'Into the Wild’ stampede trail bus headed to Alaska museum

"Of the many expressions of interest in the bus, the proposal from the UA Museum of the North best met the conditions we at DNR had established to ensure this historical and cultural object will be preserved in a safe location where the public could experience it fully, yet safely and respectfully, and without the specter of profiteering," DNR Commissioner Corri Feige said in a statement. The bus was immortalised in John Krakauer’s 1996 book “Into the Wild” that narrated the story of 24-year-old wanderer Chris McCandless, who died inside it in 1992 after a 114-day stay.

Alaska's Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is in talks with University of Alaska's Museum of the North to move the iconic Stampede Trail bus that was popularised in Sean Penn's 2007 feature "Into the Wild". The desolate and abandoned bus in Stampede Trail was removed by authorities over public safety concerns in June.

On Thursday, the DNR said that it intends to negotiate with the museum to display the bus, historically known as "Bus 142". "Of the many expressions of interest in the bus, the proposal from the UA Museum of the North best met the conditions we at DNR had established to ensure this historical and cultural object will be preserved in a safe location where the public could experience it fully, yet safely and respectfully, and without the specter of profiteering," DNR Commissioner Corri Feige said in a statement.

The bus was immortalised in John Krakauer's 1996 book "Into the Wild" that narrated the story of 24-year-old wanderer Chris McCandless, who died inside it in 1992 after a 114-day stay. Eleven years later, Penn adapted the book into a feature film, starring Emile Hirsch as McCandless. The Stampede Trail area that lies north of Denali National Park and Preserve, does not have cellphone service and is marked by unpredictable weather and at-times swollen rivers.

Many people have tried to follow the footsteps of McCandless and some have had to be rescued or have died. On June 18, the bus was removed by helicopter from the remote side of the Teklanika River near Healy through a joint effort of DNR and the Alaska Army National Guard.

The decision to remove the bus came after the rescue of five Italian tourists this year and death of a woman from Belarus in 2019..

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