Moving the bus should end the reckless stampede

It’s hard to believe that it’s taken this long to move the Stampede Trail bus.

There have been too many deaths, too many near-death experiences and far too many dangerous rescue expeditions brought on by the myth-making skills of Jon Krakauer. No doubt others will still risk their lives in the Teklanika River with the bus gone, but fewer people will make that journey.

What happened to Chris McCandless in 1992 was a terrible thing. He died because he was reckless and young and ill-prepared to deal with the wilderness. All of those who pronounce judgement on him should remember what it was like when they were reckless and young and ill-prepared. And all of those who make him out to be an outdoor expert wise beyond his years should remember that the facts don’t bear that out either.

Here is a column I wrote 13 years ago when the discussion about moving the bus was already a popular topic in Alaska. The bus should have been moved long ago, but better late than never.

I remember being in downtown Fairbanks on Second Avenue in April 2006 when actor/director Sean Penn was filming an exterior shots of Big Ray’s sporting goods, a store where McCandless had shopped.

When Penn showed up on Second Avenue at about 9 p.m. after getting off the train, he looked a little disheveled and tired, but gave a friendly wave to a patron of the Mecca Bar who ambled out on the sidewalk and yelled, "Hey Sean Penn."

In the years after the “Into the Wild” movie spread around the world, the number of people who had to be rescued increased. Crossing the Teklanika River can be dangerous at almost any time.

Meanwhile, Krakauer offered his fourth theory on the death of McCandless in 2014 and his fifth theory in 2015. All of the theories have been aimed at justifying Krakauer’s claim that McCandless did not die of recklessness, but of poisoning.

The first theory was that he had eaten wild pea plants. The second was that he had eaten wild potato seeds. The third was that the seeds had become moldy in a plastic bag. The fourth was that the seeds had a toxic amino acid. The fifth blamed a different amino acid.

He told the Washington Post Friday he was “gobsmacked” by the removal of the bus, as if the State of Alaska should have asked him for permission.

The Post quoted him saying the McCandless “family was in talks on what to do about the bus.”
This is not a decision for the McCandless family.

“This place has been desecrated and now it’s been obliterated. But it’s really tragic people keep dying doing stupid stuff,” Krakauer told the Post.

Krakauer refuses to take responsibility for the part he played in encouraging people to do “stupid stuff.”

I repeat my suggestion from 2007, the state should put the bus up for sale on eBay. Give Krakauer a chance to buy it. He made a fortune on the myth he created about this young man and can afford it.