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Kati Kim holds her daughter, seven-month-old, Sabine Kim, in the back of a helicopter after they and her other daughter, Penelope, 4, were rescued Monday.
MERLIN, Ore. (AP) — Searchers scoured a narrow canyon in Oregon’s snowy Coast Range on Tuesday for a San Francisco man missing for more than a week, while his wife and children recovered in a hospital.
Searchers said it appeared that James Kim, 35, was within five miles of the car he’d left Saturday morning in search of help.
Kim had headed downhill and apparently emerged from snow, trackers said.
After following footprints, trackers “were following scuff marks” in dirt and rock, said Undersheriff Brian Anderson of Josephine County.
Anderson said Kim was wearing tennis shoes, jeans and a heavy coat. He was not wearing a hat.
“He did have two lighters with him,” Anderson said. “They survived nine days out there. They’re pretty resourceful.”
The drainage, called Big Windy Creek, led to the Rogue River, and the search and rescue teams also brought out rafts Tuesday to check the river.
Searchers in a privately-contracted helicopter spotted Kati Kim, 30, waving an umbrella at about 1:45 p.m. Monday. Her daughters Penelope, 4, and Sabine, 7 months, were airlifted to Three Rivers Community Hospital in Grants Pass.
The three are in very good condition, Linda Rankin, vice president for patient care at the hospital, told The Associated Press Tuesday morning.
“Mom arrived in an ambulance smiling and waving.”
Kati Kim left the hospital shortly before noon, in advance of a briefing that hospital officials had scheduled.
The youngest child is expected to be discharged Tuesday, but it could not be immeiately determined whether either of the children left with their mother.
Nursing supervisor Cynthia Russell said Kati Kim nursed both children while they were lost.
“They spoke of dad trying berries in the area, but they were not sure if they were poisonous,” she said.
“They have been America’s lost family for the past week. Now James is America’s lost family,” said Katie Kim’s father, Phil Fleming, a Gallup, N.M., physician.
Fleming and his wife, Sandy Fleming, an elementary school teacher, were trying to get a flight to Oregon on Tuesday.
Sabine Kim was admitted to the hospital for observation. Her mother and sister shared the room.
The family said James Kim left the car at about 7:45 a.m. Saturday and went the way they had come for help, saying he would return by 1 p.m. if he found none. He didn’t.
He walked down into a drainage area. Trackers followed his footprints until dark Monday night.
He said there are four helicopters contributing to the search, three hired by Kim’s family and one from Jackson County, in addition to the ground crews.
“The teams are having some trouble because of the terrain and the conditions up there,” Anderson said.
Kim was missing in an area at about the 3,000-foot elevation. Temperatures overnight there were in the 20s and low 30s, Anderson said.
Anderson said the family had turned onto a side road and became stuck in the snow and ran the car heater through the nights to stay warm, eventually burning their car tires.
Lt. Gregg Hastings of the Oregon State Police said a detective interviewed Kati Kim, who said they had intended to take Oregon 42, the usual route from Interstate 5 to the south Oregon coast, but missed the turnoff, found Bear Camp Road on the map and decided to take it instead of turning back.
Hastings said the four huddled together as a family for warmth. He said some of the tires were burned as signal fires to attract attention, but before helicopters joined the search.
Kati Kim told the detective they had only a small amount of baby food and other supplies in the car.
They went the wrong way at a fork in the road and were 15 miles from Bear Camp Road when found, Hastings said.
The complicated network of roads in the area are commonly used by whitewater rafters on the Rogue River or as shortcuts to Gold Beach in the summer but are not plowed in winter and can be impassable despite being touted as a convenient alternate route.
State Police Lt. Doug Ladd said there is “a very reasonable chance” that he is still alive and that the family said he had some outdoor experience.
A college friend of Kati Kim, Scott Nelson Windels, said the two had met on a Sierra Nevada camping trip in the late 1990s. Kati Kim had studied French at the University of Oregon and taught it for a few years before going into business, said Nelson Windels, who has been operating a Web site, jamesandkati.com, to track the search.
Kati Kim was found near the Rogue River in the area of Bear Camp Viewpoint, near the Curry and Josephine county line.
The Kims were vacationing in Seattle, saw friends in Portland and headed toward a resort in Gold Beach on their way home.
But they never arrived and were last seen at a Denny’s in Roseburg on Nov. 25.
Bear Camp Viewpoint, near where the car was found, is at a high point in the Coast Range with a view of the southern Oregon wilderness.
Anderson said searchers had to use Sno-cats in the area Monday because of ice and snow.
Searchers said they picked up a “ping” from the Kims’ cell phone that guided them to the general area where the family eventually was found and that it was key to their discovery.
The region is remote enough to be generally out of cell phone range.
James Kim is a senior editor for CNET Networks in San Francisco who covers digital audio and co-hosts a weekly video podcast for the Crave gadgets blog on CNET.
The couple owns two boutiques in San Francisco. Doe is a clothing store on lower Haight Street, and the Church Street Apothecary in Noe Valley sells baby goods and skin care products.
Searchers including volunteers and friends and relatives of the family had been checking highways and along the coastline for any sign of the family and their vehicle.
In addition, troopers checked hotels and resorts on the south coast.
The Curry County sheriff’s office in Gold Beach was searching the region using four-wheel drive vehicles but was limited by snow and icy conditions.
