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This-road-is-a-death-trap-DISTRESSING-CONTENT · Crime and Horror

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Fair warning, this story is going to be tough to
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: listen to. It's a very sad story. But if this
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: were to happen to me and my family, I would
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: want people to know about it, so hopefully I can
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: do it justice. But before we get into today's story,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: if you're a fan of the strange, dark, and mysterious
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  Speaker 1: delivered in story format, then you come to the right place,
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  Speaker 2: Of our weekly uploads.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: All right, let's get into today's story. In nineteen ninety six,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: twenty one year old Katie Fleming was studying French at
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: the University of Oregon. That summer, she was invited to
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: go on a camping trip with some very close friends
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: and some people she had not met before. Their destination
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: was this beautiful spot along the Sierra Nevada Mountain range
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: in California, But as soon as they got there, Katie
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  Speaker 1: did not take in any of.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: The beautiful scenery.
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  Speaker 1: Instead, she fixated solely on twenty five year old James Kim,
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  Speaker 1: who was one of those people she had not met
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: before that was going on this trip. And for the
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: people that were on this trip, they would say James
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  Speaker 1: and Katie immediately just fell in love with each other,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: and for the duration of this trip they were inseparable.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: And then when they got back from this trip, James
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: would actually move from Seattle to Oregon to be with Katie,
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: and then after Katie graduated from college, the two got
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: married in Las Vegas and then settled in San Francisco. James,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: who loved technology and always had, was quickly hired by
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: a tech company to try out new technology and then
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: write a review for the average consumer. Basically, James got
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: paid to play with toys and so he loved his job.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: The couple also opened two boutique stores in San Francisco.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: One was an apothecary and the other sold eccentric clothing,
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: and those two shops were made by Katie full time.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: By two thousand and six, the Kim family had become
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: very successful financially and they had grown in size. They
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: had a four year old daughter named Penelope and a
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: seven month old daughter named Sabine. Katie and James both
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: adored their kids, but James especially was known for blowing
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: off virtually everything and.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: Anyone to be with his daughters.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: In fact, his friends and family would say you couldn't
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: even have a conversation with James if his daughters were
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: in the room, because James would get distracted and just
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: stare at his daughters and then would eventually just leave
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: mid conversation to go play with them. James was also
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: known to bring his daughters to work virtually every chance
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: he got, even if it really wasn't allowed at this company.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: On Friday, November seventeenth, James, Katie, and their two daughters
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  Speaker 1: loaded up into their station wagon and then drove north
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: to Seattle. They planned on spending Thanksgiving with James's aunt
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: and uncle who lived in the city, and also James
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: and Katie were considering leaving San Francisco and moving elsewhere,
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: and Seattle seemed like a natural landing spot for them,
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: so this trip served nicely as a chance to see
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: family and.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: To explore the area.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: And so late on Friday night, after a very long trip,
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: they've finally arrived in Seattle, and for the next couple
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: of days they have a wonderful time visiting with family
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: and having Thanksgiving dinner. On Friday, November twenty fourth, so
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: a day after Thanksgiving, James, Katie, and their daughters loaded
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: back up into the station wagon early in the morning.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: They said bye to James's aunt and uncle, and then
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: they hit the road.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: But instead of just driving straight all the way to
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: San Francisco, which would have taken the entire day and
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: then some, they decided to make a stop in Portland, Oregon,
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: where one of Katie's very close friends from college was
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: going to meet them for lunch. And so, after about
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: three and a half four hours, they arrive in Portland.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: They meet Katie's friend and they have this nice lunch,
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: and then afterwards the family retired to a hotel where
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: they crashed for the night. The next morning, the plan
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: was originally to just get in the car and then
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: drive all the way back to San Francisco, but Katie
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: suggested to James that instead of just driving all day,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: why don't we just for part of the day, leave
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: in the afternoon, and we'll stop somewhere between here and home.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: We'll break up the drive one more time. James thought
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: it was a great idea. They pulled out the map
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: and Katie found a nice, family friendly vacation spot that
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: was almost exactly halfway between where they were and home.
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  Speaker 1: It was called the two two Ton Lodge and it
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: was located on the coast of Oregon in a town
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: called Gold Beach. And so James and Katie think, perfect,
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: this is exactly what we needed.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: Katie calls the.
