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The Stampede Trail was blazed in the 1930s by a legendary Alaska miner named Earl Pilgrim, above the Clearwater Fork of the Toklat River.
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In 1961, a Fairbanks company, Yutan Construction, won a contract from the new state of Alaska to upgrade the trail, building it into a road on which trucks could haul ore from the mine yearround
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The Stampede Trail Project was halted in 1963: some fifty miles or road were eventually built, but no bridges were ever erected over the many rivers it transected, and the route was shortly rendered impassable by thawing permafrost and seasonal floods.
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Christopher Johnson McCandless was born on February 12, 1968 to Walter and Wilhelmina (Billie) McCandless in El Segundo, California.
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In 1976, Walt McCandless was offered a job with NASA. Walt accepted the position with ASA and moved his family to Annandale, Virginia.
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Christopoher Johnson McCandless graduated from high school in May of 1986, in Annandale, Virginia.
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In May of 1990, Christopher McCandless graduated college from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.
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On May 15, 1990, Christopher wrote a check to OXFAM for $24,000.00 ~ giving them his entire savings.
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On May 16, 1990, Christopher Johnson McCandless walked away from his family, friends, and possessions and set out for his journey into the wild. He had no map, mo agenda, just the will to travel.
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On April 28, 1992, James Gallien gave Christopher McCandless a ride to the Stampede Trail in Alaska where Christopher set out to begin in journey into the wild. This was the last date that anyone ever saw Christopher McCandless alive.
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On August 18, 1992, Christopher Johnson McCandless lost his life at the age of 24.
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At the age of 24,Christopher McCandless was found dead in an abandoned Fairbanks City Transit Bus numbered 142 near Denali National Park in Alaska on September 6, 1992. Six people in three separate parties stumbled upon the remote vehicleon the same afternoon.
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Jon Krakauer wrote an article about Christopher McCandless for Outside Magazine, titled ~Deathof an Innocent.
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In 2007, Jon Krakauer's novel Into The Wild was made into a major motion picture. The film was directed by Sean Penn with Emile HIrsch starring as Christopher McCandless. The movie opened nationwide on October 5, 2007.
