Gallery: Large & The Alaska “Into The Wild” Bus

Now before we get started, the picture of me and the infamous "Into The Wild Bus" you see are from a restaurant in Healy, Alaska called the 49th State Brewing Company.

I don't want to mislead anyone into thinking I hiked to this notoriously hard to reach destination featured in the book and movie of the same name. Cause it's dangerous as all get out and part of the reason why they moved the thing this past weekend.

First, some facts.

Into The Wild is first a book. Came out in 1996. Here's a short synopsis.

Into the Wild is a 1996 non-fiction book written by Jon Krakauer. It is an expansion of a 9,000-word article by Krakauer on Chris McCandless titled "Death of an Innocent", which appeared in the January 1993 issue of Outside.^[1]  (Wikipedia)

It chronicles the story of Chris McCandless and his adventures into the wild which led him to Alaska and his final resting place.

In 2007, the book was adapted into a movie directed by Sean Penn.

The bus is real. And folks have hiked to get there because they feel some kind of kinship with Chris. And a lot of folks have died doing so. Here's some history and a guy who spent 24 hours there at the site.

And as of this past weekend, the bus which has been the centerpiece for a lot of all this was moved. Airlifted.

Why did they do it? Honestly, for public safety. Folks trekking to this thing often got in trouble, stranded, hurt, or died. Cause Alaskan wilderness ain't nothing to play with people. And the locals were getting upset at folks not listening and thinking they were just going to take a leisurely hike to see where this guy died. Not even noting why and how he died and how this was the mother of bad ideas.

And one question a friend of mine asked me was, exactly how did that Fairbanks Transit Bus actually get there in the first place?

The Magic Bus. Fairbanks City Transit System Bus 142. The bus that is stuck in the middle of nowhere and was left abandoned there in 1961 by the crew of the Yutan Construction Company. (We12Travel)

Enjoy some photos from when I lived in Fairbanks. If you ever make it to Alaska and head north towards Denali and find yourself on the Parks Highway in Healy, stop by the 49th State Brewing Company and safely take a look at the only version of the bus you can see for now. Cause it's safe.