Overdue hiker visiting “Into the Wild” bus found safe

The search for an overdue hiker headed to the abandoned bus where Christopher McCandless died, ended happily Monday morning. Denali National Park spokeswoman Katherine Belcher says 45-year-old Carlos Castrejon of Mexico was located walking along the Park Road.

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Belcher says twenty people were involved in the search for Castrejon, whose girlfriend reported him overdue returning from a solo 30 mile round trip hike from the park road to the Stampede Trail area bus and back. She says Castrejon hoped it would take 3 days, but terrain was rougher than anticipated.

Belcher says Castrejon left September 7th, but had told his girlfriend he might not return until the 13th.

It’s the second time this summer that a search was launched to locate a hiker overdue on a trip to the bus. Last month 22-year-old Mathew Sharp of Manitoba, Canada was unable to hike out from the bus because of high water on the Teklanika River. He activated a personal locator beacon and was picked by an Alaska State Trooper helicopter.

The trek to the bus was popularized by the “Into the Wild” book and movie about McCandless. Numerous hikers trying to reach the bus have been rescued, and one died trying to ford the Teklanika in 2010.