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  Speaker 1: Lodge and she makes reservations for that night, and so
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: that afternoon, after the family spent their nice day in Portland,
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  Speaker 1: they hopped in the car and they began traveling south
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: towards the two to two ton Lodge. At about eight
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: thirty pm, the family was still on the road making
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: their way when James got really hungry and said, let's
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: pull over and get a bite to eat. So the
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: family pulls over at a Denny's restaurant in central Oregon.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: They go inside, and then after a quick bite to eat,
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  Speaker 1: they get back out.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: And they're on the road at nine pm.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: From the Dennis to the Lodge was about a two
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: and a half hour drive, but after driving for two
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: more hours, James realized they had a turn.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: So you told Katie about it.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: They looked at the map and they realized if they
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: were to backtrack all the way to that turn, it
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: would add several more hours onto their trip, and so
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: they began looking for an alternative path, and they found one.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: Instead of going all the way west to the coast
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: and then all the way south to this lodge, which
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: was the original plan, they could just go south from
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: where they were all the way until they were parallel
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  Speaker 1: with this lodge, and then from there they could just
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: cut west along this road called Bear Camp Road. It
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: would basically go straight to their destination. But what this
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: map did not do a good job of explaining was
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: just how dangerous Bear Camp Road was. It started at
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  Speaker 1: nine hundred feet of elevation, but very quickly went all
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: the way up to four thousand feet of elevation before
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  Speaker 1: it went over the backside of this.
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  Speaker 2: Mountain down to Gold Beach and where this lodge was.
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  Speaker 1: While the road is paved, it's incredibly narrow and it's
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  Speaker 1: basically cut into a mountain side, and so there's very
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  Speaker 1: steep drop offs throughout most of this ride, and there
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  Speaker 1: are no guardrails protecting.
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  Speaker 2: People from falling off.
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  Speaker 1: The summer is really the only time people should be
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: on Bear Camp Road, because that's when the road is maintained.
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  Speaker 1: In the winter, the road is not plowed, it's not maintained,
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  Speaker 1: and so even a light snowstorm could make the road
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  Speaker 1: totally impassable. And the road cuts through a very remote
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: section of Oregon where there's just not many people around,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: so if you get in trouble out there, you're probably
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: on your own. But the Kyms were not aware of
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  Speaker 1: the dangers this road possessed, and so after going south
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: for a while, they did turn on to Bear Camp
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  Speaker 1: Road and began slowly driving up the mountain. And so
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: as James is driving, Katie falls asleep in the passenger seat.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: The girls fall asleep and back and outside it begins
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: to snow. An hour later, Katie wakes up from her
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  Speaker 1: sleep and the first thing she notices is outside it
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  Speaker 1: is snowing so hard that James now has the windshield
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  Speaker 1: wipers on full blast, and still you could barely see
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  Speaker 1: out the front windshield. She looked at her husband and
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: he was hunched over, white knuckling the steering wheel, looking
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  Speaker 1: intently out.
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  Speaker 2: The window, and she says to him, you know what's
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  Speaker 2: going on? Should we stop. Should we turn around?
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  Speaker 1: And James, without not even looking at her, says, yeah, honey,
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  Speaker 1: I do want to turn around, but the road is
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  Speaker 1: so narrow we can't. And then he would tell his
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: wife that earlier they had actually driven through a fork
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: in the road where there was enough space to turn around,
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: and so now he was just hopeful that there'd be
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: another fork somewhere that would allow them to turn around.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: And so Katie was not excited about the idea, but
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  Speaker 1: she trusted James and said, Okay, let's keep going. And
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  Speaker 1: so James just continues driving up this mountain pass and
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: you got to understand they are driving on basically a cliff.
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  Speaker 1: On the left side left of James is just a
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  Speaker 1: sheer drop off, and the road is totally slick from
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  Speaker 1: the snow, and so periodically as James is driving, even
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  Speaker 1: though he's only going about five miles an hour, he
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  Speaker 1: would begin to slip and slide and he's right on
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  Speaker 1: the edge of this cliff, and so it was a
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  Speaker 1: very very stressful ride, and after several more miles of this,
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  Speaker 1: they were not reaching any turnaround. In fact, they would
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: have to periodically stop on inclines put up the emergency brake,
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: and one of them would have to get out and
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: clear branches and rocks out of this time a little
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: road to continue onward.
