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Chris McCandless is born
This is the exact day and year Chris was born -
Chris arrives at Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Nevada.
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Chris abandons his car after it is damaged by a flash flood. Loads his belongings into his backpack and sets out on foot.
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McCandless's parents drive to Atlanta looking for their son and discover that his apartment was vacated five weeks earlier.
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Chris receives a ticket for hitchhiking in Willow Creek, California.
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Chris's Datsun is discovered by a park ranger.
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The private investigator employed by McCandless's parents discovers that their son donated $24,000 to OXFAM.
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Encounters hazardous waterfalls along the Colorado River.
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Seeking refuge from high winds, discovers a cave on the face of a bluff, where he stays for 10 days.
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Arrives in Bullhead City, Arizona, where he works for two months at McDonald's and lives in an empty RV overseen by an old man named Charlie.
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Applies for an ID and a job in Los Angeles, then changes his mind and returns to the road.
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Sends a postcard to Jan Burres in Niland, California, including a map so she and boyfriend Bob can visit him in Bullhead City.
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Spends one night at Franz's house.
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Dropped by Franz at the San Diego waterfront. Mails Jan Burres a postcard telling her that he has been living on the streets in San Diego for a week.
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Meets Ronald Franz while hitchhiking near California's Salton Sea.
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Hikers and hunters discover McCandless's S.O.S. note, then his body in the bus.
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Hitchhikes north. Takes a photo of the sign that marks the official start of the Alaska Highway.
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Pitches his tent on frozen ground not far from the Stampede Trail.
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Waking down the highway, is picked up by Jim Gallien, a truck-driving electrician on his way to Anchorage. A three-hour drive brings McCandless to the Stampede Trail.
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Kills a moose and takes a photo of himself with the carcass.
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Discovering maggots on the carcass, abandons it to the local wolves.
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Prepares his backpack and sets out on the 20-mile hike back to the road.
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What had been a series of frozen beaver ponds in April has become a lake. What once was an easily fordable river is now a raging torrent that McCandless cannot cross. Heads back to the bus.
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Writes in his journal, "EXTREMELY WEAK, FAULT OF POT. SEED. MUCH TROUBLE JUST TO STAND UP. STARVING. GREAT JEOPARDY."
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Writes "DAY 100! MADE IT!" and "BUT IN WEAKEST CONDITION OF LIFE. DEATH LOOMS AS SERIOUS THREAT."
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Posting an S.O.S. note on the bus door, forages nearby for berries. Writes his final journal entry: "Beautiful blueberries."
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Dies, apparently of starvation, in his sleeping bag in the bus along the Sushana River in Alaska.