Lost Family...
This story has me so upset. I'm from the Bay Area and I follow the news there frequently ...this story hits close to home on a few levels. My husband spent every summer with his grandparents in Grant's Pass/Cave Junction OR. In fact, he was just telling our boys how as a teen he got lost in the same forest and had to follow the river to the road (of course it was summer).. but it is just too sad.
What a horrible way to go.. not knowing that your family was safe and trying desperately to survive and stay alive to help them. It is just such a terrible tragedy for this family.
Missing dad gave all before death
By Julia Prodis Sulek
Mercury News
MERLIN, Ore. - Handwritten letters from James Kim's father, tucked into care packages dropped by helicopter into Oregon's rugged, icy wilderness Wednesday, promised the 35-year-old that rescuers were coming, that they would find him as they found his wife and two young daughters, safe and sound, earlier this week. He signed them ``Dad.''
But before all the packages could be dropped into the Big Windy Creek canyon, where the search was centered, a helicopter pilot at noon spotted Kim's body. It was lying just before the sheer rock cliffs that, a day earlier, had kept rescuers from trying to head Kim off from the other side.
By the time he was found, the CNet senior editor from San Francisco had covered about eight miles in the treacherous terrain over four days and five nights, including swimming across the creek at one point when air temperatures dipped into the 20s, a search crew member said.
``It seems superhuman to me that he was able to cover the distance that he had,'' Josephine County Undersheriff Brian Anderson said. ``It appears to me he was highly motivated and knew what he was doing.''
The recovery of Kim's body ended an 11-day ordeal for the extended Kim family, who used all their wits, will and love to survive and seek help after getting lost Nov. 25 on a mountain pass on their way home to San Francisco after spending Thanksgiving in Seattle.
Kati Kim, 30, had nursed their infant, Sabine, as well as their 4-year-old daughter, Penelope, for nine days before their stranded station wagon was spotted Monday. James Kim -- who had set out on foot wearing layered clothing after seven days in the car -- had left a trail of clues for searchers to follow, including an SOS note, torn pieces of an Oregon map and his daughter's bright blue skirt.
James Kim's father, Spencer Kim -- chairman of an aerospace corporation in Southern California -- hired three helicopters to help the multi-agency search and prepared the care packages of warm clothing, food, flares and letters.
``He was able to make a call to get a satellite moved'' to get a better photo image of the search area, said Lt. Gregg Hastings of the Oregon State Police. ``That's something.''
Wednesday's discovery was a crushing blow to the more than 100 searchers who spent four days tracking Kim in the steep, narrow creek drainage some 30 miles west of Grants Pass.
It was especially hard to deliver the news to the family, who had tried so hard for a happy ending.
``I admire Mr. Kim's love for his son,'' said Jackson County Sheriff Mike Winters, who felt a personal obligation to find Kim's son alive. ``When he looks you in the eye and says he's depending on us, that's tough.''
Just how long Kim survived after leaving his family Saturday morning is uncertain. But he had made it up a road three miles, hiked down a steep embankment to follow the narrow edges of the Big Windy Creek for five more miles -- probably hoping to find civilization at the end -- before the towering cliffs made progress impossible. That's where his body lay.
Ground crews coming from behind never got that far. But they described a frigid hike that was exhausting even for the best-equipped professionals. Rescuers on foot following Kim's trail climbed over fallen tree trunks, navigated small waterfalls and heaved themselves over rock ledges. Water rescue teams wearing special ``dry suits'' swam through deeper creek waters, as they believe Kim must have done to end up where he did.
``I can only describe him as an extremely amazing individual,'' said Joe Hyatt, a member of the Grants Pass Swift Water Rescue Team who followed Kim's trail. ``I would only hope I could do the same for my family.''
After Kim's body was airlifted from the canyon, an autopsy was being conducted Wednesday night. Authorities expected to release a cause of death today.
The family's ordeal began when they missed a Highway 42 exit from Interstate 5. They had eaten dinner in Roseburg, Ore., and were trying to make it over the mountains to the coastal town of Gold Beach where they planned to stay the night, Kati Kim told authorities after her rescue. Looking at an Oregon map, they decided to take Bear Camp Road out of Grants Pass instead. The road is primarily used in the summer by rafters on the Rogue River. The route isn't plowed in the winter.
When snow started to fall as they climbed to 3,000 feet, the car was having traction problems on the slick pavement, authorities have said. The road was too narrow to turn around, so Kim backed down until he reached a side road, and took it. The station wagon became stuck in a snow bank at one point and Kim used most of the remaining gas to get out of it. He traveled an additional 15 miles or so before intentionally stopping at a fork in the road where they hoped to be spotted.
They used the car heater at night, until the car ran out of gas. Kim burned the car's tires during the day for warmth and gathered berries. They finished all the food left in the car and Kati Kim nursed both children to keep them alive.
After seven days, James Kim set out on foot. On the ninth day, his family was found after a volunteer detected pings from the Kims' cell phone from a nearby cell tower, which considerably narrowed the search area. A private helicopter hired by Spencer Kim found mother and children Monday afternoon. Kati Kim was out of the vehicle with the children, walking away from it and waving an umbrella with reflecting tape on the top spelling S-O-S.
" You've Been Thunder Struck ! "
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