The Eric Clapton tune. Here's the vid (though the sound quality isn't great). & here are the lyrics.
James Kim walked 16 miles before succumbing to exposure. I first read about it over at Hell in a Handbasket but Mr. Kim got a bit further than originally thought (according to the piece hell in a Handbasket linked to they thought he traveled 8 miles or so before dying).
Mr. Kim was unprepared & that contributed significantly to his death. I don't believe he thought he was going to die but he probably did recognize that his course of action wasn't the safest option for him. I also don't believe that it would have mattered much if he had thought there was a good chance he wouldn't make it back alive. He probably saw his actions as the best chance for saving his family. Whatever errors he might have made you cannot fault him for his devotion to his wife & kids. He gave his life in an attempt to keep them safe & that is to be admired. If he'd been a little more prepared there's a chance he could have survived but even with better clothes & resources it would have still been a risky endeavor. I feel a great amount of sympathy for his family. They didn't just lose a husband & father; they lost a good husband & a good father. Traveling as far as he did tells me that he would have done anything possible to save his family & his caring for them probably carried him past the point where he’d have given up on himself. That kind of caring is not something I believe is common enough in this world.
As I said he might have survived if he'd had a few things that some of us take for granted. For instance I always have a heavy coat & a pair of boots in my car & that alone could have made the difference for Mr. Kim. Say Uncle has a list of things he keeps in his car just in case. These type of lists pop up periodically on blogs & various websites (as Uncle pointed out) but it's a good idea to take stock of what you carry with you, especially if you have occasion to travel away from civilization.
Again I admire Mr. Kim's efforts & sacrifice & my condolences go out to Mr. Kim's family.
Posted by Publicola at December 10, 2006 04:25 PM | TrackBackTruly, I think what really killed Mr. Kim is the FOUR DAY lag between when they got stuck on that logging road and when they were reported missing. They left Portland on 25 Nov. Nobody knew they were missing until they weren't home in SF on 29 Nov.
If they had been reported missing on 26 Nov, and the search followed the same timeline from their, the Kims would have been found about 24 hours before Mr Kim left on his ultimately fatal hike.
One random thought: a gate closing the road they took (Bear Camp Rd), which had been locked on 1 Nov when deer season closed, was cut open by 'vandals,' allowing the Kims onto a road that shouldn't have been open. I wonder what the odds are that there is, or at least was, a meth lab somewhere past that gate?
Posted by: Heartless Libertarian at December 10, 2006 05:16 PMI belive he did all he could. He was a brave man that rarely can be find today
Posted by: Rob at December 10, 2006 06:26 PM