Bus 142
Be a part of the Road to Exhibition!
The UA Museum of the North is proud to be an official state repository for the State of Alaska. It is through this relationship that we are able to be the caretaker of Bus 142. Learn more about what it takes to care for an historical item like the bus and how we develop a collaborative exhibition for visitors to Fairbanks and beyond.
Now on view in the Gallery of Alaska
Learn how the story of Bus 142 and Christopher McCandless inspired another solo traveler
to ride a BMW motorcycle across South, Central, and North America
Hear about Bus 142 on the Museum Podcast
Connect directly to the episodes here:
- NEW:
Watch conservators from B.R. Howard and Associates repair and stabilize Bus 142
Help us record stories of how Bus 142 played a role in the lives of Alaskans and visitors
alike.
1972 photo courtesy of Mark Hampton
Navigate our virtual exhibit to go inside Bus 142 and visit the future outdoor exhibit site.
View our crowdsourcing photo album of the graffiti covering Bus 142. Claim your graffiti and share your stories of traveling to the bus on the Stampede Trail.
Learn more about our progress to bring Bus 142 to the public through a free, outdoor exhibit
You may be wondering, "When and where can I see the bus?"
Learn more about where we are in the multi-year process here.
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With the conservation process completed, the bus will be off public view from October 2023 until we are able to raise the necessary funds to create the public
exhibition on the UAF campus, behind the museum. Keep an eye on our social media accounts
for periodic updates.
Thanks to a two-year partnership with UAF's and the , the public was able to view the bus at the ConocoPhillips Alaska High Bay Structural Testing Lab at the Joseph E. Usibelli Engineering
Learning and Innovation Building (JUB) on the UAF campus, between October 2021 and
October 2023.
Through a collaborative process using a number of community advisory groups, the museum
will undergo a multi-year project to conserve the aging bus that has been subject to years of vandalism.
Teams will also develop an interpretive approach that will focus on the various life-stages of the bus. From its service in the 1940s and1950s as a military transport vehicle and then as a part of the Fairbanks City Transit System, as a home for the family of a Yutan Construction Company mining road crew member in the early 1960s, as a shelter for hunters and back-country hikers in the 1970s and '80s, and most famously as the final place of refuge in 1992 for Christopher McCandless, the young man whose story was made famous by the 1996 Jon Krakauer book, Into the Wild.
The bus will be exhibited in an outdoor space near the Museum, on the UAF campus. Visitors will have the opportunity to experience the history safely, for the first time in thirty years.
Check out the complicated process of balancing the preservation of existing elements while repairing and restoring lost components. In addition to the safety of our visitors, the long-term care of the bus and associated collections is our number one priority.
In September 2020, the UA Museum of the North became the official repository for (aka "Stampede Trail Bus", "Magic Bus", or "Into the Wild Bus"). The bus and associated historical materials are now cataloged into the Ethnology & History permanent collection and will eventually be placed on public exhibit.
Removed by the Alaska Army National Guard from its nearly 60-year home along the Stampede Trail, the 1946 International Harvester K5 bus will soon find its new home on the grounds of the ҹɫ¸£Àû (UAF).
In order to do all of this, the UA Museum of the North needs your help!
Hit the button to be part of the efforts to preserve this important piece of Alaska's history.