The Oregon National Guard Air Unit deployed a Blackhawk helicopter to search the roads in the Bear Camp Road area.
Their family also had hired helicopters to search the area, one of which found the mother and children.
Searchers said it appeared that James Kim, 35, was within five miles of the car he’d left Saturday morning in search of help.
Kim had headed downhill and apparently emerged from snow, trackers said.
After following footprints, trackers “were following scuff marks” in dirt and rock, said Undersheriff Brian Anderson of Josephine County.
Anderson said Kim was wearing tennis shoes, jeans and a heavy coat. He was not wearing a hat.
“He did have two lighters with him,” Anderson said. “They survived nine days out there. They’re pretty resourceful.”
The drainage, called Big Windy Creek, led to the Rogue River, and the search and rescue teams also brought out rafts Tuesday to check the river.
Searchers in a privately-contracted helicopter spotted Kati Kim, 30, waving an umbrella at about 1:45 p.m. Monday. Her daughters Penelope, 4, and Sabine, 7 months, were airlifted to Three Rivers Community Hospital in Grants Pass.
The three are in very good condition, Linda Rankin, vice president for patient care at the hospital, told The Associated Press Tuesday morning.
“Mom arrived in an ambulance smiling and waving.”
Kati Kim left the hospital shortly before noon, in advance of a briefing that hospital officials had scheduled.
The youngest child is expected to be discharged Tuesday, but it could not be immeiately determined whether either of the children left with their mother.
Nursing supervisor Cynthia Russell said Kati Kim nursed both children while they were lost.
“They spoke of dad trying berries in the area, but they were not sure if they were poisonous,” she said.
“They have been America’s lost family for the past week. Now James is America’s lost family,” said Katie Kim’s father, Phil Fleming, a Gallup, N.M., physician.
Fleming and his wife, Sandy Fleming, an elementary school teacher, were trying to get a flight to Oregon on Tuesday.
Sabine Kim was admitted to the hospital for observation. Her mother and sister shared the room.
The family said James Kim left the car at about 7:45 a.m. Saturday and went the way they had come for help, saying he would return by 1 p.m. if he found none. He didn’t.
He walked down into a drainage area. Trackers followed his footprints until dark Monday night.
He said there are four helicopters contributing to the search, three hired by Kim’s family and one from Jackson County, in addition to the ground crews.
“The teams are having some trouble because of the terrain and the conditions up there,” Anderson said.
Kim was missing in an area at about the 3,000-foot elevation. Temperatures overnight there were in the 20s and low 30s, Anderson said.
Anderson said the family had turned onto a side road and became stuck in the snow and ran the car heater through the nights to stay warm, eventually burning their car tires.
Lt. Gregg Hastings of the Oregon State Police said a detective interviewed Kati Kim, who said they had intended to take Oregon 42, the usual route from Interstate 5 to the south Oregon coast, but missed the turnoff, found Bear Camp Road on the map and decided to take it instead of turning back.
Hastings said the four huddled together as a family for warmth. He said some of the tires were burned as signal fires to attract attention, but before helicopters joined the search.
Kati Kim told the detective they had only a small amount of baby food and other supplies in the car.
They went the wrong way at a fork in the road and were 15 miles from Bear Camp Road when found, Hastings said.
The complicated network of roads in the area are commonly used by whitewater rafters on the Rogue River or as shortcuts to Gold Beach in the summer but are not plowed in winter and can be impassable despite being touted as a convenient alternate route.
State Police Lt. Doug Ladd said there is “a very reasonable chance” that he is still alive and that the family said he had some outdoor experience.
A college friend of Kati Kim, Scott Nelson Windels, said the two had met on a Sierra Nevada camping trip in the late 1990s. Kati Kim had studied French at the University of Oregon and taught it for a few years before going into business, said Nelson Windels, who has been operating a Web site, jamesandkati.com, to track the search.
Kati Kim was found near the Rogue River in the area of Bear Camp Viewpoint, near the Curry and Josephine county line.
The Kims were vacationing in Seattle, saw friends in Portland and headed toward a resort in Gold Beach on their way home.
But they never arrived and were last seen at a Denny’s in Roseburg on Nov. 25.
Bear Camp Viewpoint, near where the car was found, is at a high point in the Coast Range with a view of the southern Oregon wilderness.
Anderson said searchers had to use Sno-cats in the area Monday because of ice and snow.
Searchers said they picked up a “ping” from the Kims’ cell phone that guided them to the general area where the family eventually was found and that it was key to their discovery.
The region is remote enough to be generally out of cell phone range.
James Kim is a senior editor for CNET Networks in San Francisco who covers digital audio and co-hosts a weekly video podcast for the Crave gadgets blog on CNET.
The couple owns two boutiques in San Francisco. Doe is a clothing store on lower Haight Street, and the Church Street Apothecary in Noe Valley sells baby goods and skin care products.
Searchers including volunteers and friends and relatives of the family had been checking highways and along the coastline for any sign of the family and their vehicle.
In addition, troopers checked hotels and resorts on the south coast.
The Curry County sheriff’s office in Gold Beach was searching the region using four-wheel drive vehicles but was limited by snow and icy conditions.
The Oregon National Guard Air Unit deployed a Blackhawk helicopter to search the roads in the Bear Camp Road area.
Their family also had hired helicopters to search the area, one of which found the mother and children.
