Christopher Johnson McCandless

Who was Christopher Johnson McCandless?

Christopher Johnson McCandless was an American hiker who adopted the alias Alexander Supertramp and ventured into the Alaskan wilderness in April 1992 with little food and equipment, hoping to live simply for a time in solitude. Almost four months later, McCandless's starved remains were found, weighing only 67 pounds. His death occurred in a converted bus used as a backcountry shelter, near Lake Wentitika in Denali National Park and Preserve.

In January 1993, Jon Krakauer published McCandless's story in that month's issue of Outside magazine. Inspired by the details of McCandless's story, Krakauer wrote and published Into the Wild in 1996 about McCandless's travels. The book was adapted into a film by Sean Penn in 2007 with Emile Hirsch portraying McCandless. That same year, McCandless's story also became the subject of Ron Lamothe's documentary The Call of the Wild.

A full-length article on McCandless also appeared in the February 8, 1993 issue of the The New Yorker magazine.

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