Body of SF man found

[trane_fanatic]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...MNGH6MR3191.DTL

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STRANDED FATHER'S HEROIC LAST HOURS

He crawled, climbed through 5-mile canyon seeking help for family

Peter Fimrite, Chronicle Staff Writer

Thursday, December 7, 2006

(12-07) 04:00 PST Grants Pass, Ore. -- James Kim put himself through a desperate ordeal, climbing down a ravine over boulders and logs, through nearly impenetrable brush, and in and out of an icy creek, in what one rescue leader called a "superhuman" effort to save his family.

In the end, his exhausting trek took him in a big, oval-shaped loop to within half a mile of where Big Windy Creek empties out into the Rogue River in the southern Oregon mountains.

It was there, surrounded by towering cliffs, that the body of the missing San Francisco man was spotted just after noon Wednesday. He was found floating in the middle of Big Windy Creek, 11 days after his family's car became stuck in the snow on a side road and four days after he ventured off to look for help.

The death of Kim, 35, came as a blow to rescue workers, two of whom broke down in tears while talking about his heroics.

"We are devastated," said Josephine County Undersheriff Brian Anderson, his eyes moist and his voice cracking. "I'm crushed."

In the end, Kim's circuitous hike took him to within a mile as the crow flies from the spot where he had left his stranded family in their car. Rescuers said that if he had continued down the road in the direction he was driving when the car became stuck on Nov. 25, he would have reached a lodge and almost certain safety.

About 100 rescuers from seven counties, two federal agencies and the Oregon State Police had searched for Kim since his wife, Kati, and two young daughters were found alive Monday with the car. His family had rented three helicopters and arranged for care packages to be dropped in Big Windy Creek canyon, where searchers had focused their efforts after finding his tracks and articles of clothing and a torn-up map that Kim apparently was leaving as a trail.

Even a satellite was moved in space so it could be used in the search.

Kim died after picking his way nearly to the end of the steep, 5-mile canyon in the Siskiyou National Forest west of Grants Pass. Wearing tennis shoes, a jacket and sweater, he had left his family on Saturday, following a logging road back the way the family had come, winding around a ridge, first south, then west.

After walking 3 to 5 miles along the road, he turned east into the ravine, apparently to follow the creek in the hope that it would lead down to homes.

That used to be a recommended survival tactic, but it has fallen out of favor because people who try it usually become more susceptible to hypothermia.

Trackers followed Kim's footprints through dense forest and over slippery boulders from one side of the creek to the other.

"I can only describe him as an extremely motivated individual," said Joe Hyatt of the local Swift Water Rescue Team, which tracked him along the creekbed. "There were areas where the only option for us to pass through was to enter the water and physically swim."

Kim was almost certainly dripping wet. It's not known whether he realized he was approaching the Rogue River, but authorities said he wouldn't have found civilization even had he made it to where the creek empties out.

"Based on what the searchers were describing, the terrain they were working in, it seems superhuman to me,'' Anderson said of Kim's effort.

A helicopter crew spotted Kim's body in the creek at a place where the terrain becomes impassable on both sides because two sheer cliffs line the water.

"He was probably too weak to get back up out of there," Jackson County Sheriff Mike Winters said.

Had Kim known to continue down the logging road from where the car stopped, he soon would have come to a fishing and rafting resort known as Black Bar Lodge. It was vacant for the winter, but rescuers checked it several times, Winters said.

"I admire his effort, I truly do," Winters said. "He has a lot of intestinal fortitude. He comes from the city without a lot of outdoors experience, and he was thinking on his feet, he was very meticulous. ... He had a strong will to survive."

Kim's body was taken to the Oregon State Police Crime Lab, where a medical examiner will determine the cause and time of death. Autopsy results could be released as soon as today.

Earlier Wednesday, authorities said Kim had been leaving clothing and bits of maps in the canyon, apparently as a trail for searchers to track.

"He was motivated -- I mean, we were having difficulty in there," Anderson said. "That was what has been so frustrating; we couldn't seem to get in front of him."

The discovery marked the end of a saga that was closely watched in San Francisco, where Kim worked as an editor at the tech news site Cnet, and around the nation.

Kim left his wife and two daughters early Saturday to look for help a week after the family became stranded off Bear Camp Road in the mountains between Grants Pass and Gold Beach. Kati Kim, 30, and daughters Penelope, 4, and 7-month-old Sabine remained with their car, 15 miles from Bear Camp Road, and were spotted and rescued Monday.

