“Rather than love, than money, than faith, than fame, than fairness; give me truth.”
He had not spoken to his family for two years.
Nobody knew he was there.
No phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes…
Ultimate freedom…
He gave his life for it.
Christopher Johnson McCandless loved challenging himself from the time he was very small. It was not a challenge to him if it was not a challenge. When Chris was born his parents, Walt and Billie were living together in El Segundo, California. Afterwards the couple had a daughter named Carine. Walt had another family with 6 kids. His transition between these two marriages affected Chris deeply.
McCandless, also known by the pseudonym Alexander Supertramp, was a hiker. He graduated from Emory university. After graduating, he donated his college savings to Oxfam and began traveling across the Western United States. He photographed himself burning his remaining money.
In April 1992, McCandless hitchhiked to Alaska. His journal say that on 4th day, he found an abandoned bus, “The Magic Bus”. He had 4.5kg of rice, a rifle, a number of books, camping equipment. After living in the bus for over two months, he decided to head back to civilization but the trail was blocked.
On the 113th day after walking into the wild his journal entries stop.
“I have had a happy life and thank the lord. Good bye and may god bless all !.”
Chris took his final photo with this note.
Two weeks after Chris’ death, moose hunters discovered his body in the magic bus. Starvation resulting from ingestion of wild potato seeds is said to be the official cause of his death.
Long before the era of the selfie, he shot a series of remarkable self- portraits by using a timer. His parents have gathered them into a book called “Back to the wild”. John krakauer published McCandless’ true story “Into the wild” in 1996. The book was adapted to a film of the same name in 2007 by Sean penn. These things will give you more interesting information about his journey.
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