After graduating from college in 1990, Chris took off on a road trip around the country, determined to be a rubber tramp—a vagrant with a car. He donated the $25,000 USD in his savings account to Oxfam and hit the road. He severed contact with friends and family back home; letters to his sister indicate that he harbored a great deal of resentment to his parents in particular.
His travels took him out west, to California and Arizona, where he abandoned his vehicle after it was damaged by a flash flood in a dry wash near the Grand Can ...
McCandless grew up in well-to-do family in the affluent Washington, DC suburb of Annandale. His father, Samuel Walter McCandless, a former rocket scientist and one time bigamist, ran a lucrative consulting firm with Chris's mother, Billie McCandless (nee Johnson). Both parents came from working class backgrounds and worked long hours to provide a life of luxury for Chris and his sister Carine—a fact that Chris would one day look upon with scorn, c ...
