More and the latest news from this blog is here
Update: As of 11 pm Monday local news is reporting that James Kim is still missing. Searches will continue through the night for him. They will release no new information until 10am tomorrow.
Statement from Three Rivers Community Hospital Regarding Kati Kim Family – 12/04/06
As of 7:15 p.m., on December 4, 2006, Three Rivers Community Hospital can confirm that Kati kim and her children, Penelope and Sabine, are in good condition. Sabine Kim is being kept overnight for observation. Ms. Kim and her older daughter will be staying at the hospital with Sabine. At this point, the Kim family wishes not to be interviewed – they have no further information to share this evening. Ms. Kim’s emphasis is on the search and rescue team and their attempt to find her husband.
Here is a link to a Google map of James Kim’s most likely current location, the Big Windy Creek Drainage south of the Rogue River and north of the BLM road to Agness. Police reported today at 5:15pm that they believe he walked into the Windy Creek area after leaving his car 7:45 am on Saturday morning, seeking help. He was supposed to return later in the day according to reports of comments by Kati.
Click on “hybrid” and note the small blue line at top which is the Rogue River. Note the bend in the river, which is “Horseshoe Bend”. Big Windy Creek comes into the Rogue River south of Horseshoe Bend by I think a mile or so. James would NOT likely have attempted to cross the Rogue River but may have used it to navigate. The river flows west there.
This is along the “Wild” Section of the Rogue River. Even in summer this is accessible only by raft or airplane. Black Bar Lodge is in that area but I think it’s closed now.
Trackers will work 24 hours a day to find him now, so there is reason to be optimistic since he was warmly dressed and reports say he had a lighter with him.
Joe Duck 
It’s distressing that he did not return to the car 2 days ago as planned. I’m keeping optimistic that they will find him and be reunited with his family soon!
OMG! I am sooo relieved that mom and children have been found alive and well! Now the focus is on finding James Kim, and they have a very specific range in which to look. Are any tracking dogs being used?
All this just validated my gut feelings on where they were. See my post on Dec. 3, 2006: https://joeduck.wordpress.com/2006/12/03/kim-family-still-missing-in-southern-oregon/
“I am drawn to this family’s pain and circumstances. Having traveled some of these roads before I can’t ignore my gut feeling of they’re THERE, somewhere off the Galice road or just northwest of Wolf Creek.”
Fingers crossed. Hope is in the air.
hi, joe,
i am a san franciscan who just googled “bear camp road” and came across your website. i just wanted to thank you for the concern you have shown for this family. let’s keep on hoping for the best for james.
Joe Duck, many thanks for your coverage of this story. It has been very informative for people like me who live out of the area.
Thanks for all your assiduous and caring reportage. I would hope to experience such thoughtful concern from a stranger if God forbid anything like this ever happened to my family. Now we’ll just send good thoughts to James Kim: help is on the way….
Another San Franciscan who stumbled upon your site after googling the Kims. I too would like to thank you for your comprehensive coverage and insight into the region.
Agreed. Joe, you are doing a good thing here. Let’s keep sending positive beams that James will be found soon.
Thanks for the updates Joe. I found some more detailed information on what happened on Engadget ( http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/04/kati-kim-and-babies-found-james-kim-still-missing/ ) for those wondering what exactly happened.
Thanks for the nice words here – glad to be of some help to the many sincerely concerned folks out there.
A-M Tracking dogs go in tomorrow morning according to the Merlin Police report this evening.
As of 8:30 James is still out there according to the family site, but Police reported at 5:15 that the search would go on 24 hours until he is found.
Joe, here is the point where they found the car, can you show where they think he went off the road?
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=42.63082&lon=-123.78989&s=24&size=l&u=5&datum=nad83&layer=DRG25
David I’m not clear on that but I think the police said that they tracked him 2 miles from the car down the road they were on and at that point he “dropped down” into the Big Windy Creek Drainage. I also got the idea they assumed he was following that drainage down. That would have taken him to the Rogue River near Horseshoe Bend. I think it’s very unlikely he would have tried to cross the Rogue River – it’s perhaps a hundred feet wide through there and probably running fast.
For those who wish to view the location identified by David B in Google Earth, copy and paste the following link in Google Earth and then follow the link to View in Google Earth.
http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=currentEvents&Number=708309&Searchpage=1&Main=708309&Words=James+Kim&topic=&Search=true#Post708309
Where Are All the Predator Drones When We Need One?
Reader post by: Mike Mullett
Posted on: December 5, 2006, 8:57 PM PST
Story: Searchers believe they are nearing missing CNET editor
Predators to the Rescue
Where Hurricane Katrina hit last year, the Air Force wanted to send in Predator drones, to serve as robotic spotters for search-and-rescue teams. The Federal Aviation Administration, still squeamish about drones flying in civilian airspace, negged the plan, however — too much risk of a crash with a manned aircraft, the bureaucrats said.
But a new deal between the flyboys and the FAA should allow the Predators to pitch in, the next time disaster hits.
“A Predator would be limited to flying in restricted airspace at an altitude of 19,000 feet,” Defense News reports. “Other aircraft would be expected to stay out of the Predator’s way.”
On short notice, the four disassembled [Predators] and their trailer-like control center could be loaded into a C-17 Globemaster III transport plane or on trucks and dispatched to the disaster region…
From an airfield as far as 150 miles from the search area, a team of two pilots and two sensor operators would handle the Predators’ takeoffs and landings.
Back at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., pilots and sensor operators would fly the search-and-rescue phase of the sortie and be in radio or phone contact with recovery operations workers. The Air Force uses a similar split operation for flights over Iraq and Afghanistan.
In a disaster zone, Air Force tactical air control parties and others could use laptop computers hooked up to small antennas to view live Predator images and talk with the crews flying the aircraft.
In addition to sending pictures from its thermal imaging and video cameras, the Predator can also determine location coordinates for rescuers. For example, the Predator can provide an approximate Global Positioning System map coordinate for anything it sees. At night, the aircraft’s laser spotter can mark areas for rescuers wearing night-vision goggles.
September 15, 2006 08:58 AM | Drones
Joe – can you find a map with both NF-23 and Bear Camp Road annotated – aren’t they the same road? I had one with many of the Bear Camp titles on it a few days ago when I was generating MapQuest maps trying to see what routes would be drawn. I got one that went over NF-23 (between Hugo and Gold Beach) and I wondered if they were going to try that way since it was the shortest path between I-5 and Gold Beach.
The sad news is now confirmed that James Kim has been found dead in the Windy Creek Drainage.
Does anyone have the coordinates of where James was found. I’d like to trace his incredible journey.
GBS and Venson. I’m pulling together info from another poster at the main page https://joeduck.wordpress.com
This is a map of the area where James Kim was found.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=black+bar+lodge+oregon&sll=42.562184,-123.632927&sspn=0.084333,0.145741&ie=UTF8&z=15&ll=42.650532,-123.749743&spn=0.021053,0.036435&om=1
switch to satellite to see area in real life.
overlay the above map with this one from the oregonian that covers his route.
Click to access 116555010227780.pdf
Poor guy, the terrain was rough. I can see why the term “superhuman” was used to describe his effort. He gave his life trying to save his family. Noble effort that serves as an inspiration.
Based on news reports, using Google Earth, I posted the location of the Kim’s car and James Kim’s location on Google Earth Community. What an amazing effort.
I feel very connected to that sefer in general so it’s difficult for me to reconcile the approach he takes in those places you quoted. ,
However, consequentialism and virtue ethics need not be understood to be entirely antagonistic. ,