A 100' high aerial view of Bear Camp Road, a winding road that crosses the Klamath Mountains between Galice & Agness, Oregon, serving as a backcountry access to the Pacific Coast.  It is a scenic drive in the summer however the road has had instances of people getting stranded & even resulting in death.  The road is gated during the winter months to prevent people from getting stranded however that was not the case in late 2006.

On November 25, 2006, James Kim, an American television personality, his wife Kati & two daughters headed down from Seattle, Washington on Interstate 5 back towards home in the Bay Area.  After fueling gas north of Eugene, they were planning to stay at a resort in Gold Beach, Oregon yet they somehow missed Highway 42 to the north, the main approach to the coast.  Checking a road map, they saw Bear Camp Road as being an alternative approach & they ventured onto it, passing the gate which was left open.  It turns out BLM had left the gate open to avoid trapping local hunters & others who ventured past it.

The Kim family made it to this intersection & took the proper route to the left however they had to turn back after encountering snow at the higher elevations to which they made the fateful mistake of heading the right approach (now marked Dead End in spray paint).  For about 23 miles they ventured on the slow windy road before they stopped at about 1AM on November 26 from fatigue & bad weather.  Low on fuel as more snow fell around their immobilized station wagon, they ran the engine until they ran out of fuel, then made a campfire of dried wood & magazines.  Then they burned their car's tires to send out a distress signal to rescuers.  But they were unable to get any sign of help & finally James decided to leave his family for help, believing the town of Galice to be only four miles distance.  He promised to return back the same day if he did not find anyone.

A missing persons report happened to be filed for the Kim family on November 30 to which search & rescue began but to no avail.  The area was remote & without cell service however there were a couple of pings that were detected to a cell tower at the nearby town of Glendale which narrowed the search tremendously to Bear Camp Road.  On December 4, John Rachor, a local helicopter pilot spotted Kati & her daughters walking along a remote road as they were airlifted to safety.

As for James, search & rescue had found traces of clothing he had left behind, likely discarded due to paradoxical undressing as a result of hypothermia.  Sadly on December 6, 2006 his body was found in Big Windy Creek where he had succombed to hypothermia.  He had walked about 16.2 miles from the car & was in vicinity of the Rogue River near Black Bar Lodge.  The events of this case were all over the news & is a well-known account to many living in Southern Oregon.  Earlier that same year in March the Stiver family had been stranded on the road for two weeks. 

Many could say that if James had simply stayed with the family this could have been prevented however it is tough to say.  Twelve years prior in 1994 the exact opposite occurred when Dewitt Finley of Montana had travelled on Bear Camp Road when his camper became stuck in snow drifts near the summit.  He never left his vehicle & prayed many times to God in his journal alluring that he had given up and that 'not even God can find me'.  After nine weeks when he could've walked out & sought help, he starved to death inside his camper & his body was not discovered until May 1995 when a couple of teenager who also got their vehicle stuck stumbled upon his camper.

The death of Dewitt Finley prompted signs to be put out near the start of Bear Camp Road indicating that the road may be blocked by snowdrifts (28 miles ahead), signs which presumably the Kim family would have seen.  Other signs indicate no winter maintenance.  Following the death of James Kim, a more sinister sign at the start of the road was placed (from what I believe was from the helicopter pilot) & now reads, "Danger, remote road system ahead.  You could get stranded and die!!!"  Bear Camp Road has a dark side, even some missing persons cases that may never be solved.  Even in the summer, a venture off of Bear Camp Road & these remote roads hardly see another living soul in such a monotonous terrain.