Oregon State Police Lt. Gregg Hastings said that "the commitment by those involved in the search for Kati, for the kids and for James has gone nonstop around the clock. This is obviously extremely tough on those who have had an emotional commitment over the last several days here."

Winters said he admired the love and intense commitment Kim's father, Spencer Kim, showed for his son.

"He was there, he was relentless in his support of us, and when he looks you in the eye and says he is depending on you. ..." Winters' voice cracked, and he turned away to hide his tears before choking out, "It's tough."

Spencer Kim paid for 18 care packages that were dropped in the area this week. Each package included clothes, a wool blanket, gloves and other survival items, and each contained a letter from Kim's family.

The Kims left San Francisco on Nov. 18 for a combined vacation and work trip for James Kim. They spent Thanksgiving in Seattle with family, then went to Portland, Ore., where they had brunch with a friend Nov. 25.

The family then left on their way to a stopover in Gold Beach. At 8:30 that night, they ate dinner in the central Oregon town of Roseburg, where authorities say they intended to take state Highway 42 over to the coast.

But they missed the turnoff, consulted a map, and decided to drive the 55 miles down Interstate 5 to Grants Pass. There they turned onto Bear Camp Road, which is lightly traveled even in the summer and often is closed in the winter.

It was stormy, and around the 2,300-foot elevation, about 50 miles from their intended destination, James Kim turned off onto the logging road, apparently by mistake. They were soon winding up the mountains, hopelessly lost, authorities said, and finally became stranded in snow.

The Kims ran the engine of their station wagon to power its heater, and when the gas was gone, they burned the tires. They ate what little food they had, and Kati Kim breast-fed her two daughters.

Kati Kim and her daughters were spotted Monday afternoon by a private helicopter pilot.

[Jim Alfredson]

Ok... I feel bad for the family, but honestly... heroric!?! More like idiotic. Leave your kids and your wife in a car while you trek out blindly into a snowstorm with tennis shoes and no coat?

That's not heroric. That's dumb.

The very least he should've done if he was going to go for help is continue down the road, not go "off-roading" into ravines and down cliffs.

[gslade]

This same thing happend here last year

only the family all got found and they

had warrants for their arrest in AZ

The road that everyone tries to take

to the coast is not passable in the winter

and there are signs that say that

I guess they need to put a gate on the road

for the winter

Edited December 7, 2006 by gslade

[Noj]

The most remarkable part of this sad story is the cellular phone company workers who found a few text messages which were sent to the man's phone and used them to determine the location of the antennae which sent the signal to the phone. This gave the search teams the radius in which to look.

I also heard that the vehicle was completely buried, and it was only the man's footprints which enabled the helicopters to find the mother and child.

Still, how does one leave the house in a snowstorm and not know exactly where one is going? Poor planning, horrible consequence.

[Scott Dolan]

Terrible ending to this story. I feel really bad for the cat and his family.

On NBC News the other night the reporter from the area mentioned that they had found bear tracks very close to his footprints in certain areas. Aren't bear in hibernation at this time of the year?

[BERIGAN]

Ok... I feel bad for the family, but honestly... heroric!?! More like idiotic. Leave your kids and your wife in a car while you trek out blindly into a snowstorm with tennis shoes and no coat?

That's not heroric. That's dumb.

The very least he should've done if he was going to go for help is continue down the road, not go "off-roading" into ravines and down cliffs.

Dude, they used up all their food there! They used up all their gas. THEY BURNED THEIR TIRES! He and his wife didn't eat, so the children would have food. She BREAST FEED the the 4 year old. He had to do what he did. Couldn't hope to be found in time.

He was from San Fran, which while "Cool" year round(except for heatwaves in Oct/Nov) ain't cold. Oregon is not Michigan either. I believe this was a very freakish weather event. My Mom was from Oregon, and she said it very rarely snowed there. Sounds like they were at elevation, so more likely to see snow, but still, not the upper midwest by any stretch.

I have to admit, I was feeling sorry for the family when I heard he died, but figured he was just a skinny computer geek, who probably didn't put up much of a fight. After reading this article, he fought with every ounce of strength he had. Hell, he did put up a superhuman effort to save his family. Imagine going thru everything he did, thinking he HAD to save his wife and babies, and just couldn't find a way. Imagine being in his shoes, and knowing you're going to die, never see them again?

He wasn't an outdoorsman, but he died a hero, IMO. Reading this story brought me to tears.

Edited December 7, 2006 by BERIGAN

[Joe G]

People in desperate situations do desperate things. And, once hypothermia and dehydration set in, their ability to reason clearly takes a nosedive. Hallucinations and panic are common. A person in that situation with no wilderness experience, poor sense of direction, and inadaquate clothing, is not going to fare well unless helps arrives quickly.

