Key:
1. Atlanta, Georgia
2. Washington D.C.
3. Lake Mead National Recreation Area
4. Lake, Tahoe, Sierra Nevada, Cascade Mountains
5. Cutbank, Montana
6. Willow Creek, California
7. Needles, California
8.Topock, Arizona
9. Colorado River
10. Lake Havasu
11. Morelos Dam
12. Gulf of California
13. Houston, Texas
14. Los Angeles, California
15. Grand Canyon
16. Las Vegas, Nevada
17. Bullhead City, Arizona
18. Coastal Oregon
19. Niland, California
20. San Diego, California
21. Seattle, Washington
22. Grand Junction, Colorado
23. Carthage, South Dakota
24. Liard Hot Springs, British Columbia, Canada
25. Fairbanks, University of Alaska campus
26. Denali National Park and Preserve (near Lake Wentitika), Alaska
1. Atlanta, Georgia
2. Washington D.C.
3. Lake Mead National Recreation Area
4. Lake, Tahoe, Sierra Nevada, Cascade Mountains
5. Cutbank, Montana
6. Willow Creek, California
7. Needles, California
8.Topock, Arizona
9. Colorado River
10. Lake Havasu
11. Morelos Dam
12. Gulf of California
13. Houston, Texas
14. Los Angeles, California
15. Grand Canyon
16. Las Vegas, Nevada
17. Bullhead City, Arizona
18. Coastal Oregon
19. Niland, California
20. San Diego, California
21. Seattle, Washington
22. Grand Junction, Colorado
23. Carthage, South Dakota
24. Liard Hot Springs, British Columbia, Canada
25. Fairbanks, University of Alaska campus
26. Denali National Park and Preserve (near Lake Wentitika), Alaska
The Map: McCandless's Journey
Overview: This map is used for the purpose to trace Chris McCandless's destinations whether he was traveling by foot, hitch hiking, or driving his car. It starts off with his journey in Georgia to his final hours in Alaska.
May 12th 1990: tells his parents he is leaving to travel around the united states in his yellow datsun after graduating from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. He had been a columnist and editor of the student newspaper called The Emory Wheel and majored in history and anthropology with a 3.72 GPA.
July 10th, 1990: McCandless decides to hike around lake mead. happens to get a heat stroke because of the hot weather of July and manages to find boaters who help him get to Callville Bay.
July-August 1990: travels around the west for two months. enjoys the landscape, separation from the law, and the company from other "vagabonds" that he met during his journey. because of his free nature, he hitched to Lake Tahoe, hiked to the Sierra Nevada and spent a week on foot heading north on the Pacific Crest trail.
End of July; got a job from "crazy' Ernie on the ranch in northern California. the place was worn down, and ill-maintained. worked there for eleven days with other "vagabonds" with no pay from Ernie. stole a red bike and pedaled to Chico. left the bike in the mall parking lot. Resumed life of traveling through many places. traveled to Red Bluff, Weaverville, and Willow Creek. in Arcata,California, traveled on highway 101 up the coast near the town of Orick where he met Jan Burres. From Orick, he traveled through the pistol River, Coos bay, Seal Rock, Manzanita, Astoria; Hoquiam, Humptulips, Queets; Forks, Port Angeles, Port Townshend, Seattle.
August 10th, 1990: was ticketed for hitch hiking near willow creek in Eureka and used address from Annandale, which his parents went looking for him by sending a private investigator with the help of the director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency to launch a thorough search on McCandless.
October, 1990: three months after McCandless left Atlanta, he went to Lake mead National Recreation area. he went solely for the feeling of freedom. Also, it was where he left his yellow datsun because of the flash flood that happened there.It was found by an officer named Bud Wash who saw it on the edge of a dry riverbed.
October 28th, 1990: caught a ride with a long-haul truck driver towards Needles, California.. then he walked to Topock, Arizona. bought a canoe and decided to paddle down the Colorado River to the Gulf of California, almost 400 miles to the south, past the Mexican border. McCandless agian, was attracted to the landscape, even thought the weather was incredibly hot. from Topock, he paddled south down Lake Havasu, briefly went through the Bill Williams River, then headed down the Colorado river through the Colorado River Indian Reservation, The Cibola National Wildlife Refuge.
November, 1990: he paddled throught Yuma, there he sent a postcard to Westerberg in care of Glory House, the Sioux Falls work release facility where Westerberg was doing time.
December 2nd, 1990:he reaches the Morelos Dam and was denied entry through the Mexican border because he didn't have an I.D.finds a way to pass through the border paddling to the open floodgates and shooting spillway below.said it was very difficult because it felt like he was going through a maze of irrigation canals. that is why it took him three days to carry canoe and get to a new canal.
December 6th, 1990:finds small waterfalls that he calls dangerous and are all over the canal.