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: And so finally Katie says to James, you got to stop.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: You got to back out of here. That's our only
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: choice right now. And so James put the car in
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  Speaker 1: reverse and he opens his car door so he can
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: look down at the edge of this cliff to make
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: sure he doesn't accidentally veer off of it, and so
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: very slowly, without even applying the gas, he began going
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  Speaker 1: in reverse making sure he didn't go off the cliff.
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  Speaker 1: And for hours and hours they did this. This must
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: have been so stressful. But finally they make it to
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: this fork in the road that James had seen much earlier,
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: and they're able to make a decision. They had two
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: paths they could take. They could turn around completely and
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: drive nose oubt along the path they came in on
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: all the way to the highway, but that was a
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: very far drive, and they knew that road was treacherous
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: and there was a cliff drop off, and it was
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: really just as dangerous as what they had been on,
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: and they really were not keen to be on that
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: road considering the weather, or they could turn left and
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: go down the mountain on this path that was way
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: wider than the path they were on.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: It was like this huge road and it looked like
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: it went straight to the bottom of the mountain. And
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: they're thinking, we don't know where this goes. The signage
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: is not clear where this goes. But you got to.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: Figure if you're going lower in elevation, the weather will
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: not be as bad. And maybe if you go down
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: this road there'll be houses, or there'll be a gas station,
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: or there'll be something. But whatever it is, it's probably
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: better than going that way or that way. And so
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: James turned the car and began driving down this new road. Unfortunately,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: this was the worst choice they could have made.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: This road they.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: Were now on was this long, winding dead end that
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: was used by loggers in the summer. Now, normally this
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: mistake by the Kim family would have been caught because
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: there was supposed to be a big yellow gate that
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: sat across this road just a little ways past this fork,
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: blocking all traffic from proceeding any further. But vandals had
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: recently come up and cut the lock on this gate,
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: swung it open, and then locked it open, so the
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: gate is completely off the road, and so as the
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: Kims drove past where they normally would have been stopped,
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: they didn't even see a gate.
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: There was no gate anywhere, and so they just kept
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: on driving.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: And from where this gate should have been, the road
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: went from paved to dirt and full of potholes, and
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: it narrowed considerably. The couple drove for fifteen miles on
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  Speaker 1: this very tight winding road that once again was on
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: a cliff side, until finally they reached another fork in
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: the road where they could either go right or they
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: could go straight, but there was no sign telling them
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: which way led to what, and so James stopped the
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: car right in the middle of this intersection, and he
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: and Katie look at each other and they know they're
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: in trouble. So they get their phones out and they
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: try calling for help, but they have no service, and
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: so as they're struggling to place calls, one of them
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: realizes it's no longer snowing. It's actually raining, and a
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: lot of the snow on the ground seems to be
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: getting washed away, and so after not being able to
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: place calls for several minutes, they decide you know what.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: It's two in the morning. We're tired, but sleep here.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: Will leave the car running. It'll be nice and warm,
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: and when we wake up in the morning, this rain
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: will most likely have washed away the snow and we
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: can just drive out of here. And so the two
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: are kind of relieved as they're saying this out loud,
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: that this situation is not nearly as bad as it seems,
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: will be just fine.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: And so Katie James, their two daughters. They fall asleep
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: with the car running.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: It's nice and warm, and when they wake up, Katie
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: and James realize it's gotten.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: Much much worse.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: At some point in the night after they fell asleep,
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: the temperature must have dropped again, and that rain became
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: very heavy snow, and so all the water on the
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: ground froze and then almost a foot of snow fell
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: on top of it. They were stuck, but Katie and
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: James they didn't panic because they remembered when they first
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: turned onto Bear Camp Road, they had seen a plow
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: truck parked off of the side of the road, and
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: so to them that meant if it snowed along Bear
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: Camp Road, it would get plowed.
