ANCHORAGE — Officials say two hikers rescued after failing to return on time from a trip into the Alaska wilderness are the latest to be saved after trying to reach an abandoned bus made famous by the book and film “Into the Wild.”
Search and rescue crews located Michael Trigg of South Carolina and Theodore Aslund of Atlanta on Sunday afternoon. Officials say they were uninjured and in good condition, KTUU-TV in Anchorage reported. The two hikers, who started their trip June 20, had made it to the bus but tried taking a shortcut in Denali National Park on their way back when they realized they were running late.
Trigg and Aslund had instructed friends in a post on Facebook before their trip to alert rescuers if they had not returned by Friday. Concerned friends reached out to National Park Service rangers that day. A group of more than 20 people and one helicopter had joined in the search for the hikers.
“Each year, multiple people who attempt to visit the bus under-prepared are rescued by professional search and rescue personnel,” according to the National Park Service.
The book by Jon Krakauer and movie directed by Sean Penn chronicled the life and death of Chris McCandless, 24, who hiked into the Alaska wilderness in April 1992 with little food and equipment and spent the summer living in the bus. McCandless was found starved to death in the bus almost four months later.
