zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Culture
/
The Bus From 'Into The Wild' Has Been Removed By Alaska National Guard Chinook
The Bus From 'Into The Wild' Has Been Removed By Alaska National Guard Chinook-July 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:12:39

Image for article titled The Bus From 'Into The Wild' Has Been Removed By Alaska National Guard Chinook

Long a destination for adventurers seeking to know and understand the place where Christopher McCandless passed away as he strove to make a life for himself in the Alaska wild, Bus 142, or the “Magic Bus” as McCandless referred to it, has been removed from its remote resting place by .

According to a from the New York Times, the Alaska Army National Guard flew out in a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter to first remove hazards and prepare the bus for exfiltration. Then, after straps were applied, a CH-47. Chinook helicopter was used to lift the bus out of its resting place to be transported to a “safe location.”

The Alaska National Guard was interested in moving the bus as many travelers, moved by Jon Krakauer’s 1996 book Into The Wild and its 2007 film adaptation, made their own, often dangerous, journeys to the bus. A number of visitors to the site have perished in the difficult wilderness conditions that surround the site. CNN that last year, a Belarussian woman died as she tried to hike to the bus, and a group of Italian hikers needed to be rescued on their return from the site the February before.

Though McCandless may have made the bus famous, he isn’t actually the one that put it there in the first place. The bus, a 1946 International Harvester which originally belonged to the Fairbanks public transit system, had been stationed in the wilderness to be used as a shelter for construction workers building a road in the region. When the road was finished, the bus remained in the woods abandoned.

McCandless found the bus after driving west, determined to live a life in solitude in the Alaskan wilderness. Armed with a .22 caliber rifle and a sack of rice, he survived more than 100 days in the wilderness before succumbing to the conditions.

Though his demise was tragic, many have seen McCandless as a contemporary transcendentalist in the vein of Emerson and Thoreau. Though those who continue to idolize McCandless won’t be able to find his bus out there in the wild anymore, I’m sure they will continue to find relevance in his story for years to come. Hopefully, Alaska will make the bus accessible once again, perhaps under safer conditions. Will it no longer be as remote as it once was? Sure. But at least people will be able to connect with it safely.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Culture
I Entered My Lifted Miata In A Real Off-Road Race, Here's What Happened
I Entered My Lifted Miata In A Real Off-Road Race, Here's What Happened
I have two automotive loves: The first is the Miata, the second is off-road racing. For a while I raced air-cooled Volkswagens in the deserts of California and Nevada and I was lucky enough to co-drive in a class 11 stock bug in the Baja 1000 a few years...
Jul 10, 2025
Watch ABS Fail When MotorWeek Tests A 1997 Chevy S-10
Watch ABS Fail When MotorWeek Tests A 1997 Chevy S-10
MotorWeek’s is some of the on the internet. The long-running automotive news magazine has a treasure trove of tests after being on the air for over 40 years. Where else can you find detailed instrumented testing of long-forgotten cars like the or a ? MotorWeek’s recent Retro Review upload is...
Jul 10, 2025
Toyota Is Moving A Prewar 700-Ton Press Machine Halfway Around The World
Toyota Is Moving A Prewar 700-Ton Press Machine Halfway Around The World
closed its São Bernardo Plant in November 2023, marking the end of its first overseas production facility. The closure caps off a period of continuous car production in São Paolo, , lasting over 60 years. The plant was home to a Komatsu 700-ton press that predates itself. And now...
Jul 10, 2025
I Can't Get Enough Of This YouTuber Who Builds Tiny, Fully Functional Scale-Model Cars
I Can't Get Enough Of This YouTuber Who Builds Tiny, Fully Functional Scale-Model Cars
I love tiny, of . I have a that is roughly half the size of a normal cat, and she’s perfect. I own a 2013 , which is like the miniature version of a normal-sized vehicle (at least here in Texas) — but beyond that, I also own a Hot...
Jul 10, 2025
2024 Kia EV9: What Do You Want To Know?
2024 Kia EV9: What Do You Want To Know?
At long last, we are about to get behind the wheel of for the first time. Sure, , and sure, , and sure , but hey — what can you do? Anyway, before we get behind the wheel of this three-row electric beast, we want to know what you...
Jul 10, 2025
Subaru Had It Right All Along
Subaru Had It Right All Along
When first came to the United States, it sold small funky cars that were decidedly un-American. As the company grew its own identity and became more established in the U.S., it became the first automaker to offer an all-wheel-drive passenger car in 1975. Subaru was also an early-adopter of...
Jul 10, 2025
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved