In the winter of 1990, Chris McCandless had spent some time hiking in the desert before he impulsively bought a secondhand canoe to travel down the Colorado River to Mexico. As he traveled down the Colorado River in his canoe, Chris survived solely on rice and the marine life that he managed to catch.

After crossing into Mexico, Chris encountered numerous obstacles, which included becoming lost in a maze of irrigation canals and narrowly surviving a violent storm on the Gulf of Mexico. After surviving the violent story, Chris abandoned his canoe and traveled north.

On January 18th, Chris attempted to cross into the United States without an ID and was caught by immigration authorities. After spending one night in jail, Chris was allowed to leave after "concocting a story." Jon Krakauer never elaborates on the story Chris told the immigration officers and simply writes that Chris was allowed to leave without his Colt Python. Chris's unknown story contributes to the mystery surrounding his character, life, and death, which makes him such an intriguing figure to this day.

The author, Jon Krakauer, tells us that Chris made up a story, but he doesn't describe what the story was.  "Caught by immigration authorities trying to slip into the country without ID, he spent a night in custody before concocting a story that sprang him from the slammer, minus his .38-caliber handgun,"  (Krakauer, pg 36).