Christopher J. "Alexander Supertramp" McCandless (February 12, 1968 – August, 1992) was a young man who gained some notoriety in the early 1990s after he took a nomadic journey around North America, terminating with his death in the Alaskan wilderness. He spent several months in the spring and summer of 1992 living in an old abandoned bus just outside of Denali National Park. He lived off the land, bringing with him only a small amount of rice and a hunting rifle, which he used to hunt game. He also subsisted on lingonberries and other things he found while foraging. In all, he survived a total of 113 days in the bush. February 12 is the 43rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... August is the eighth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... The 1990s decade refers to the years from 1990 to 1999, inclusive. ... World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America. ... Official language(s) English Capital Juneau Largest city Anchorage Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 1st 663,267 mi² / 1 717 854 km² 808 mi / 1300 km 1,479 mi / 2380 km 13. ... Bob Marshall Wilderness, Montana, United States Wilderness is land that has not been significantly modified by direct or indirect human activity. ... Denali National Park Denali National Park and Preserve is located in Interior Alaska and contains Mount McKinley, the tallest mountain in North America. ... Binomial nomenclature Vaccinium vitis-idaea L. Ref: ITIS 505637 The Cowberry or Lingonberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea L.) is a small evergreen shrub in the plant Family Ericaceae that bears edible fruits. ...

Childhood & Education

McCandless grew up in a well-to-do family in the affluent Washington, DC suburb of Annandale. His father, Samuel Walter McCandless, a former rocket scientist and one time bigamist, ran a lucrative consulting firm with Chris's mother, Billie McCandless (nee Johnson). Both parents came from working class backgrounds and worked long hours to provide a life of luxury for Chris and his sister Carine—a fact that Chris would one day look upon with scorn, citing what he saw as the hypocrisies of their materialist existence. Aerial photo (looking NW) of the Washington Monument and the White House in Washington, DC. Washington, D.C., officially the District of Columbia (also known as D.C.; Washington; the Nations Capital; the District; and, historically, the Federal City) is the capital city and administrative district of the United... Polygamy, literally many marriages in ancient Greek, is a marital practice in which a person has more than one spouse simultaneously (as opposed to monogamy where each person has a maximum of one spouse at any one time). ...

Chris was a smart, hard-working student who excelled in both academics and athletics. Once, during his senior year at W.T. Woodson high school, he announced to his family that he had no intention of going to college. He had decided, instead, to pursue his goal of serving humanity rather than working for material wealth. His parents convinced him that higher education would better enable him to accomplish his goals, and Chris enrolled at Emory University in Atlanta, where he was a model student. In addition to getting straight A's, he was a regular contributor to his school's newspaper and was offered a place in the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa honor society. Emory University is a private university in Atlanta, Georgia. ... This article is about the state capital of Georgia. ... The Phi Beta Kappa Society is an honor society which considers its mission to be fostering and recognizing excellence in undergraduate liberal arts and sciences. ...

Travels

After graduating from college in 1990, Chris took off on a road trip around the country, determined to be a rubber tramp—a vagrant with a car. He donated the $25,000 USD in his savings account to Oxfam and hit the road. He severed contact with friends and family back home; letters to his sister indicate that he harbored a great deal of resentment to his parents in particular. Oxfam International, founded in 1995, is a confederation of 12 independent, not-for-profit, secular, community-based aid and development organisations who work with local partners in over 100 countries worldwide to reduce poverty, suffering, and injustice. ...

His travels took him out west, to California and Arizona, where he abandoned his vehicle after it was damaged by a flash flood in a dry wash near the Grand Canyon. From there, he bought a canoe and floated down the Colorado River. He hoped to reach the Pacific Ocean, but, after crossing the border into Mexico he got lost in an intricate maze of canals and was rescued by local fishermen. He eventually made his way to the Gulf of California. Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 3rd 410,000 km² 402. ... Official language(s) English Capital Phoenix Largest city Phoenix Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 6th 295,254 km² 500 km 645 km 0. ... A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas, rivers and streams that is caused by the intense rainfall associated with a thunderstorm, or multiple training thunderstorms. ... The Grand Canyon, as seen from river-level The Grand Canyon from inside For other Grand Canyons see Grand Canyon (disambiguation). ... The Colorado River from the bottom of Marble Canyon, in the Upper Grand Canyon Colorado River in the Grand Canyon from Desert View The Colorado River is a river in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately 1,450 mi (2,333 km) long, draining a part of the... The Gulf of California (also known as the Sea of Cortez or Sea of Cortés; locally known in the Spanish language as Mar de Cortés or, much less frequently, Golfo de California) is a body of water that separates the Baja California Peninsula from the Mexican mainland. ...

In early 1992, he went north to Carthage, South Dakota where he worked at a grain elevator. He planned on saving his money so he could make it to Fairbanks, Alaska. From there, he would live off the land, far away from civilization. In April 1992 he set off hitchhiking for Fairbanks and arrived a few weeks later. He was last seen alive by a man who gave him a ride from Fairbanks to the Stampede Trail. His body was found by hunters in September 1992. Carthage is a city located in Miner County, South Dakota. ... This article is about grain elevators. ... Motto: The Golden Heart City Nickname: Map Political Statistics Founded Incorporated November 10, 1903 County {{{county}}} Borough Fairbanks North Star Parrish {{{parrish}}} Mayor Steve M. Thompson Geographic Statistics Area  - Total  - Water 84. ...

His Legacy

• In 2002, as has been the trend for many recent years, hundreds of people journeyed to the bus on the Stampede Trail where Christopher's body was found. [1]
• McCandless' life and Alaskan voyage is recounted in the book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer.

Cover of paperback, depicting the bus McCandless stayed at before his death. ... Jon Krakauer (born April 12, 1954) is an American non-fiction author and mountaineer, well-known for outdoor and mountain-climbing writing. ...

See also