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: And so that day the Kims just stayed inside.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: Of their car and they ate snacks and they read books,
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: and they kept the heater on and they waited to
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: be rescued. But over the course of that entire day,
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: nobody came down that road, no plows, no anybody, And
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: Katie and James continuously tried their cell phones to try
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: to punch out and get some help, but they never
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: had any service. Also, Katie and James continuously honked the
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: horn in case someone was in the area that might
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: hear them, but no one ever came to their rescue.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: And so by the end of that Sunday night, Katie
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: and James were really starting to get worried because they
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: have a four year old and a seven month old.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: They cannot be out here for very much longer. But
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: they began to tell each other that, you know what,
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: it's Sunday. Maybe the plows don't come through on Sundays.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: Maybe they just don't work out here on Sundays, And
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: so tomorrow Monday, the plows will be out here, they'll
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: come by, and they will save us. Also, Katie and
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: James began telling each other to reassure each other that hey,
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: tomorrow Monday, that's the day we were supposed to be
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: back in San Francisco, and so people are bound to
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: notice our absence, and they will report it to police,
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: and they will come out here and they will save us.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: So tomorrow we are gonna get found.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: And so Katie and James they put their two daughters
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: in their car seats, and James read them some bedtime stories,
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: and then the family fell asleep. The next day, Monday,
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: the family did a lot of the same things they
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: did the day before. They sat in their car, they
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: kept spirits high. They tried to use their cell phones,
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: which didn't work. They honked their horns to get people's attention,
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: that didn't work. They tried to ration their food, and
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: the whole time they're keeping their eyes up each side
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: of this road they're on in hopes a plow comes through.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: But all day long, no trucks, no plows, nothing comes
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: down this road. Meanwhile, back in San Francisco, the family's
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: absence was noticed by a family friend, but they didn't
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: report it to police because they figured the Kim family
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: had just decided to stay out.
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: A little bit longer and they would be back soon.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: By Monday night, Katie and James were officially terrified. They
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: were almost out of fuel in their car, they were
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: almost out of food. In fact, to compensate for their
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: low amount of food, Katie had begun not only breastfeeding
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: her seven month old, but also began breastfeeding her four
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: year old also. Outside of their car, bears began kind
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: of assembling and checking them out, and at first Katie
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: and James would scream and yell and try to scare
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: them off, but the beers ultimately were not that phased
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: by them. They were not aggressive, but it meant the
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: family did not feel comfortable getting out of their car.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: And so they're in this very claustrophobic situation where they
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: are literally trapped inside of this small car, where all
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: the windows are covered with snow, and they can't go anywhere,
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: they can't call anyone, they're running out of their supplies.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: I mean, this is a terrifying situation to be in.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: Katie and James had been really strong to this point,
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: but around this time they began to act scared, and
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: their kids picked up on it, and they started acting
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: scared and fearful, and so the parents were trying their
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: best to calm them down and tell them everything's going
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: to be fine, and they're.
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: Going to get out of here soon.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: But in reality, Katie and James knew that if they
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: didn't get found soon, they were probably gonna die. The
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: next day when they woke up, which was Tuesday, again,
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: no cars or trucks came down either road. There was
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: no plows, the snow just continued to pile up, and
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: the food was running unbelievably low, to the point where
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: James actually left the car and went out looking for
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: bear droppings, because there's bears all over the place now,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: and he would pull the berries out of their droppings
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: and he and Katie began eating those, but after a
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: while they decided that was not a good idea because
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: they might poison themselves. Their daughters, who the day before
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: had been acting out out of fear and anxiety, were
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: now lethargic and quiet, and the parents' response to this
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: was to start fighting with each other about whose fault
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: this was, when in reality they were just totally scared
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: about what might happen to them. Meanwhile, back in San Francisco,
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: the family had still not been reported to police, and
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: so that night, Tuesday night, the Kim family once again
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: huddled up inside of their car, James read the kid's books,
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: and then they all fell asleep. The next morning, Wednesday,
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: they ran out of gas for their car, and so
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: they had no way to heat themselves, and so James
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: got the spare tire out of the back of the car,
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: and he rounded up some magazines inside of the car,
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: and he lit a fire for the family to stand
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: around and try to warm up by. And it worked,
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: but the fire very quickly died out, and they couldn't
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: find any wood that wasn't soaking wet to put on it,
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: and so before long they did not have a and
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: so all day that day James and Katie were desperately
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: looking up the road in hopes that a car or
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: truck would come through.
