McCandless's parents drive to Atlanta looking for their son and discover that his apartment was vacated five weeks earlier.
The private investigator employed by McCandless's parents discovers that their son donated $24,000 to OXFAM
Christopher Johnson McCandless graduates from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. He tells his parents that he is going to spend the summer traveling in his car, a used yellow Datsun.
Arrives at Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Nevada.
Abandons his car after it is damaged by a flash flood. Loads his belongings into his backpack and sets out on foot.
In Needles, California, reaches the Colorado River. Walks south through the desert, arriving in Topock, Arizona, where he buys a second-hand canoe.
Reaches the Morelos Dam and the Mexican border.
Realizes that he will not reach the Gulf of California traveling this route. Meets duck hunters who drive him there
Seeking refuge from high winds, discovers a cave on the face of a bluff, where he stays for 10 days.
Arrives in Bullhead City, Arizona, where he works for two months at McDonald's and lives in an empty RV overseen by an old man named Charlie.
Caught by U.S. Immigration officials when he tries to slip back into the country from Mexico. Spends one night in jail.
Applies for an ID and a job in Los Angeles, then changes his mind and returns to the road.
Camps at the bottom of the Grand Canyon with a young German couple. Notes in his journal that he has lost over 25 pounds.
Buries his backpack and hitchhikes into Las Vegas.
sends a postcard to Jan Burres in Niland, California, including a map so she and boyfriend Bob can visit him in Bullhead City.
Meets Ronald Franz while hitchhiking near California's Salton Sea.
Dropped by Franz at the San Diego waterfront. Mails Jan Burres a postcard telling her that he has been living on the streets in San Diego for a week.
Leaves Carthage, bound for Alaska.
With only four hours of darkness each night, can forage for edible plants. Feasts on lingonberries and rose hips.
Regularly eats squirrel, spruce grouse, duck, goose, and porcupine.
Hikers and hunters discover McCandless's S.O.S. note, then his body in the bus.
Calls Franz from Coachella, California, in the desert not far from the Salton Sea and asks Franz to pick him up.
Spends one night at Franz's house.
Driven by Franz to Grand Junction, Colorado.
Works at Wayne Westerberg's grain elevator in Carthage, South Dakota.
Hitchhikes north. Takes a photo of the sign that marks the official start of the Alaska Highway.
Reads up on edible plants at the University of Alaska's Fairbanks campus. Buys a used gun and sends postcards. Leaving the campus, hikes west.
Waking down the highway, is picked up by Jim Gallien, a truck-driving electrician on his way to Anchorage. A three-hour drive brings McCandless to the Stampede Trail.
Finds an old bus beside the Sushana River and writes "Magic Bus Day" in his journal. Decides to stay for a while, taking advantage of the bus's ". . . crude comforts."
Kills a moose and takes a photo of himself with the carcass.
Amid hordes of flies and mosquitoes, butchers the moose carcass and tries to preserve the meat.
Discovering maggots on the carcass, abandons it to the local wolves.
Prepares his backpack and sets out on the 20-mile hike back to the road.
What had been a series of frozen beaver ponds in April has become a lake. What once was an easily fordable river is now a raging torrent that McCandless cannot cross. Heads back to the bus.
Writes in his journal, "EXTREMELY WEAK, FAULT OF POT. SEED. MUCH TROUBLE JUST TO STAND UP. STARVING. GREAT JEOPARDY."
Writes "DAY 100! MADE IT!" and "BUT IN WEAKEST CONDITION OF LIFE. DEATH LOOMS AS SERIOUS THREAT."
Posting an S.O.S. note on the bus door, forages nearby for berries. Writes his final journal entry: "Beautiful blueberries."
Dies, apparently of starvation, in his sleeping bag in the bus along the Sushana River in Alaska.