Posted on 12/05/2006 9:18:33 AM PST by george76
Searchers intensified their efforts Tuesday to find a San Francisco man missing for more than a week in a rugged, remote area of the snow-covered Oregon Coast Range as his wife and two young children, rescued just the day before, recovered in a hospital.
Trained dogs, horse patrols and a helicopter with heat-sensitive sensors were sent to join other helicopters, snowmobiles and foot patrols Tuesday for 35-year-old James Kim.
Trackers had followed his footprints until dark Monday night.
"They determined that he went over the side of the road into the Big Windy Creek drainage area and that's when the two deputies from Jackson County went over the edge and they are tracking his footprints right now," ...Tuesday morning.
"There are some cliffs they may have to go down to get down to the creek.
And there's still snow and ice, cold temperature, but they've been out all night and they plan to be out all day. And their hope is to find him today," ...
Kim...had left his wife and two young children in their frozen, snowbound car and set off into the wilderness to seek help, wearing only tennis shoes, a sweater and a jacket.
State Police Lt. Gregg Hastings said Kati Kim told a detective the family intended to take Oregon 42, the usual route from Interstate 5 to the south Oregon coast, but they missed the turnoff, found Bear Camp Road on the map and decided to take it instead of turning back.
Their car was 15 miles from Bear Camp Road when found.
The complicated network of roads in the area is commonly used by whitewater rafters on the Rogue River or as shortcuts to Gold Beach in the summer, but the roads are not plowed in winter and can be impassable.
(Excerpt) Read more at thedenverchannel.com ...
Your wrong. They found an extra pair of pants. The pants they found were grey. He is wearing blue jeans. He left the spare pants as a marker.
Get your facts before you start diagnosing medical conditions!
In fact finding the pants is the most positive thing that has happened since finding the family.
It is a sign of life. As long as we find signs of life there is still hope.
Didn't this same thing happen in the same area about a year ago?
Same road...just this past winter in the Feb-Mar 2006 time-frame. The searchers never thought the RV went as far as they did on the road. Two people left the family and found help. If they all had stayed with the RV who knows what would have happened.
However having the RV is a big help in this type of situation. They were there for a long time. Weeks and weeks.
" They are now reporting the trackers found a pair of pants that belonged to James Kim."
Not good.
He also apparently has no hat and no gloves in freezing temperatures...
He could have used these pants ?
We are all pulling for the guy.
Hopefully, the searchers will find him soon.
Yes, and apparenlty it happens there very frequently.
I can personally recommend this guy. He'll sell you a kit, sure, but what he has to say is perhaps even more important.
It's also cheaper to make your own kit.
http://www.equipped.com/
Good!
There's a backup power adapter for cell phones that uses two AA batteries. My mom got it at Wal*Mart.
:)
BTW...I didn't mean to chomp...it is just so many people on these threads seem eager to write this poor guy off.
Drives me nuts...
No problem!
No offense taken.
Yep, but those people didn't want to be found...a little thing about warrants...
Yep, but those people didn't want to be found...a little thing about warrants...
Yes that is true...isn't that interesting how that works out...lol.
What ever happened were they finally prosecuted? Wasn't is something in New Mexico or AZ?
Something about warrants due to the illegal use of drugs. The parents really didn't want to see the cops...I laughed for a day on that one.
We live in Phoenix and every time we watched a show where a guy was wanted it seemed like he was last seen in Arizona, in Phoenix in particular. Must be lots of good places to hide here...
If this guy is eating snow for thirst, there aint much chance he is alive. Eating to much snow in cold weather will lower your body temp. If he stays moving HARD during the day he might have a fighting chance. That, and he must make shelter at night..out of tree boughs and such. But, I doubt they have seen any sign of such as they would have said so if they would have found such shelters. I fear the man slipped into the river and drowned or has froze to death. I give him a less than 30% chance at this time.
Still, it is possible..
If he dropped these pants to mark the spot he went in, it was a big mistake. It tells me he doesnt know as much as they are saying about the woods. You mark with a tree limb or something. You never discard anything that would help you to survive. Those drawers could'a been torn to cover his head and wrap his feet and hands-the three most important areas of heat loss, especially the head. In cold weather, if you keep your head and feet warm you can sustain in cold weather quite a long time. The hands can be kept a tad warm by flailing your arms across your back driving the warmth down to the hands.
A serious mountain person might leave some signs if he wanted to be tracked later by others.
Small rock piles, rocks arranged in an arrow fashion, marking trees, breaking branches...would be useful.
Leaving pants when one does not have a hat nor gloves is not a good sign. ( It is also not helpful that the local sheriff professes this as a 'sign.' )
Second, I do not know why he did not build a large fire on the road near his car. He had nine days to find dry branches, small dead trees...so he had lots of fuel for a 24 hour, every day and night fire.
The smoke could have been seen during the day by passing airplanes and the flames at night. Plus he could have used the fire for warmth instead of draining the car's gas.
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