See ‘Into the Wild’ bus at university in Alaska

Fans of book, movie have retraced steps of man who died.

FAIRBANKS, ALASKA — A bus that people sometimes embarked on deadly pilgrimages to Alaska’s backcountry to visit can now safely be viewed at the University of Alaska Fairbanks while it undergoes preservation work.

The bus was moved to the university’s engineering facility to be prepared for outdoor display at the Museum of the North, Fairbanks television station KTVF reported.

The abandoned Fairbanks city bus became a shelter for hunters and others using the backcountry near Denali National Park and Preserve, but it became a beacon for those wishing to retrace the steps of Christopher McCandless, who hiked to the bus in 1992.

The 24-year-old Virginia man died from starvation when he couldn’t hike back out because of the swollen Teklanika River. He kept a journal during his last days, which was discovered when his body was found.

McCandless’ ordeal was chronicled in Jon Krakauer’s 1996 book “Into the Wild,” followed later by director Sean Penn’s movie of the same name. People from all over the world made the bus a focal point and tried to retrace his steps.

The state of Alaska removed the bus located about 25 miles from the town of Healy after two women — one from Switzerland and the other from Belarus — drowned on homages to the bus. There were 15 other search-and-rescue missions since 2009, the state Department of Natural Resources said in August 2020, when the bus was flown out of the wilderness.

Many people have a personal connection to the bus, said Angela Linn, senior collections manager of ethnology and history at the museum.

“It’s OK that people have this huge range of feeling about the bus,” Linn said. “That means they’re thinking about it. They have opinions about it, and that means they’re engaged with history, which is a really important thing for those of us who are in the business of preserving history.”

The bus is being preserved in a heated, secure space that has environmental controls. It also has an elevated observation space that allows anyone to view the bus for free on weekdays. The bus is expected to remain there through the end of the academic year.

JILLIAN ROGERS/AP FILE Christopher McCandless starved to death in 1992 while sheltering in this abandoned bus near Healy, Alaska.