In this photo released by the Alaska National Guard, Alaska Army National Guard soldiers use a CH-47 Chinook helicopter to removed an abandoned bus, popularized by the book and movie “Into the Wild,” out of its location in the Alaska backcountry Thursday, June 18, 2020, as part of a training mission. Alaska Natural Resources Commissioner Corri Feige, in a release, said the bus will be kept in a secure location while her department weighs various options for what to do with it. SGT. SETH LACOUNT AP
Alaska removes ‘Into the Wild’ Bus from the wilderness
The abandoned bus made famous by Jon Krakauer’s book “Into the Wild,” which documented the life and death of Christopher McCandless who lived in the bus, has been removed from its location in the wilderness outside of Healy, Alaska. The bus was airlifted out of the wild by a Chinook helicopter and then loaded onto a flatbed trailer and moved to an unknown location.
After Krakauer’s book was published, the bus drew hikers from around the world, who regularly embarked on the dangerous 20-mile hike to reach it. Two hikers have died in their attempt to reach the bus, swept away by the unpredictable Teklanika River. “I know it’s the right thing for public safety… At the same time, it’s always a little bittersweet when a piece of your history gets pulled out,” Denali Borough mayor Clay Walker told Alaska Public Radio.
Read more on Christopher McCandless:
Is Into the Wild’s Chris McCandless a Hero?
California woman fights off bear with her laptop
A teenager that fell asleep in her Sierra Madre, California backyard on Monday evening got a rude awakening when she awoke around dusk to a black bear approaching her. “It immediately attacked,” Fish and Wildlife Captain Patrick Foy told CNN. The bear scratched the woman’s arms and legs and then began to bite her leg.
The woman fought back with the only defense she had—her laptop. “She hit the bear with it and stunned it long enough to escape inside the house,” Foy said, adding that the attack was “unprovoked.” Wildlife officials have not yet located the bear but if they do it will be euthanized.
2020 gearing up to be one of the hottest on record
Some things never change—like the forward march of Earth’s warming temperatures. NOAA reports that 2020 is on track to be one of the warmest on record. Karin Gleason, a climatologist at NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, told NBC News that it’s “virtually certain” that 2020 will rank among the top five warmest years in the 141 years the agency has tracked the climate.
The current warmest year on record was 2016, but the agency says there’s a nearly 50% chance 2020 could set a new record. The year-to-date period from January through May 2020 has been the second-warmest on record, Gleason said.
