<p>OMG, how devastating for his family. Keeping his wife and children in our thoughts and prayers. ~berurah et al</p>
<p>Accidents happen- I feel like saying it was unecessary is blaming Kim for his death, yes he obviously made decisions that in retrospect seem like it led to his death- but I don’t think that any of us could say that we always know the right thing to do & do it.</p>
<p>They got lost- they got desperate after a week in the car with two small children. Its tragic yes- but it was an accident.</p>
<p>I just heard the tragic news and am truly saddened by this. I was so hoping that they would have a fourth miracle and find the dad alive.</p>
<p>I just read the story - I didn’t realize they actually took a wrong turn and got lost…I wonder if their map was incorrect, or, if they misread the map.</p>
<p>From what I’ve read they ate dinner in Roseburg, Oregon and were going to take highway 42 to the coast, but missed the turnoff to state highway.
<a href=“http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/06/BAKIM06.DTL[/url]”>http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/06/BAKIM06.DTL</a></p>
<p>FWIW, if you ask Google for directions from Roseburg to Gold Beach, it specifies Highway 42, so I’m not sure that internet mapping is to blame; its very possible that the map the family consulted was paper, not electronic.</p>
<p>Of course it doesn’t make the situation any less tragic. Hindsight is always 20/20, and it seems like the car was reasonably well supplied – certainly they were well equipped to survive the night. But no one could have anticipated being stranded for 9 days.</p>
<p>My husband and I have been stuck on the ****ula ( oh funny- it wont let me say where I went over by the west coast of washington) going down a road for 20 miles ( that was on a map) that happened to be * unpaved
it was in the summer- & dry so we just solidered on, as there are not such great roads out there, and we didn’t know if the next one would be any better.</p>
<p>I think unless the road says “dead end” you usually expect for it to come out at some place recognizable.</p>
<p>I don’t even know how one could stock a car to plan for being stranded for nine or ten days…</p>
<p>EK, did you spell peninsula wrong =)</p>
<p>Yep I am not so gut at the spelling.</p>
<p>chocoholic and ek-
Taking this off topic for a second ( but not before expressing my sadness and condolences)… as for spelling errors of such words… I mentioned this once before, but it is a propos here…in my HS yearbook I listed as my favorite hobby “flattening pennies on traintracks”. Well, in the galley/proof of the yearbook, the printer left off one of the "n"s in “pennies” :eek: It won the prize asthe best error in the yearbook!</p>
<p>Despite the tragedy of his death there is something beautiful and haunting in the message he leaves behind. Love is eternal and his daughter’s will hopefully thrive knowing what a great man their father was.</p>
<p>James Kim’s love of his wife and young children were #1 He was a MAN and went out to seek help when he thought all was lost and this was the last hope to save his beloved family. He did not eat any of the food so that his loved ones could eat.</p>
<p>It all breaks my heart but I want to think his passing will send a message to people everywhere that heroes are here among us.</p>
<p>Well, after having driven through snow for years, I learned some lessons…</p>
<p>If you are traveling with a family you must</p>
<p>DOUBLE check all directions especially in the winter</p>
<p>IF you get lost, don’t keep going, turn around after a mile or two, don’t keep thinking it is up ahead…get back to the main road</p>
<p>Carry whistles, so if someone has to go off, you can blow it…its is easer to blow a screeching whistle than to yell</p>
<p>Carry a map and track your route along with mapquest or whatever for a road trip to a place you have never been- sometimes those sites take you the long way around, put you on the wrong freeway, those that live in SF know tat sometimes they will put you on 101 (ick) when you can stay on 280</p>
<p>Have the phone # of the place you are going, so that if any questions arrize you can call them, and if you are traveling with kids, call them anyway if they are in any way off the beaten path, call the ahead of time to verifty directions</p>
<p>After having gotten lost going to concerts with a van full of cranky teenagers, I have learned to triple check </p>
<p>This is truely sad but it was preventable with more planning…I am not trying to sound snarky and this was horrid for the whole family, but maybe others will learn and not have the same tragic end</p>
