Visit to Bus 142..

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When I just out of high school (in the early 1990s, darn I feel old!) I remember reading about a trip I think Roman Dial did in Denali NP, when they bike in the park road, floated down the Toklat, and hiked/pushed their out the stampede trail past bus 142. I think this was just around the time Into the Wild came out, but well before I was aware of it, and my first exposure to the McCandless story. I remember being in awe of the adventure the two bikers had, I have always been nonplussed by all the interest into Christopher McCandless’s life, but I was eventually convinced by Tom to bike out there with him.

Tom has never been excited about winter camping, so the plan was to do it as a long day trip, riding in and out of the bus on fat bikes. We were anticipating a fairly long day, and so spent Friday night in the Nord Haven (a great place, highly recomended!), and headed out early-ish in the morning to ride to the bus.

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The start of the trip was uneventful, we quickly found the road was in much better shape than we expected, though I did park earlier than I could have. The bike in was fast and fun. In places there was an amazingly firm wind crust that was stout enough to ride on. I had come prepared with maps of the route, but it wasn’t really necessary – there were a few side trails, but it was clear where the main trail was. I briefly caught a glimpse of a wolf (or possible a large feral dog) that took off at warp speed once it saw me, then several large groups of caribou. The trail in was fairly scenic, but nothing spectacular.

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Tom is hoping to write up the visit for publication, so there was lots and lots of photo taking.

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Eventually we reached the bus, and we poked around for a bit. The bus was, at least for me, fairly depressing. It is clear it has deep meaning for a lot of people, judging from the things left there, the writing in the various log books, and the graffiti left on the walls.

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Perhaps it is almost a religious experience for them – a search for meaning in modern life. I find it sad that it appears people are finding it here..

The bus is in fairly bad shape and is missing lots of windows.

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The wood stove was intact, but it isn’t going to keep that thing warm. There were a couple of pretty odd items there, including a huge spiked club, which I had fun waving around and pretending to be insane – good classy fun.

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Tom enjoying poking around the bus, and getting some classy poses in as well..

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The ride out was uneventful, and we stopped at Clear Sky Lodge on way back, enjoying their fantastic burgers.

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Hope everyone is enjoying winter!

A Map:

(more details here:)

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2 Responses to “Visit to Bus 142..”

  1. Iris says:

    Hi!
    Thanks for your post and a great idea to make it a day trip on a bike.
    What time a year dis you go?

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