The life story of the extraordinary traveler Christopher Johnson McCandless

He chose to build his own life away from money, career, family responsibilities, social obligations, people, and all rules.

Undeterred by the difficulties of being alone in nature, he sought an alternative life where he would not need anyone but himself. He traveled all over America and died in his last stop, Alaska, in the magic bus he loved so much.

He got rid of all his responsibilities and left himself to nature just like his ancestors did thousands of years ago. He lived a life that many people can't even imagine. There is so much to say about Christopher Johnson McCandless; For you, the enviable life of McCandless, who deeply impressed us with his perspective on life, his ideas, the things he did, his disregard for material things, and his courage…

1. He donates all his savings to the hunger-fighting foundation.

After Christopher Johnson McCandless graduates from Emory University, everyone expects him to get a good job. However, he has different plans. He donates $25,000, which he saved during his university life, to a hunger-fighting foundation, and without informing anyone, he takes a few things with him, jumps into his car, and disappears.

2. He leaves his car in the middle of the desert and sets fire to all his remaining money.

One evening, while Christopher is resting in the desert in his car, a storm comes up and the car sinks into the ground. Thereupon, he leaves the car there and continues his journey by setting fire to some money he took with him on the way out.

3. New name: Alexander Supertramp

There were other people who had hit the road at that time. Especially in the 60s, young people connected to the hipster movement crossed the country by hitchhiking from one end to the other. In America, these people were called hobos. Inspired by this, McCandless began to use the name Alexander Supertramp instead of using his real name in the later parts of his trip.

4. He traveled across the country for two years.

McCandless travels across the country only by hitchhiking and smuggling trains, even buying a canoe, rowing hundreds of kilometers across the dam, crossing the dam, and back. After backpacking for miles and letting himself go completely wild, he decides to go to Alaska.

5. Friendships made on the road…

During his Alaska voyage, McCandless meets many people and touches their lives. On the way, Jan and Rainey drove him to their car, then Ron, Wayne, the owner of the farm where McCandless worked for a while to save money so that he could go to Alaska.

6. And Alaska!

McCandless hitchhiked from North Dakota to Fairbanks, Alaska, but that wasn't enough for him. He totally wants to experience the wilderness. He was last seen by Jim Gallien, who drove Chris into the wild on April 28, 1992, in his pickup truck. Jim presents him with a pair of boots, two sandwiches, and a packet of corn chips and offers some advice.

7. The magic bus…

Chris walks 64 kilometers after leaving Jim's truck. He crosses the Teklanika river and eventually finds an abandoned bus, which is still unknown how it got there, and settles in it, which is usually used by hunters passing through the area during hunting season to stay.

8. 112 days on the magic bus…

Next to McCandless is only 4.5 kilograms of rice, a semi-automatic rifle, several books, including information on local plants, and some camping equipment. During his time there, Chris hunted and ate animals such as hedgehogs, squirrels, birds, and elk, and recorded his days with short notes. Notes include 112 days in total. For 112 days, Chris was able to survive in the wild without even a quarter of the equipment he needed to be with him. Maybe his luck was finding the abandoned bus.

9. Nature begins to show its wild face.

Living in the abandoned bus for about three months, Chris decides to return in July 1992. But when he tried to go back; He cannot cross the Teklanika River, which it easily passed before, because the water level has risen with the arrival of winter. The nature that initially embraced him then shows its wild face and Chris is literally trapped there. Unable to find prey as a result of the disappearance of animals due to the arrival of winter, Chris begins to weaken and lose strength. Unable to cross the river, Chris started to leave help notes. In these notes it reads exactly:

“Attention prospective visitors. SOS. I need your help. I'm injured, I'm dying and I don't have enough strength to get out of here. I'm alone and it's not a joke. For God's sake, save me. I'm picking fruit nearby and should be back tonight. Thank you, Chris McCandless. August?"

10. Marvelous blackberries…

McCandless, who managed to hold on with very little material for four months in the wild in Alaska without even any equipment such as a map and compass, makes a huge mistake in early August: Chris, who lived with the fruits and plant roots he collected from the environment, because he could not find prey at that time, killed a poisonous plant seed ( Hedysarum Alpinum or Hedysarum Mackenzii). On August 12, he drops his last entry in his diary:

“Wonderful Blackberries.”

11. “I lived a happy life and I thank God for it.”

Mccandless, who left nothing behind except the diary he wrote about the days he spent there until August 18, 1992, tears off the last page of Louise L'Amour's biography "The Education of a Traveler" on the morning of August 18. On one side of the page, there are lines that L'Amour quotes from Robinson Jeffers's poem "The Wise in Their Bad Moments". On the other side of the page, which is blank, is McCandless's short farewell letter:

"I lived a happy life and I thank God for that. Goodbye, God bless you all."

12. He weighed only 30 kilos when his body was found…

Chris was only 24 when he died. His lifeless body was found on September 6, 1992, by a hunter named Butch Killian, on the bus he was staying on. It is thought that his body, which weighed 30 kg when found, ended its life activities approximately two weeks before it was found. “Happiness is only beautiful when shared,” Chris wrote in his last notes. Maybe if he could go back, he would be able to share his wonderful experiences with people. In the photo, Chris is dying, but there is not the slightest sign of fear on his face, he is just smiling.

13. There were hunting lodges a few kilometers west of where he was found…

There were hunting lodges just a few miles west of Chris' spot. However, Chris had not noticed these hunting lodges. If he could reach one of those huts, he could call for help and escape.

14. Into The Wild movie and book

Author Jon Krakauer's book Into The Wild, in which Chris wrote the extraordinary story, was adapted into a movie in 2007 with the same name. Directed and produced by Sean Penn, the film stars Emile Hirsch, Vince Vaughn, and Catherine Keener. The film was nominated for Oscars for Best Editing and Best Supporting Actor (Hal Holbrook).

15. “I think careers are a 20th-century invention and I don't want a career.”

There were mostly negative comments about Christopher MacCandless's distance from people and society. In the comments, Chris was often thought to be someone with anti-social or psychological disorders. However, based on detailed research and documents, it can be easily said that Chris is neither an anti-social person nor does he have psychological disorders that can cause him to avoid people. Because Christopher was neither a conqueror, a philosopher, a poet, a writer, an inventor, a painter, a musician, nor a great sultan whose sole aim in life was to dominate his country all over the world. Christopher was a nature lover who was completely isolated from nature in the world due to the reasons brought about by modernization, he managed to stand out among billions of people whose all purposes were money and career, and succeeded in replanting himself into nature, just as his ancestors did millions of years ago.