[Jim R]

Ok... I feel bad for the family, but honestly... heroric!?! More like idiotic. Leave your kids and your wife in a car while you trek out blindly into a snowstorm with tennis shoes and no coat?

That's not heroric. That's dumb.

The very least he should've done if he was going to go for help is continue down the road, not go "off-roading" into ravines and down cliffs.

Dude, they used up all their food there! They used up all their gas. THEY BURNED THEIR TIRES! He and his wife didn't eat, so the children would have food. She BREAST FEED the the 4 year old. He had to do what he did. Couldn't hope to be found in time.

Um, I think Jim said he was foolish to go off the road, not that he shouldn't have ventured out.

He was from San Fran, which while "Cool" year round(except for heatwaves in Oct/Nov) ain't cold. Oregon is not Michigan either. I believe this was a very freakish weather event. My Mom was from Oregon, and she said it very rarely snowed there. Sounds like they were at elevation, so more likely to see snow, but still, not the upper midwest by any stretch.

Oregon may not get the number of arctic blasts that Michigan gets, but... the west coast states are large, with a wide variety in elevations and climate types. Maybe your Mom spent all of her time in the lower elevations, but even then I'm sure she must have known that it snows in the mountains in Oregon. It's no fluke to get snow in the mountains at that elevation and at that latitude... it snows in the mountains here in the coastal ranges in California, though less frequently.

[Quincy]

My Mom was from Oregon, and she said it very rarely snowed there. Sounds like they were at elevation, so more likely to see snow, but still, not the upper midwest by any stretch.

Depends on where you are in the state. Coastal range mountains (where they were) gets some, Cascades can get lots. Same with Mt. Hood, and parts of eastern Oregon. Willamette Valley sees very little, though sometimes we get some flakes that stick for a few hours. We got it just about it all here.

One thing that's been brought up is perhaps internet mapping let them down. Forest roads don't provide info to such services that spell out that a road is impassable during the winter. When in the west, get yourself a "real" map.

Like gslade said that general area has seen people get in trouble before. Some think they can take a shortcut, but that only works in the summer (or the edges of spring & fall when snow isn't a threat.) Aside from the weird

story last year of the elderly AZ RV drivers with arrest warrents, there was also someone who took a spur off a forest road and was found dead months after the snow melted.

Very sad story. We got an extra day or so of coverage as it was local news.

[Alexander]

Everything I've ever heard/read about survival in the wilderness says that when you are lost and awaiting rescue, you should STAY PUT. Yes, burning the tires was a great idea. It eventually helped to signal the rescue teams. Do everything you can to make yourself visable, but NEVER walk off trying to find help. Had he stayed with his family, he could have helped to warm them with his body heat and he could have tried to keep the car cleared off to make it easier to see. Lots he could have done without wandering off.

I feel bad for the guy and his family, but I wouldn't call his actions heroic. Desperate, perhaps. Maybe even noble, but certainly not "heroic." Heroes don't abandon people in their time of need, even with the best intentions.

[Jim Alfredson]

I didn't mean to be harsh on the guy. Obviously they were in a desperate situation and it ended in tragedy. But I would not call his actions "heroic". He had good intentions but extremely poor judgement, imo.

But what does it matter? The poor guy is dead and his babies have no dad. That sucks.

[trane_fanatic]

People in desperate situations do desperate things. And, once hypothermia and dehydration set in, their ability to reason clearly takes a nosedive. Hallucinations and panic are common. A person in that situation with no wilderness experience, poor sense of direction, and inadaquate clothing, is not going to fare well unless helps arrives quickly.

My thoughts, exactly. Everybody has a right to their own opinion, but IMO, criticizing somebody who died in this way is so effing lame.

It's always easier when you're a Monday morning quarterback.

And... I wouldn't exactly call that "abandoning" his family.

[BERIGAN]

Ok... I feel bad for the family, but honestly... heroric!?! More like idiotic. Leave your kids and your wife in a car while you trek out blindly into a snowstorm with tennis shoes and no coat?

That's not heroric. That's dumb.

The very least he should've done if he was going to go for help is continue down the road, not go "off-roading" into ravines and down cliffs.

Dude, they used up all their food there! They used up all their gas. THEY BURNED THEIR TIRES! He and his wife didn't eat, so the children would have food. She BREAST FEED the the 4 year old. He had to do what he did. Couldn't hope to be found in time.

Um, I think Jim said he was foolish to go off the road, not that he shouldn't have ventured out.