<p>We had to hikers get lost here recently…if they had planned a bit better, carried those whistles, had a map, etc, they might not have gotten lost or might have been found sooner</p>
<p>just tooo sad</p>
<p>I grew up not too far from where the Kim family was stranded. As a local, I would never have made the mistake they did, because it is well known that some roads are poorly marked and very dangerous in winter. But since this family was NOT local to the area, it really brings up the question of signage. They missed the highway they planned to take, and ended up taking another road that is sometimes impassable in winter. On that road, they came to a fork, made the wrong decision, and ended up going in a direction that would have taken them to a maze of unpaved (and I believe unmarked) logging roads. That’s hwen they got stuck in snow. Now, I can’t remember exactly what the signs say (and haven’t been there in years so it could have changed), but it seems like if there were a sign at the beginning of the road that said “may be impassable in winter,” they might not have taken it. THese are smart, educated, reasonable people we’re talking about. Then, it seems as though the fork was also not marked, or they probably wouldn’t have made that mistake either.</p>
<p>Again, I don’t know for sure, but I know that things can be very poorly marked in that area. They are not the first ones to get stranded, and I believe someone starved to death ON THE SAME ROAD 10 or 12 years ago. He was from Montana-- it doesn’t seem to happen to locals.</p>
<p>Very, very sad. I hope everyone learns from this-- both the dept. of trans. so that they do a better job of warning drivers about hazards, and all of us, so that we are ready for any situation.</p>
<p>that is my point, why go down a ba road…why not turn around…in the winter, there is really no excuse for not having directions and really checking you know what you are doing…this needs to be a lesson for others…how many times does this have to happen before people realize tht travelig in the winter in places you don’t know can be dangerous if you don’t do your research first</p>
<p>I think the point was made by Irene in Post 33 that the road taken by the Kims was NOT labeled as a back road. If so, perhaps they would not have chosen it.</p>
<p>[There’s</a> a nice video tribute on Cnet](<a href=“http://www.cnettv.com/9710-1_53-25119.html]There’s”>http://www.cnettv.com/9710-1_53-25119.html).</p>
<p>Cnet has done a great job of respectfully covering this tragic ordeal. They had the most up to the date info on their site and put a lot of thought into the memorial and tribute.</p>
<p>Logging roads are not maintained. The roads are narrow and when travelling on them you have your window open and CB on scan so that you can hear trucks tooting their horn near curves and hear truckers alerting each other whether they are coming down or up the mountain. You also need to be aware where the widening (turnouts) of the road are so you know whether to go forward or reverse to turn around or let opposing traffic to pass. The logging roads are marked with numbers but without an upto date forest service or USGS map the numbers are meaningless.</p>
<p>There is a lot of logging roads because there are a lot of mountains.</p>
<p>Ive driven in snowy conditions many times, I know that you drive barely able to see a few yards ahead- you just trust that you are going the right way, even if roads are marked in dry conditions, when it has been snowing, markers are covered & you cant see sh…</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.komotv.com/news/4874016.html[/url]”>http://www.komotv.com/news/4874016.html</a></p>
<p>*James Kim walked more than 16 miles before he died trying to save his stranded family in Southern Oregon’s rugged Rogue River Canyon - six miles more than was originally thought, a search official said Saturday.
…
The family left Portland on Nov. 25 on the way home to San Francisco and got stuck in snow after taking a wrong turn at a fork on a little-used, narrow road through the mountains of Southern Oregon.</p>
<p>A vandal had apparently cut a lock and opened a gate to a logging road, officials said, giving the family a choice of routes in dark, snowy conditions.
…
Holy smokes, that was superhuman effort to get that many miles," John James, who operates the Black Bar Lodge, told the Grants Pass Daily Courier, which first reported about the error. His lodge was closed for the winter but stocked with food.</p>
<p>Turnbull said it was important to “set the public record straight” and “to emphasize the efforts Mr. Kim made to rescue his family.”
*</p>