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: They never did.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: James and Katy tried their cell phones repeatedly, but they
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: never got service. They hanked their horns, they screamed out
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: for help, but nobody heard them, and so before long
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: it was dark again, and the family was hobbled up
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: inside of their now freezing car, and all they could
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: hear outside was the sounds of bears marching around the area.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: And so I'm sure James and Katy thought to themselves,
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: I wonderful survived the night. Meanwhile, back in San Francisco,
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: that family friend who had noticed the Kims were gone
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: on Monday. She did go to the police on Wednesday
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: afternoon and reported them missing, and so a search party
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: was being organized that night. But of course the Kim
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: family would have no way of knowing that. The next morning, Thursday,
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: the Kim family woke up they survived the night, But
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: at this point James and Katy are speaking openly about
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: the real possibility that they all might die. In fact,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: Katie says to James, you have to promise me, if
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: our two kids die out here, you have to kill
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: me too, and James said he would. At this point,
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: Katie and James do not believe a truck or car
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: or anything is going to drive down this road and
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: save them. They believe their only hope of being rescued
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: is by sending a smoke signal up into the air
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: that a pilot might see. So they pull off all
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: four tires of their car, and then they pull everything
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: out of the car that might burn, and they stack
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: that on the tires, and that included Penelope's prized stuffed lamb.
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: And then once they have their big pile.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: They lit it on fire, and fairly quickly a large, black,
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: billowing cloud of smoke was going straight up to the sky,
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: and for a minute, the Kim family was very optimistic
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: that they were about to be found, that certainly someone
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: was going to see the smoke and come find them.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: But unfortunately the fire burned out very quickly, they couldn't
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: light it again, and nobody flew overhead, and so before
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: long the family is once again huddled inside of their
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: freezing cold car. That night, there's bears walking around outside.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: They're basically out of food. Their kids aren't even crying anymore.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: They're just silent and cold and miserable. And as they're
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: all shivering and trying to stay warm, James realizes he
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: needs to do something drastic or his family's going to die.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: And so the next morning, Friday, when they get up,
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: James tells Katie that he had been studying the map
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: and there's a town about four miles east called Galise
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: that he believes he can get to in about two hours.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: Katie immediately said, no, you cannot leave us. We need
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: you here. There's probably a search party out there looking
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: for us right now. We need to stay together, so
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: we can all be found. But James's instincts were telling
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: him that no one was coming for them, or no
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: one was going to actually find them in time, and
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: so their only hope was if he ventured off and
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: found help. And so Katie finally reluctantly agrees to let
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: him go because he seemed really confident. And so at
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: seven forty five am that morning, James gave his two
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: daughters a big hug and a kiss, told them he
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: loved them and he would see them soon, and then
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: he hugged his wife and said he loved her, and
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: then he turned around and walked up the road out
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: of sight. At the same time, unbeknownst to the Kim family,
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: hundreds of searchers helicopters are all over Bear Camp Road
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: looking for them. Two days later, on Sunday, December third,
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: so a week after the family had originally gotten stuck, a.
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: Helicopter pilot that was part of the search.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: Effort was flying around Bear Camp Road when he noticed
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: footprints in the snow below. When he started following these footprints,
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: and eventually the footprints kind of disappeared under some trees,
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: and then he couldn't pick them up. Again, and so
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: without that much fuel left, he decided he would just
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: backtrack and follow the footprints back to their origin, and
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: so he retraced these footprints for quite a while until
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: he came to a clearing, and in the middle of
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: the clearing was a car, and next to the car
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: was Katie.