......

Jim said ....heroric!?! More like idiotic.Leave your kids and your wife in a car while you trek out blindly into a snowstorm with tennis shoes and no coat?

That's what I was objecting to. Jim later said he didn't mean to be harsh. I still say if you were in his shoes, and were out of fuel, no one saw the burning tires, out of food, and your wife was forced to breast feed a 4 year old, you to would go looking for help, before you were too weak from hunger to be of any use. Wish he had gone down the hill to that lodge.....

[Jim Alfredson]

I was too harsh and who knows what I'd do if I was in the same situation. I would probably go look for help, too. But I'm pretty confident I would not go into the forest. It seems like the most logical thing to do would be either to follow the road back the way you came or follow the road ahead.

But like Joe said, sometimes logic goes out the window. I apologize for being too harsh on the poor guy.

[Quincy]

A couple of added points to the story.

1) The forest road they turned onto doees indeed have a lock & gate. It was locked on November 1st after deer hunting season ended. Someone broke the lock and left the gate open. The BLM has 4700 miles of road & 106 lockable gates to tend to in the Medford area, so they have their hands full trying to fix vandalized sites.

2) They may have been using good old fashioned maps after all.

3) Regarding his decision to take a turn for the river, keep in mind he had some idea of where he had been given that they had driven up the road. They were 15 miles up the road, so the way back is quite a fair hike in good weather with boots & a full belly. Given that his idea to look for civilization by following a stream (and considering he had had no food for a week) wasn't that bad of idea, it just didn't work.

[RainyDay]

This story just breaks my heart. Remember: It was his footprints in the snow that led the helicopter to the car where the mom and kids were. The helicopter his family hired to find them. Had ne not left the car, they might not have ever found any of them at all. I know you want to be critical, initially I was too. But now, it's just sad. The guys is a hero in my book. He was desperate to save his family and he did the best he could. Ironically, there was a lodge just a mile from where they get stuck. It was closed for the winter but stocked with provisions. Rescuers kept checking to see if they'd show up. This was a Bay Area family so there has been much coverage here and interviews with friends and co-workers. It's just too sad. He sounded like a wonderful person.

In today's SF Chron, Jon Carroll's column critiques computer maps and how useless they are. The road they took would have been given by mapquest or yahoo maps even though it is not passable in winter.

[JSngry]

The most remarkable part of this sad story is the cellular phone company workers who found a few text messages which were sent to the man's phone and used them to determine the location of the antennae which sent the signal to the phone. This gave the search teams the radius in which to look.

Somebody in the party had a cell phone?

What am I missing here?

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

wait wait wait wait WHAT the hell happened? why was the family there in the 1st place? did they run out of gas or something? believe me i know that is a sketchy-ass place to get lost or in trouble. once my car ran off the off ramp on exit #1 (a service exit w/ no facilities) and i thought i was gonna die out there. Another time i met a really hot redhead at the Ashland denny's at 3 am. that was out of control too!

[etherbored]

What am I missing here?

initially they were out of range/service and then it had no power AND please note the messages were sent TO the family, not FROM.

-e-

Edited December 8, 2006 by etherbored

[JSngry]

Alright, then. That's what I was missing. Thanks.

[Randy Twizzle]

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- A San Francisco man who was stranded with his family in the snowy wilderness walked more than 16 miles in search of help before he died -- six more than originally thought, a search official said Saturday.

James Kim, 35, his wife and their two daughters were about seven miles from a fishing lodge stocked with food, not the one mile as authorities earlier thought, said Phil Turnbull, a fire chief in Josephine County.

A mapping error led to the incorrect figures, but did not affect the search for Kim, Turnbull said.

Turnbull said it was important to ''set the public record straight'' and ''to emphasize the efforts Mr. Kim made to rescue his family.''

The Kims were returning to San Francisco on Nov. 25 and had gotten stuck in snow after taking a wrong turn down a logging road that is normally blocked by a gate. Vandals apparently had cut the lock on the gate, officials said.

Kim's wife, Kati, 30, and their two young daughters were rescued Monday, two days after he struck out on foot in search of help. James Kim was found dead of exposure in a mountain creek Wednesday.

The owner of the lodge said he didn't recognize the area as being near his lodge and double-checked.

Turnbull said the vehicle was 6.37 miles farther along the road, meaning James Kim had walked that much farther than searchers first thought.

''Holy smokes, that was superhuman effort to get that many miles,'' owner John James told the Grants Pass Daily Courier, referring to James Kim. The newspaper first reported about the error.