Alex Supertramp

Christopher Johnson McCandless was an American hitch-hiker who adopted the name Alexander Supertramp and hiked into the Alaskan wilderness in April 1992 with little food and equipment, hoping to live simply for a time in solitude. He believed in a life of simple-living and self-sufficiency and so he went on voyage of spiritual discovery.

Shortly after graduation, he gave the remaining money from his education fund to Oxfam. The cheque written by Chris on 15th May 1990, totalled $24000. He then left quietly from home to begin his escapade and adopted the name Alexander Supertramp of which he got from the book The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp by William H. Davies from 1908. When asked by someone where his family were, he would say that he no longer had a family.

He travelled through various states of America in his car (which he left after it was caught in a flash flood) and by train, hiking, canoeing and of course walking. The challenge to himself was to travel with the least amount of belongings as possible and as little money as possible. He had no map and no agenda, just the will to travel.

His dream was the Alaskan adventure and he would tell this to those he met along the way. Some people he worked for on odd jobs would try to convince him to stay and some would insist on giving him supplies to help with the journey.

He seldom accepted.

He reached his final destination on April 28, 1992 in Fairbanks Alaska.

Four months later he perished from starvation and was found in an abandoned old Fairbanks City Transit Bus numbered 142 which was located on the Stampede Trail. He weighed only 67lbs.