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: Waving an umbrella back and forth.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: The pilot immediately knew who he was looking at, but
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: he didn't have enough fuel to actually land and pick
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: her and her family up, and so instead he just
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: hovered down as low as he could, and he made
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: good eye contact with her to reassure her that I
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: see you and we're coming for you, and then he
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: marked on the map where they were. He flew off
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: to these search headquarters, and just minutes later, another helicopter
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: was spun up to that same location and they were
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: able to land in that clearing, and as soon as
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: the pilot got out, he saw Katie running up to him,
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: carrying her.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: Two daughters, who looked like they were in pretty good shape.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: And she's crying tears of joy, and she's thanking him profusely,
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: and then when she's right up in front of him,
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: she says, you know, are you here? Because of my husband.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: Did James tell you where we were? And the pilot
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: looked visibly confused. Katie picked up on it, and she
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: explained how just two days earlier, James had left to
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: go to the town of Galise to get help, and
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: he still hadn't come back yet, and so at this
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: point the pilot understood what was happening, and so he
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: looked down and he said, no, ma'am, we still have
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: not found James. Katie was devastated, and she cried as
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: she and her daughters were loaded into the helicopter and
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: airlifted out of the forest and brought to a hospital
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: there they would make full recoveries. Meanwhile, the search effort,
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: which had been all over Bear Camp Road, was suddenly
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: focused exclusively on the area around where their car was,
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: and professional trackers were brought in to look for James's tracks,
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: and they found them fairly quickly and began following them.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: James after departing his family to go look for help,
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: which must have been the most difficult decision he had
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: ever made in his entire life.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: He loved his family.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: More than anything, and he had to abandon them in
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: the middle of the wilderness with no food, with no power,
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: and he has no idea to'll ever see them again.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: And so after leaving them behind, he walked three miles
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: up the road they came in on, and then instead
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: of just continuing on that road in the direction of Galise,
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: he deviated and walked off the road. He actually went
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: straight down one of the cliffs until he hit a river.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: And it's believed that maybe he saw the river from
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: up on the road and thought that would be a
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: faster way to get to Galase. But either way, he
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: got down to the river, and as he walked, he
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: would leave behind.
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: Him little bits of torn clothing and torn.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: Paper to create a trail of where he was going,
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: presumably so if he needed to he could backtrack to
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: his family. And so he gets down to this river
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: and for several miles he walks downstream, and then after
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: being gone for at least two hours and not reaching
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: the town of Galae, he must have realized he had
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: either gone the wrong way and that's why he had
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: not hit the town, or he had miscalculated the distance
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: and that's why he had not hit the town. But
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: either way, he did not turn around and go back
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: to his family. Instead, he pressed on, believing he was
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: their only hope, and so on he went, crossing over rivers,
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: getting totally soaked in frigid water. He went up and
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: down mountains, all over these totally rugged areas in nothing
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: but street clothes. He had sneakers, pants, and a jacket on.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: He had no food, he had no water, and he
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: just kept on going until it was nightfall, and he
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: had covered about ten miles at this point, and he
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: laid down and he went to sleep, And that night
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: must have been absolutely horrible as he thought about his
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: family that was alone in the woods somewhere. He probably
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: wondered if they were still alive, and the temperature was
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: in the thirties. And again he's just in street clothes,
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: but he survives the night. And so the next morning,
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: that Saturday, he gets up and he's right back at it,
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: despite the fact that he was physically wrecked at this point,
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: but for him, he didn't care. He was doing it
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: for his family. And so all day he hiked in
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: and out of freezing cold streams, up and down mountains
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: until finally he found himself at the bottom of this
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: deep ravine next to a river, where he just fell
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: to his knees fell forward and died.
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: He had literally just.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: Kept on going looking for help for his family, until
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: he eventually succumbed to hypothermia. James's body was located two
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: days after his wife and his daughters were successfully rescued.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: It would turn out the town of Galise was not
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: four miles away from the family's car. It was about
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: fifteen miles away. But that's from point A to point
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: B on a map, like a straight line. But when
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: you actually are hiking in the wilderness, you don't go
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: in straight lines because there's mountains, and.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: There's rivers, and there's things that get in the way.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: And so in order to get to Galise from where
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: their car was, James would have had to travel thirty
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: or forty miles, zigging and zagging up over four different mountains,
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: and so this was a suicide mission from the start.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: James ultimately covered sixteen miles through some of the most
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: treacherous terrain in the country, wearing nothing but his street clothes.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: The professional trackers that followed this sixteen mile trail to
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: his body, they called his journey superhuman. The helicopter pilot
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: would later say he never would have found Katie and
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: the girls had he not spotted those footprints first and
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: then trace them all the way back to that clearing,
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: and it would turn out those footprints were made by
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: James after he left his family and.
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: Walked off to get help.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: And so even though it cost him his life, James
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: did ultimately save his family.
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: So that's going to do it. Guys.
• 24:31
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• 24:34
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• 24:36
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• 24:39
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