On a chilly October morning at a storage facility in central Fairbanks, Museum of the North curator Angela Linn pulled a giant tarp off of Bus 142 — a rust-covered green-and-white city bus from the 1940s.
The bus has a new set of wheels, but it’s still dappled with the graffiti that was scratched and painted on its surface throughout its past life as a makeshift wilderness shelter.
Gathered in front of it are Missy Crum and her family, who are visiting from Oklahoma on what she calls their Alaskan dream vacation. Her brother, Jared White, is a devoted fan of Jon Krakauer’s “Into the Wild,” a nonfiction book about the life of Chris McCandless, who died inside the bus in 1992.
Crum said her brother’s only wish for the trip was to see the bus. But there was a problem.
“We started researching a little over a year ago, and we got conflicting information,” Crum said. “Is it on display? Is it not?”
This is a line of inquiry Linn and her coworkers encounter a lot.
“I mean, literally every other person,” she said. “I feel like every time visitors come in, it's one of the first questions that they ask as they come up to pay admission. ‘Oh, I heard the bus is here, can we see that?’”
The bus is not at the museum, but Linn said she’s happy to bring determined visitors across town for a visit, when she has time.
There was a plan to open the bus to the public as early as this summer, but funding issues have pushed that back. Linn said the museum is trying to raise about $375,000 to complete the exhibit, which will display some of McCandless’ personal effects and have an outdoor pavilion where people can view the actual bus for free.
So far, the museum has spent a $500,000 federal grant from the National Parks Service and Institute of Museum and Library Services to make the bus structurally stable and to repair damage from things like vandalism, weather and moss. Fans have pitched in about $40,000 to see the exhibit through.
Linn said the museum is applying for other federal grants to make up the difference, but this year’s federal spending reductions have put many of those funding sources further out of reach.
Some Alaskans hate the bus. Museum staff are planning for that.
The book and subsequent film about his life have moved fans all over the world. That’s partly why the rusted-out bus — where the 24-year-old McCandless spent his final days — was airlifted to Fairbanks in 2020. Over the years, multiple visitors became stranded or even died trying to reach the bus in its original location on the Stampede Trail.
But not everybody loves the idea of the exhibit or what the bus represents, especially in Alaska. Linn said her team is already planning for acts of vandalism against the bus, which will be in a fenced-in area outside the museum. That plan includes security cameras and flood lights.
“The comments that people make can be super harsh,” Linn said. “Like, why are we spending money? Why are we wasting money on this rusted-out bucket? Why are we promoting this place where some guy died?”
Linn said the bus has a rich history independent of McCandless. The International Harvester K-5 was retired as a city bus in 1961 and then towed down the Stampede Trail. There, it served as housing for construction workers who were building an access road between the Alaska Railroad and an antimony mine at the far end of the trail.
Over the next few decades, the bus sheltered hunters, trappers and recreators walking the trail.
“It's what that bus has seen, what it's connected to,” Linn said. “Resource extraction, tourism, infrastructure development.”
She said the bus exhibit can also be a way to better inform visitors who might only know about McCandless.
“People were intrigued by his story, but thousands of people go missing in Alaska. And they're not getting the same acknowledgement,” she said. “So, one of the things that we're hoping that this exhibit can do is kind of raise awareness of the big problem of missing and murdered Indigenous peoples in Alaska.”
Bus 142 remains out of sight, but not out of mind for many
Carine McCandless is Chris McCandless’ sister and the author of “The Wild Truth,” a memoir that details their family’s dynamics, which she describes as abusive. She’s advising the museum on how to best represent her brother and his story through the bus exhibit.
She said her brother never reached his 30th birthday, but 30 years after his death, the emails and letters haven’t stopped.
“A lot of people will tell me that Chris's story changed their life,” McCandless said. “And of course, he can't do that for people. But learning about him can certainly ignite that fuel that is within people — whether it has to do with actually getting out into nature more, whether it just happens to be getting out of a toxic relationship, or leaving a job that they hate going to every day.”
To White, who works as a master mechanic back in Oklahoma, it means everything to be able to see and touch the real thing — in a safe location.
“To me, he really bucked the system,” he said. “He did his own thing, he wasn't controlled by expectations people had for him and his life. It's a very inspiring story for people, especially when you get into the routines and ruts of your life. It made me really excited to be here and actually be able to see it.”
Linn, the museum curator, said she doesn’t have an exact timeline for when the exhibit will be complete. She’s looking forward to the day when the bus will be available for all to see, but some part of her will miss giving the occasional private tour. For now, Bus 142 will stay under its tarp.
