KING5.com

Kati and James Kim have two children - Penelope, 4, and Sabine, 7 months.

MERLIN, Ore. - The body of James Kim of San Francisco has been found in Oregon's Coast Range. Kim had been missing in the wilderness for several days.

The 35-year-old San Francisco man set out on foot four days ago to find help for his stranded family in the snowy Oregon Coast Range.

Clothing and bits of an Oregon map turned up Tuesday in a drainage in which search and rescue teams sought Kim, who has been missing since Saturday when he set out on foot to seek help for his family.

Kim's wife and two daughters were found Monday at their car, stuck in the snow on a remote road in the Coast Range.

The clothing, which was wet, included two gray sweat shirts, a red T-shirt, a sock and a blue girl's skirt, said Lt. Gregg Hastings of the Oregon State Patrol. Family members said Kim had taken the items when he left.

"They were laid out in a well defined area, in a pattern," Hastings said. The pattern led officers to believe that "little signs are being left by James."

Searchers also found a pair of gray pants that Kim's family says he was wearing them over a pair of jeans.

Fog was hampering helicopter operations, said Jackson County Sheriff Mike Winters.

"The commanders are looking at every single possiblity that will get us into that drainage where we believe Mr. Kim to be," he said. "Some of that drainage is sheer cliff and they are looking at any alternative route they can find short of getting in there with a helicopter," he said.

The goal is for seachers to get into the creek bed. They are planning for a night operation that will continue into tomorrow.

Josephine County Undersheriff Brian Anderson said there are bears and wild animals in the area but helicopter activity have probably scared them away.

Searchers also plan to drop 18 rescue packages with clothing, emergency gear and provisions in hopes that Kim will find one. The packages, in clear plastic bags the size of pillows, also contain a handwritten note from his family.

They will drop in an area three miles square where thermal imaging two nights ago showed what officials called "hot spots." Among the items in the packages, officials said are orange sweat shirts, wool blankets, flares, prepared meals, handwarmers, flashlights and gloves.

"This is frustrating. We are so close," Anderson said Tuesday evening. "There are people pouring their heart and soul into this. We are not going to quit until we find him."

The discovery of the pants could signal that Kim suffered severe hypothermia, said Dr. Jon Jui, professor of emergency medicine at Oregon Health & Science University. Jui said severe hypothermia causes people to become disoriented and have a false sense of warmth, which can lead to them disrobing.

"This is a bad sign," he said.

But Anderson said Kim apparently was wearing the pants over a pair of jeans. He said searchers are trying to recover another item he did not identify that may belong to Kim.

About 100 rescue workers and four helicopters were searching for Kim, following his footprints down a drainage called Big Windy Creek that leads to the Rogue River.

Searchers were withdrawing from the lower canyon area Tuesday night because darkness heightened the risk. Anderson said searchers had scoured the area near the Black Bar Lodge, a popular summer spot along the Rogue that is closed in winter. They found no sign of him there.

Anderson said he does not know why Kim left the road and went into the drainage area.

"I hope to have the opportunity to ask why he did that," he said. "What they were doing is they'd lose his track, they'd cross the stream to see if they could pick it up on the other side and then have to go back," said Anderson. "So they're going through the water."

Anderson said Kim, a senior editor for a technology media company, was wearing tennis shoes, pants and a heavy coat, but he was not wearing a hat. He would likely be within about five miles of the car.

(AP Photo/Grants Pass Daily Courier, Jim Krois)

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 from a remote area of southern Oregon, Monday, Dec. 4, 2006. They were airlifted to Three Rivers Community Hospital in Grants Pass.

"He did have two lighters with him," Anderson said. "They survived nine days out there. They're pretty resourceful."

Wrong turns

The Kims had been missing since Nov. 25, when they left Portland headed home after a holiday trip to the Pacific Northwest.

On Monday, searchers in a helicopter spotted Kati Kim, 30, waving an umbrella at about 1:45 p.m. Her daughters Penelope, 4, and Sabine, 7 months, were airlifted to Three Rivers Community Hospital in Grants Pass.

Sabine was admitted to the hospital, and her mother and sister stayed in her room overnight. She was discharged Tuesday morning, and the three left in a gray sedan.

The three are in very good condition, said Linda Rankin, vice president for patient care.

After leaving Portland, search leaders said, the couple missed a turnoff to state Highway 42 through the range and then took a wrong turn on the twisty mountain Bear Camp Road they chose as an alternative.

Stuck, the couple ran the heater in their Saab until they ran out of gas. Then they burned the tires to stay warm and attract attention. With only a few jars of baby food and limited supplies, Kati Kim nursed her children.

The family told their rescuers that James Kim left his family about 7:45 a.m. Saturday in search of help and went the way they had come, saying he would return by 1 p.m. if he found none. He did not return.

Kim was missing in an area at about 3,000 feet above sea level. Temperatures overnight were in the 20s and low 30s, Anderson said. The weather in the region has been clear and dry for several days.

Precipitation was forecast for Friday, said Jay Stockton of the National Weather Service in Medford. Temperatures should drop below freezing in the valleys but stay in the high 40s on ridges, which includes most of Bear Creek Road, he said.

Oregon State Police

Helicopters searching the area near where the car was found.

The complicated road network in the area is commonly used by whitewater rafters on the Rogue River or as a shortcut to the coast in the summer, but it is not plowed in the winter and can be impassable.

The Kims were vacationing in Seattle, saw friends in Portland and headed toward a coastal resort on their way home. They were last seen in Roseburg on Nov. 25.

Survival expert: If you're lost, stay put

A survival instructor says if you are lost in the wilderness, don't rely too much on technology and stay in one place. If you move, he said, the odds of being found diminish.

Michael Strong, a wilderness survival instructor and director of the University of Oregon's Outdoor Pursuits Program, says people often think gadgets such as cell phones, the Internet and on-board global positioning devices will get them out of jams.

He says such devices don't take into account local conditions, such as the snow that stranded the Kim family for more than a week.

He says the most important thing he teaches students in his eight-week course is letting someone else know your travel plans.

Once stuck or lost, Strong says people should stay put.