Liard River, BC. He is picked up by a trucker named Gaylord Stuckey who drives him up to Fairbanks, a 3 day drive. -
fairbanks,AK
He spends 3 days in the library at the University of Fairbanks, studying up on edible plants and wildlife in the nearby region. He buys a .22 rifle, a rather small caliber gun for the Alaskan wilderness. Finally, Chris sends his last postcard ever not to his family, but to Wayne Westerberg. -
HEALY,AK
Chris begins hiking south along the Alaskan Highway towards Mt. McKinley, where he is picked up by an Anchorage-bound man named Jim Gallien. Jim gives him a ride all the way to Healy, Alaska, to the edge of the Stampede Trail, and becomes the last person to ever see Chris alive. When talking to Jon Krakauer, the author of Into The Wild, Gallien points out that Chris's backpack was unusually light for somebody who is trying to survive in the back country. He offered him a pair of rubber boots, bu -
STAMPEDE TRAIL
Dropped of by Jim Gallien on April 28th, 1992 on the edge of the Stampede Trail. The stampede trail is a narrow ATV / Snowmobile trail that is rarely treaded and can only be used in the winter and late summer. It crosses two large rivers which can only be crossed when there is very little water or a solid layer of ice. Otherwise, the run-off from Mount McKinley glaciers leaves a torrent current that is physically impossible to cross. When Chris arrived in late April, there was still a strong lay
