Wrong Turn: The Kim Family Tragedy on Bear Camp Road | E 148
Content Warning: This episode contains descriptions of survival situations and loss that some listeners may find disturbing. In November 2006, what started as a routine Thanksgiving road trip became one of the most consequential survival stories in modern American history. James and Katie Kim, along with their two young daughters, found themselves stranded on Oregon's treacherous Bear Camp Road after a navigation error during their return from Seattle to San Francisco. Their nine-day ordeal in the snowy wilderness, culminating in James Kim's heroic but fatal attempt to find help, led to major reforms in search and rescue operations and winter road safety protocols. This episode explores not just the tragic events that unfolded on that remote mountain road, but how one family's nightmare changed the way we approach wilderness safety forever.