He probably thought that they would never be found, so he set off on foot. It doesn't sound good for him I'm afraid. The best thing for them to do, IMHO, would have been to do things to attract attention to the car, from the air. I dunno, I watch too much of "Man vs Wild", "I Shouldn't be Alive", and that one with the Canadian guy, forgot its name..
Remove a headlight from its holder and shine it up into the air toward helicopters or set the spare tire on fire. All of them if necessary. Use fuel from tank as a last resort bonfire..............
It doesn't sound good for him, but I also thought there was no way a 7 month old & 4 yo would survive for this long too.
I love those shows also. The other night a couple got lost in south America close to the amazon river. The same problem in the Oregon forest is that there so many tall trees that it is hard to get your bearings, which way is north, etc. The couple in the show "thought" that camp was north so they started traveling north, however camp was actually south because they had not traveled in a straight line and so they were actually getting farther from camp and deeper into the forest. I agree with a post a while back it usually is better to stay put, or at least stay on the roads.
I think that's the one I saw. His leaving his dad, against all advice and wisdom, was what saved their lives. I hope that this man is found.
Alive. Found alive.
The show would be survivorman.
He made a judgement call to go for help after 6 days with no rescue in sight. His family was in a stable (but not good) situation. I think anybody could have made that choice especially seeing their kids freezing and asking to be rescued. It is tough to stay put.
There have been three other similar situations like this in this area over the last few years (at least to what I remember) and in all three of those cases if someone had not left to go get help the families would have never been found. Earlier this year on the same road a family was missing in their RV and they were found because two people left to go get help. If they can't find an RV on a road in the snow how would expect your car to be found.
Can't blame the guy...and if he were found first and brought rescue to the family what would everyone be saying.
He was faced with an impossible situation and he tried to do something about it. Can't fault him for that.
You are correct: Stay with the car. A big car is easier to spot from the air than your little body. It's also, at the very least, some form of shelter. It might not be as warm as you'd like, but it's still warmer than a snowdrift; especially with more than one person inside. There are also things and materials in a car that can be used to signal rescuers. Tear a mirror off and you have a signal mirror. Cut the spare tire off of its rim, toss it into a fire (that you started using the car's lighter), and you have a nice, smoky signal fire.
I hope and pray that I'm wrong, but I think that they're gonna find this poor guy deader than dead; if they find him at all.