Kati and James Kim left Seattle after Thanksgiving 2006 with their daughters Penelope (4) and Sabine (7 months) and became snowbound on a nearly impassible mountain road after a violent coastal storm. The family spent days in their 2005 Saab, using the heater until fuel and batteries failed and burning tires for warmth while surviving on baby food and canned spreads. On Dec. 2 James left on foot to find help and did not return; on Dec. 4 rescuers spotted Kati signaling with an umbrella marked SOS and airlifted her and the children to safety. The rescue — the largest in Oregon’s history at the time — saved Kati and the babies, but James’s body was later found about 20 miles away.
Wrong Turn on Thanksgiving: Nine-Day Ordeal Spurred Oregon’s Largest Rescue — Mother and Infants Saved, Father Lost
Kati and James Kim left Seattle after Thanksgiving 2006 with their daughters Penelope (4) and Sabine (7 months) and became snowbound on a nearly impassible mountain road after a violent coastal storm. The family spent days in their 2005 Saab, using the heater until fuel and batteries failed and burning tires for warmth while surviving on baby food and canned spreads. On Dec. 2 James left on foot to find help and did not return; on Dec. 4 rescuers spotted Kati signaling with an umbrella marked SOS and airlifted her and the children to safety. The rescue — the largest in Oregon’s history at the time — saved Kati and the babies, but James’s body was later found about 20 miles away.
01:53 AM, 11/18/2025Society
Wrong turn on a Thanksgiving trip led to a harrowing nine-day rescue effort
In late November 2006, Kati and James Kim left Seattle after Thanksgiving with their two young daughters — 4-year-old Penelope and seven-month-old Sabine — planning an overnight stop at a lodge in Gold Beach, Oregon, before returning to their home in San Francisco. A fierce coastal storm struck as they departed dinner around 9 p.m. on Nov. 25, and the family missed a highway exit. They ended up on a local mountain road described at the time as "nearly impassible in the winter."
Attempting to cross the mountain range in their 2005 Saab station wagon, the Kims encountered heavy snow and turned back to a lower route. With visibility reduced by driving rain, they pulled off the road to sleep and by morning found the vehicle snowbound. For three days, the family stayed inside the car, running the heater until the fuel and battery power were exhausted. When the heater failed, James burned the car's tires to generate heat.
The family survived on what they had inside the vehicle — jars of baby food and cans of Cheez Whiz — while James at one point foraged for wild berries but later stopped for fear they might be poisonous.
James leaves to seek help; Kati signals rescuers
On the morning of Dec. 2, after several days trapped by the elements, James left on foot at 7:45 a.m., wearing a jacket, two pairs of pants, a sweater and sneakers. He told Kati he would return by 1 p.m., but he never came back. Kati, 30, stayed with the children inside the vehicle, worried she would be too weak to carry them through the snow. James, 35, had been rationing food and tending to the children throughout the ordeal.
Kati made several phone calls during the days they were stranded; those calls helped authorities approximate the family's location. On Dec. 4, during an aerial search, rescuers spotted Kati waving an umbrella on which she had affixed reflective tape spelling "SOS". The visible signal prompted an immediate extraction effort.
County undersheriff Brian Anderson said the mother and infants were "in remarkable shape for spending nine days out in the wilderness in this type of weather." San Francisco police officer Angela Martin called their discovery "miraculous" and praised Kati's quick thinking to protect her children.
The rescue of Kati and her daughters marked the largest search-and-rescue operation in Oregon's history at that time. Tragically, James's body was later found by searchers roughly 20 miles from the stranded car, in a canyon; rescuers recovered him by line.
Friends and family remembered James for his dedication to his family, noting he had prioritized the children’s safety and rationed the family's limited supplies during the crisis. The episode remains a stark reminder of how quickly a routine trip can turn dangerous in severe winter conditions and how resourcefulness and calm can save lives.