-
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. -
Annandale, VA, USA
Annandale is the suburb of D.C. that Chris McCandless grew up in. His Father was a high ranking engineer for NASA until he and his wife started their own company and worked from home. -
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. -
Dallas, TX, USA
Dallas is the first stop on Chris's trip out west. While sleeping in his car at night with the window open his cash gets stolen from him. -
Houston, TX, USA
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. -
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, USA
From here, Chris spends a few weeks off the map hiking the Pacific Crest Trail and living off of the land. -
Orick, CA, USA
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. But real happy. Chris camped with the couple on the beach for a few days and became very close with them. -
Astoria, OR, USA
Chris stops from town to town as he wanders up the Pacific Coast. -
Port Angeles, WA, USA
Chris keeps going past port angeles -
Cut Bank, Mt 59427, USA
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 57323, USA
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, USA
Chris hitches a ride with a trucker all the way down to Needles, CA, where he hikes along the Colorado River. -
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. -
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. -
Parker Strip, AZ, USA
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, USA
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. -
El Golfo de Santa Clara, Sonora, Mexico
From here, Chris paddles south through the Gulf of California in his canoe for miles and miles. -
San Diego, CA, USA
From here, Chris paddles south through the Gulf of California in his canoe for miles and miles. -
Carthage, SD 57323, USA
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, USA
Chris hitches a ride with a trucker all the way down to Needles, CA, where he hikes along the Colorado River. -
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. -
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. -
Parker Strip, AZ, USA
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. -
Los Angeles, CA, USA
for the next six weeks he roamed the western side after coming back to the us and enters Los Angeles -
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. -
Period: to
time span of trip
The time it took Chris to get across america -
Salton City, CA, USA
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. -
Grand Junction, CO, USA
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. -
Dawson Creek, BC, Canada
A quick stop on the journey 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, USA
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, USA
Chris begins hiking south along the Alaskan Highway towards Mt. McKinley, where he is picked up by an Anchorage-bound man named Jim Gallien -
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. -
Las Vegas, NV, USA
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.