The long-abandoned bus that featured in the book and movie 'Into the Wild' has been removed from its site at the edge of Denali National Park and will be housed in the University of Alaska's Museum of the North in Fairbanks.
The bus, equipped with bunks and a stove, was originally support space for construction crew along the road, was left behind in the 1980s as shelter for hikers and hunters. Since the 1992 death of a young hiker who starved to death there while marooned by a flooded river, it has drawn many trekkers, some of them to their deaths.
It first became famous with the 1992 death of 24-year-old Chris McCandless, who left behind in the bus a journal of his 114 days without food or means of escape. His journal became the basis of a book and movie, both titled 'Into the Wild.'
Officials in the area had discussed building a footbridge across the river, a solution discarded because the river is not the only danger, or moving the bus to the opposite side of the river. In the end, the state Department of Natural Resources decided that the museum move was safest, and would still allow those who wanted to to see it. The move took place last week, with the bus carried by an Alaska National Guard helicopter as a training exercise.
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