Online directions may have misled Calif. family

updated 7:14 p.m. ET Dec. 5, 2006

MEDFORD, Ore. - The snow-covered back-country road that trapped the Kim family of San Francisco was meant for tourists, but not at this time of year.

Authorities say the cyber-savvy family may have plucked the route from Grants Pass to Gold Beach from an online mapping service, unaware of the elements.

Despite its impassable snowdrifts and single-lane, Bear Camp Road is offered as the preferred route on some Web sites and on-board-directions software available on some new cars, most of which have no business in those mountains in the winter.

Yahoo and MapQuest offer Highways 199 and 101 as the preferred route. A Google map search, however, suggests the Bear Camp route, a series of federal forest roads used mostly in summer.

Authorities suspect that the Kims may have chosen the Bear Camp route via a map search, but Jackson County Sheriff Mike Winters said Monday night that could not be confirmed.

Though paved, the single-lane road with turnouts, blind curves and steep embankments can be treacherous regardless of the season.

"That's not good," said Chris Dent, who manages the river section for the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service. "It's not a safe route, particularly at this time of year."

State recommends alternate routes in winter
Oregon Department of Transportation maps offer the more common directions, de-emphasizing Bear Camp Road.

"Our state highway maps show that route as not passable in wintertime, and we try to make sure people know that," said ODOT District Manager John Vial in Medford.

Vial said he does not know where online mapping sites receive their information.

"The public needs to know that's not a safe route in the wintertime," Vial said.

The Kims' saga is similar to the March sojourn of the Stivers family of Ashland, which was stranded for 17 days in a motor home during an ill-fated trip from Ashland to Gold Beach. They had more ample food supplies.

In that case, the four adults and two children intended to take Bear Camp Road to Gold Beach, but they missed the turn and ended up stranded north of the Rogue River. They were rescued after Pete Stivers and his wife, Marlo Hill-Stivers, both of Ashland, spent two days hiking out.

Some visiting members of the group later were found to be wanted on drug charges in Arizona.

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