I included the ? because they sure were not prepared. When ever I make a long trip thru wilderness I include food and survival gear, even if it's over hiway 80 from Reno to SF, especially in winter
I'm not saying all that to beat up on them though, I am praying the dad is found alive.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercu...s/16166775.htmMissing S.F. mother, children found safe in Oregon
SEARCH CONTINUES FOR FATHER
By Julia Prodis Sulek and Linda Goldston
Mercury News
A San Francisco mother kept her infant and 4-year-old daughters alive by nursing them both during their nine-day ordeal snowbound in the Oregon mountains before being found Monday.
The only sign of the father, who burned the station wagon tires to keep his family warm and gathered berries to eat, were his footprints in the snow.
James Kim, 35, had left the family Saturday morning, promising to be back by 1 p.m., but he hasn't been seen since. Oregon law enforcement were tracking his footprints, which dipped into a steep icy drainage, into the night.
The family had been missing since Nov. 25, after spending Thanksgiving in Seattle. They were heading back home and had stopped at a Denny's Restaurant in Roseburg, Ore., where they were last seen.
Numerous Oregon law enforcement agencies, from county sheriffs to the national guard, have been dedicated to the search over the past nine days. But it was a private helicopter apparently hired by the Kims' relatives that spotted the vehicle after signals from the Kims' attempted cell phone calls were tracked to a tower near the vehicle.
``The fact they were found is miraculous,'' said San Francisco Police Inspector Angela Martin. ``She held up an umbrella with SOS written on it. She was that smart to save her babies and herself.''
When the father is found, Martin added, ``I'll be able to breathe again.''
Kati Kim, 30, and her children, Penelope, 4, and Sabine, 7 months, were in fair condition when they were airlifted to a hospital from their stranded silver Saab 900 station wagon 30 miles west of Grants Pass. Through the helicopter window, the mother was seen holding her swaddled infant close to her chest.
The Kim story is reminiscent of the ordeal endured by James Stolpa and his wife and infant son in 1993. When the Paso Robles family became snowbound in northwestern Nevada, James Stolpa left his family in a sleeping bag in a natural cave, where the mother nursed her son for three days until Stolpa found help.
Today is the third day James Kim -- a senior editor at San Francisco tech Web site Cnet -- has been separated from his family.
After leaving Portland Nov. 25 and stopping for dinner in Roseburg, the Kims headed to Gold Beach on the coast where they planned to stay before heading back to San Francisco.
But they took Bear Camp Road -- a scenic road used by whitewater rafters on the Rogue River in the summer, but not plowed in the winter.
``It was pretty wet. It was snowing close to the top,'' said Lt. Gregg Hastings of the Oregon State Police. ``They felt it wasn't safe to continue. They were trying to back down a very narrow road in the snow. They were having traction problems.''
They reached a side road and followed it until they got stuck in a snowbank, he said.
``They used quite a bit of gas trying to get out,'' which they finally did, Hastings said.
But as they continued on for several miles, they reached a fork in the road and decided to stop.
``It was pretty dark out,'' Hastings said. ``At that point, they decided to stay because they were lost.''
The snow continued on top of the mountain, making it hard for rescuers to find them, he said.
But on Monday afternoon, the vehicle was located along with Kati Kim waving her SOS umbrella. At the hospital, she told staff that ``she breast fed both of her children during the nine days,'' said Laura Biggers, marketing director of the parent company of Three Rivers Community Hospital in Grants Pass.
The wait for family and friends in the Bay area has been torturous.
The couple owned two boutiques in San Francisco -- ``Doe,'' a clothing store on Haight Street, and the Church Street Apothecary, said Charlene Wright, the Apothecary store manager.
``It's really emotional,'' Wright said. ``I'm here putting fresh flowers in the vases to make sure it looks good when Kati gets home.''
Kati Kim worked at the store until her second child, Sabine, was born, and still ``calls us constantly to check in on the stores,'' Wright said.
Wright last talked to the Kims the day before Thanksgiving and had expected to hear from Kati Kim the following Saturday.
``When they headed up, they weren't planning on the being in the snow,'' she said, adding: ``They're a beautiful family, dedicated, loving. They're just fantastic folks to know.''
Cell phone tower designer and volunteer Eric Fuqua, who used Edge Wireless data to detect the pings from the Kims' failed phone calls, ``was the key in this,'' Inspector Martin said.
``As far as I'm concerned, he's the hero,'' Martin said.
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