What is so special about an old abandoned bus? The bus was chronicled in Jon Krakauer’s 1996 book “Into the Wild,” followed later by director Sean Penn’s movie of the same name. This bus was the subject of many deadly pilgrimages to Alaska’s back country to visit. It was airlifted using a CH-47 Chinook helicopter out of its location in the Alaska back country back in June 18, 2020 due to public safety concerns, as part of a training mission. It can now be safely viewed at the University of Alaska Fairbanks while it undergoes preservation work.
The abandoned Fairbanks city bus became a shelter for hunters and others using the back country near Denali National Park and Preserve, however it became a beacon for those wishing to retrace the steps of Christopher McCandless who hiked to the bus back in 1992.
McCandless was a 24 year old man from Virginia who died from starvation when he couldn’t hike back out because of the swollen Teklanika River. He kept a journal during his last days, which was discovered when his body was found.
The state of Alaska removed the bus that was located about 25 miles from the town of Healy after two women, one from Switzerland and the other from Belarus, drowned on homages to the bus. When the bus was flown out of the wilderness in August of 2020, the DNR (Dept. of Natural Resources) stated there have been 15 other search-and-rescue missions since 2009. Many people have a personal connection to the bus. Manager of ethnology and history at the museum has said that people have a huge feeling about this bus. They are thinking about it and have opinions about it. It also means they are engaged with history.
The bus is being preserved in a heated and secure space that has environmental controls. It has an elevated observation space that people can view the bus for free on weekdays. The bus is expected to remain in this area through the end of the academic year.
One of the first things to be done with this bus is to document, systematically, all the graffiti that can be seen on the inside and the outside of the bus. This is an important part of the last 30 years. Holes were cut in the roof and floor of the bus to allow a helicopter to ferry it out of the woods. These holes have to be repaired. The bus is also riddled with bullet holes. Some of these holes could be dangerous. The shots that came from the inside leave jagged holes, so when it eventually goes on exhibit, they don’t want anybody to be injured.
The 1940’s-era bus, sometimes called “Bus 142” or “The Magic Bus,” was used to house employees by the Yutan Construction Co. when it built an access road about 25 miles west of the Parks Highway that was the main thoroughfare between Anchorage and Fairbanks.
The bus was abandoned in 1961 and had become an emergency shelter for people using the back country to recreate or hunt. Part of the permanent display will be telling the other history of the bus. It is one of those things that the museum want to explain to people and show people, that there is a lot more to the history of the bus and the story of the bus than just those 114 days that McCandless was associated with.