The Kim Family Tragedy II

So, the Kim family left the snow-covered Route 23 early in the evening of Nov. 25 (Sat) and headed down a spur road to the North and West. This map shows the spur road's course in blue. The family continued for what looks like between 20 and 25 miles along this road. The authorities originally had the wrong placement for the Kim's van on the maps. Apparently they drove much deeper into the canyon than at first reported. This map is the latest one we have, which shows that the Kim van was actually 10.6 miles deeper into the canyon than was thought at first. The final resting place of the van was very close to the place where the Rogue River and the Josephine and Curry County boundaries meet. It is important for me to establish this distance because it helps explain James Kim's desperate walk to help his family beginning on Saturday, Dec. 2. There was actually a lodge (Black Bear) on the Rogue River a few miles away from the van (and it would be only 1/2 mile from the place James Kim's body was found), but they were unaware of it. The lodge was not used in the Winter, even though rescuers said they stopped by the lodge more than once.

Summing up then so far--The Kim family took a right down a spur road from Route 23. This road paralleled Route 23 (going mostly West) for about 10 miles before heading almost due North. Then, it plunged deeper into the canyon and continued until they parked the car about 20-25 miles from the original turnoff from 23 or about 10-11 miles from where the spur road headed North. The reports I read said that they did this to escape the snow. When, however, they awoke on Sun. Nov. 26, they saw that snow had fallen around them, and they would be unable to extricate themselves from their predicament.

Nov. 26 (Sun) - Dec. 4 (Mon)

It appears that for most of the next six days, until Dec. 2 (Sat.) the family "sat tight," perhaps hoping for rescue. The Kim's were about as techno-savvy a family as you could imagine, but they were beyond the range of their cell phones (when will we have phones that actually cover all distance?), even though I read some reports of a "ping" or some kind of recognition of one of their phones. I don't know the details. In any case, one wonders if the Kims might have been aware of rescue efforts on their behalf. James was supposed to be in meetings on Tues. Nov. 28 and Wed. Nov. 29 in San Francisco, and by the 29th the suspicion was that they were missing. Had the van run out of fuel by that time? Probably so. In any case, by the time that Sat. Dec. 2 rolled around the situation was very desperate. It was at this point that James left the van to seek help. He left at 7:45 a.m., never to return. We know the story of the discovery of Mrs. Kim and the girls on Dec. 4 and the finding of James' body on Dec. 6, but I want to close this essay by tracing his last desperate walk for help.

James Kim's Final Walk

With incredible effort and determination, James set off to find help. There was a method to his walking. He retraced 10.6 miles along the road that they had come down seven days previously. But then, when he was about halfway up to the Route 23, he set out directly east down a ravine in which flowed the Big Windy Creek. The Creek dumped out eventually (after about six or so miles) into the Rogue River. Here is the best map. But when he left the road and headed East into the ravine, the end was near. He early left a pair of pants along the way. Was this left as a conscious sign--something for the rescuers to see? Or, as some think, was this a sign of hypothermia, a condition in which sufferers often feel delusionally warm and begin to strip off their clothing? He must have crossed and recrossed the ice-cold Creek, leaving behind other personal items along the way. His body was found about 5.5 miles along this ravine, about .5 miles from the Rogue River and the Black Bear Lodge. The latter is used from May-Oct. by whitewater rafters and other adventurers along this scenic and remote section of the Rogue River.

His body was not found until Wed. Dec. 6, two days after his family was rescued. No one knows, or perhaps will ever know, when he actually died. Since he died about 16 miles from the van, and since the rescuers who found his body were thorougly soaked after sloshing 1/2 mile through the undergrowth and boulders, a good case can be made that he died the very day he set out--Dec. 2. In one last effort, commanding all of his resources, he plunged into nature's maw, thinking that he had to save his family and that it rested on him to extricate them from their dangerous situation. No one knows when and if the delirium, the disorientation, the final sapping of resources happened. But, in the end, it was nature and her amoral ways that claimed his life.

Conclusion

So many "what ifs?" can be raised. So many "why's?" confront us. Whether he was a hero for his family or simple a tremendously focused person who had used his focus for his advantage in almost every other situation but which led to his undoing here--this may be debated. What is not debated, however, is that we have an incredibly wrenching story of loss and pain. My heart and prayers go out to the Kim family--as, I would hope, do the hearts of all people of good will.

[Kim Family Tragedy III]

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