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Atlanta, Georgia
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. -
Washington D.C.
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. -
Willow Creek, California
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. -
Lake, Tahoe, Sierra Nevada, Cascade Mountains
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. -
Lake Mead National Recreation Area
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. -
Needles, California
October 28th, 1990: caught a ride with a long-haul truck driver towards Needles, California. -
Topock, Arizona
October 28th, 1990 He walked to Topock, Arizona after the truck drive and bought a canoe. -
Colorado River
October 28th, 1990 after buying the canoe decided to canoe down the Colorado River. -
Lake Havasu
October 28th, 1990 paddeled south down Lake Havasu. -
Gulf of California
October 28th, 1990 canoed down the Colorado River to the Gulf of Californa. -
Morelos Dam
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 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. -
Houston, Texas
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. -
Los Angeles, California
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. -
Grand Canyon
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. -
Seattle, Washington
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. -
Las Vegas, Nevada
May 10th, 1991:leaves Las Vegas, doesn't have detailed entries because of his camera not functioning properly. -
Coastal Oregon
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. -
Bullhead City, Arizona
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. -
San Diego, California
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. -
Grand Junction, Colorado
March 11th, 1992 Franz offers McCandless a ride to Grand Junction, Colorado which he accepted. -
Niland, California
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. -
Carthage, South Dakota
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. -
Liard Hot Springs, British Columbia, Canada
April 18th-21st, 1992; goes north towards hot springs, British Columbia, Canada where when he reaches Alaskan Highway, takes a photo of the entrance. -
Denali National Park and Preserve (near Lake Wentitika), Alaska
destination. April 28th, 1992:McCandless says he wants to go Denali National 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. -
Fairbanks, University of Alaska campus
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.