in 1992 a young survivalist named Christopher McCandless hitchhiked into Alaska on a quest for self-discovery he inspired by writers Henry David Thoreau and Jack London on April 28th his last ride dropped him off at the beginning of a rugged wilderness road known as the Stampede trail [Music] it was first blazed across this valley in the 1930s by a prospector named Earl pilgrim 30 years later the state of Alaska turned pilgrims trail into a road but a bridge was never built over one of the Valley’s biggest obstacles the wild
Teklanika River when McCandless afforded the Teklanika on foot that April the water level was still low snow and ice in the surrounding mountains hadn’t yet thawed he made his way across and continued west of the old mining trail hoping to walk all the way to the shores of the Bering Sea while living off the land but as he reached this clearing he discovered bus 142 workers building the road had used this 1946 International Harvester bus as a mobile shelter McCanless also decided to use it as his base as he prepared for his journey
deeper into the wild [Music] he arrived here with not much more than a few books a 10-pound bag of rice a gun and forever grounds of ammunition over the next few weeks he made forays across the valley to test how far into the wilderness he was willing to go and to find food that could keep him alive he shot 1/8 squirrels porcupines and quail and even a moose but when the moose meat spoiled before he would cure it McCandless began to realize he might be in over his head [Music] after two months in isolation he decided
it was time to leave but when he headed back down the Stampede trail he discovered he had waited too long summer snow milk had flooded the river that he had forded in the spring the Teklanika was now a raging torrent McCandless knew that if he waited into its dark turbulent waters he would be swept away to his death so he returned to the safety of bus 142 with no choice but to continue his experiment in wilderness survival but over the next few weeks McCandless started running out of things to eat his body grew weaker and weaker some say he
may also have been poisoned by potato seeds that he ate in his desperation to stay alive slowly he began to starve to death as he faded away McCandless scribbled his thoughts and emotions into a diary in brief notes about his loneliness hunger and growing fear of death extremely weak he wrote in one of his last entries on July 30th much trouble just to stand up starving great jeopardy  in his final entry McCandless wrote I have had a happy life and thank the Lord goodbye and may God bless all