Christopher McCandless

Hi all,

I went through a couple of websites regarding the camping regulations in Alaska.

All the info I stumbled upon has a upper limit of the day you can stay, some says 5 nights, some goes up to 15 days in specific seasons.

But none of these allows you camp as long as you want.

So how does Chris did it for 4 months? Isn't where he lived a National Park? How come there are no park inspectors?


Thanks for the info

Chris was very near Denali National Park, but there is a notch cut out of the north-east corner of the park known as the Stampede corridor, that is not part of the park. The bus is located at the deepest part of that notch, so he was not subject to park regulations.

Thank you... don't know if that place is still not part of the Park....

xcd wrote:don't know if that place is still not part of the Park....

It's not. The bus is not shown on the maps, but it's still on the right hand side of the park border, even though very close.
http://www.closertonature.com/maps/denali-map.gif

I don't know whether the boundaries were exactly the same 19 years ago.

By the way, does anyone know why that more or less rectangular part has been left out?

I would guess it was because of the Stampede Trail itself-the feds wanted to include the mountains north of the trail in the park, the state of Alaska wanted access to the mine, and by then some cabins had sprung up along the first few miles of Stampede Road, so they compromised. I think the adding of the Outer Range must have been done in the 1970s, by which time it was clear that Earl Pilgrim's mines wouldn't bear fruit, so the govt took the part between the mine and the Sushana, and left out the part between the Sushana and the highway. The two parts are roughly equidistant, so I figure it was a compromise.

I must say it is a good way to enjoy the camping in Alaska because last year my aunt went there with her family and enjoy the camping for two weeks. She arrange her tour herself and maintain it even arrange its camp herself.