MERLIN, Oregon (CNN) -- Hoping to save his stranded wife and children, James Kim decided Saturday to venture into the cold and unforgiving Oregon wilderness wearing only street clothes.
It had been more than a week since Kim and his wife, Kati, had begun the drive home after a vacation in Oregon.
They took a wrong turn and found themselves stranded in snow and lost with their young daughters on one of Oregon's treacherous backroads, which are rarely plowed during the winter.
Their food and options were running out.
What James Kim, 35, encountered searchers would later describe as rugged, steep, snowy terrain with sodden branches, slick rocks, downed trees and poison oak nestled between sheer cliffs.
Despite those conditions, authorities said, he covered an estimated eight miles before rescuers on Wednesday found his lifeless body in a ravine.
"It seems superhuman to me that he was able to cover that amount of distance given what he had and also that he had nine days in the car" before setting out, Josephine County Undersheriff Brian Anderson said.
"I'm amazed," searcher Robert Graham told reporters. "We spent hours down there and made very little distance. ... The conditions were very rough. It's been cold, the terrain is so rugged, just spending one day out here is very exhausting."
Kati Kim and the couple's two daughters, Penelope, 4 and Sabine, 7 months, were found Monday when searchers saw the mother waving an umbrella. They had just set out on foot when they were found, authorities said.
The three spent a night in the hospital and were released Tuesday.
The family got stuck in the snow November 25 while traveling home to San Francisco after a Thanksgiving trip to Portland.
They attempted to take a shortcut over roads that can be impassable in winter.
Temperatures at night hovered near or below freezing.
The parents ate berries, authorities have said, while feeding the children baby food and crackers. When their meager food supply ran low, Kati Kim -- who was nursing the younger child -- breast-fed both children.
After nine days James Kim left his family to seek help, promising to return if he did not find anyone.
An autopsy on Kim's body was expected to be conducted Wednesday night, and authorities said the cause and manner of death likely would be released Thursday.
An arduous and determined trek
Using a map, authorities showed that Kim had headed south and west for about three miles before entering the drainage area and following it eastward -- in the direction he came from -- for about five miles.
Authorities tracked him by following his footprints in the snow.
Kim's body was found about noon Wednesday (3 p.m. ET).
He was about a half mile south of the car at the foot of a huge cliff, authorities said.
"It appears to me he was highly motivated, and he knew what he was doing, coming down [the drainage area]," Anderson said. (Watch Anderson's emotional reaction Video )
Authorities were not sure why Kim chose that route, he said.
A deputy found a message written on white paper on the road, Anderson said, describing the note as an SOS saying the family had been stuck since the Sunday after Thanksgiving and that two children were in the car.
"Please send help," it said.
Authorities are not sure which of the Kims had written the note, Anderson said.
A note was also found in the car.
It was written by Kati Kim and said where she and the children were headed.
The three had not traveled far from their car before searchers found them, Anderson said.
'James Kim was a hero'
Earlier Wednesday, rescue workers said they had found what they believed was a trail of clues from Kim, including three shirts, a wool sock, a blue girl's skirt and pieces of an Oregon state map.
Kati Kim had told authorities her husband had taken the items with him when he left their car.
Operating on the assumption he might still be alive, searchers had dropped care packages in the area.
The news that he was found dead left searchers "devastated," said Anderson, who grew emotional while telling reporters of the discovery. "I'm crushed."
Kim was a senior editor at CNET Networks.
"This has been a heart-wrenching experience for everyone involved," CNET CEO Neil Ashe told reporters. "I know that I speak for everyone at CNET Networks when I say that James Kim was a hero, and we will miss his greatly."
He said the company would do all it could to assist Kim's family and honor his memory.
Searcher Joe Hyatt told reporters the rugged terrain of Oregon can be deceiving to those who are unfamiliar with it.
"When you're up in the mountains, it all looks nice and peaceful," he said.
Of Kim, Hyatt said, "I can only describe him as an extremely motivated individual. I would describe him as a true hero."
Wednesday evening, Scott Nelson Windels, a friend of the Kims, issued a statement thanking the searchers and others involved in the incident.
"We want to send out our utmost thanks to the Search and Rescue teams who risked their lives in the efforts to bring James back to us, they are true heroes to risk their own lives for a stranger," it read.
"Please continue to keep Kati, Penelope, Sabine and the rest of their family in your thoughts."
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/12/06/missing.family/index.html#RIP James Kim you will be missed greatly
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