December 12th, 1990 finds friendly duck hunters that hitchhike him to El Gulfo de Santa Clara. which is known to be a fishing village. when heading south, grows wary because of the narrowing of the canal. grows tired of paddling.
December 14th, 1990: sets up camp on plateau because he was tired. stayed there for ten days. took photos of tarantulas.
December 25th, 1990: sets refuge in a cave becasue of the dangerously high winds. stayed for ten days,
January 11th, 1991:"a very fateful day" when the canoe he runs into a storm. Then an hour later, he runs into violent gusts in the desert.
January 16th, 1991: left the boat on the Gulfo de Santa Clara and walked north. Did not talked to anyone in 36 days and lived off of five pounds of rice and the marine life that he found.
January 18th, 1991: back in the U.S. by this time but was caught by immigration because he didn't have an I.D. Therefore, he spent a night in custody .
January to February, 1991: for the next six weeks , he traveled south west to Houston and to the pacific coast. while on this path, he learned to bury money before entering a city, so no one attacked him. then got it back on the way out of town.
February 3rd, 1991: went to los angeles to get a I.D. and a job but doesn't like to be around society so he leaves immediately.
February 9th, 1991: camps at the bottom of the grand canyon and meets a young german couple who gave him a ride named Thomas and Karin. lost 25 pounds because of malnutrition.
February 24th, 1991: returned to Detrital Wash , where his yellow Datsun was impounded. hitched to Las Vegas and found a job in an italian restaurant. buries his backpack on the 27th, when entering Las Vegas with no money or I.D.
May 10th, 1991:leaves Las Vegas, doesn't have detailed entries because of his camera not functioning properly.
July-august, 1991:spent this time on the oregon coast in the vicinity of Astoria. he complained that the fog and rain weren't suitable to him.
Early october, 1991: went to Bullhead City, Arizona. where the community is "in the oxymoronic, late-tentieth-century idiom.works for two months at a McDonalds.living a conventional life. he even opened a savings account at a local bank.
December 9th, 1991: sends a letter to Jan Burres saying he's thrilled to hear from him. gave a map of directions for finding the trailer where he lived on Bullhead city's Baseline road. get tired of bullhead becuase of the "plastic people".
December 13th, 1991: McCandless unexpectedly arrives at Niland to meet with Burres.meets him in the slabs which is a huge flea market where Burres works as a vendor. decides to help him also. charlie( the person who let him live in the mobile home) said he was a nice guy but was anti-social around people.
March, 1992: Franz drove McCandless to Salton city, California to Grand Junction Colorado. then left him to hitch hike to San Diego. after Salton City, hiked into the desert and set up camp in a brake of creosote on the edge of Anza-Borrego Desert State park. when he needed something, he would hitch or walk four miles into town and bought rice and filled his plastic water jug at a market liquor store.
March 5th, 1992: reports that he is in Seattle, and uses trains to transport himself around. had an incident with a "crazy bull" who wanted him off the train.
march 11th, 1992: Franz offers McCandless a ride to Grand Junction, Colorado which he accepted. Franz gave him a machete, an arctic parka, a collapsible fishing pole and other gear for his journey into Alaska.stopped in bullhead to close savings account and visit Charlie's trailer.picked hi m up in Coachella, Califronia. there he gets a job with Westerberg.
March 14th, 1992: Franz leaves McCandless on the left shoulder of Interstate 70, outside of Grand Junction and Franz returned to California. He was happy to be away from Franz without problems.
Early April: sends a postcard to Franz when he was in Carthage, South Dakota.for two weeks and three days he stayed there after he left Grand Junction, Colorado.
April 15th: states that his Alaskan Odyssey will not start later than this date
April 18th-21st, 1992; goes north towards hot springs, British Columbia, Canada where when he reaches Alaskan Highway, takes a photo of the entrance.
April 22nd, 1992: sets up his tent near the Stampede Trail. then hitchhikes and finds Jim Gallien, a truck driver, who drives him to his last destination.
April 28th, 1992:McCandless says he wants to go Denali Natiional Park that " live off the land for a few months". Gallien reports that he was ill-equipped and wouldn't last out in the wild. so he offers to buy gear for him.all he had was ten pounds of rice, boots that weren't insulated, and a state road map. McCandless goes on to say he wants to go to Mt. McKinley but Gallien say that the food is scarce and he won't survive. McCandless rejects offer from Gallien to get good gear. Gallien drops him off three hours from Fairbanks to get to stampede trail.also, it was ten miles away from the highway and wasn't very easy to see.
August 12th, 1992: sends an S.O.S. letter of distress.he says he is dying, injured and to weak to hike out of there. McCandless was collecting berries to eat as a supply of food.
August 18th, 1992: in Fairbanks, his body was found in a bus, it was reported that his body died of starvation. his body was taken to Anchorage for autopsy at Scientific Crime Detective Laboratory. When his body was found, he had with him a camera with five rolls of exposed film, an S.O.S. letter, and was found to be weighed at 67 pounds.