Here is the latest article from local paper

http://www.heraldandnews.com/articles/2010/01/01/breaking/doc4b3e79f5aacd8206739564.txt

outlines a few other folks that basically did the same thing (blindly following the GPS).

Welcome Lazy Joe.
Good article and I liked where Evinger points out that people used to get lost with paper maps too.
The hints on how to travel a bit safer are worth reading again.

Yes, Sheriff Evinger (Klamath Co) is pretty well versed in SAR related areas..along with Sheriff Winters (Jackson Co) in the neighboring county.

We've seen alot of orgainziational improvements since the KIM family search... very nice...these two folks have been pretty much leading the charge (along with the Clackamas Co and Hood River Co Sheriffs).

Another article on the couple with the baby.

"The couple had made the trip “many, many times,” and were so confident they failed to dress for the weather. The adults wore only jeans, T-shirts and hooded sweatshirts. They left warm jackets at their apartment in Lebanon. Lexi had a few changes of clothes and one 6-ounce bottle of milk... the couple learned to 'not blindly trust navigation systems. Check it out. The next time, we’re going to take a shovel, clothes and food.'"

They're lucky to have a 'next time', and with a baby, yet!

A little thinking would have prevented the whole problem.

Sue

...t-shirts and hooded (no doubt cotton) sweatshirts -- in winter.

Crimeny, I hope those folks and everyone who read about their close call, learned something about being prepared.

It's wicked cold here today -- windy (NWS warnings of gusts of 40-50 mph) and in the 20s when a friend and I hiked this morning.

We wore many layers and still had to keep moving to stay warm. We were talking about how the car would quickly become an icebox if it broke down.

She resolved to put her expedition-weight sleeping bag in her car. I already have a zero-degree bag in mine, along with extra jacket, fleece, etc.

Have any movies been made about such a scenario such as what happened to the Kim family?

Seems ripe for an independent film.

At risk of incurring disdain, I don't see anything wrong with that in itself.
We've got snow on the ground here and I'll be going out tomorrow wearing jeans, T-shirt and a hoodie - all of them cotton.
Apart from a few feet from my front door to my car and a few yards from my car to the church, I'll be indoors or in the car the whole time - warm and dry. If it's raining/snowing or looks like it might, I'll wear or carry my Goretex anorak. There's also a waterproof jacket in my car if conditions change while I'm out.

I really hate artificial fibres for everyday use and don't particularly like wool either. So cotton is my default choice for indoor/urban activities. I have a couple of pure wool sweaters for those times I need to spend long hours in an unheated building. Polyfleece is kept for outdoorsy stuff and emergencies.

I don't think wearing cotton clothes for a journey is a problem at all (assuming you're warm enough like that).
The problem comes with not being prepared for finding yourself NOT in the warm, dry situation expected.
Given that my car has a blanket, a shovel, maps, etc. and that I'll throw my winter journey pack*, a sleeping bag and my winter coat in the boot before I go anywhere, I think I'll be OK if things don't go quite as planned. I'll also throw in a pair of hiking boots (if I'm not wearing them), a pair of ice grips and a flask of hot water.

(* A daypack which includes extra food, a polyfleece jacket, extra hat/scarf/gloves and a bunch of other potentially useful stuff.
That stuff is in a rucksack rather than in my car so I can take it with me whichever car I'm in. It lives in the hallway along with a sleeping bag (in a stuff sack) and I grab them on my way out every time I'm traveling by car in winter conditions.)


Incidentally I don't have GPS in my car and am rather distrustful of it in my partner's car. There's a road atlas in each car and street maps of several counties in mine. We often ignore the GPS (we disagree with its directions on a regular basis), though we do use it quite a lot even on routes we know extremely well (to get an ETA or just to see how its ideas differ from ours). It seems to be most useful when finding our way to a particular place once we reach the relevant town and for when the in-laws phone and want to know how far away we are ("the car says we'll be with you at 20 past" seems to go down better than "we're on the A1234 and we'll see you soon") - the rest of the time it's just nice to have as a hands-free map on display.
When going to unfamiliar places, I plan routes ahead of time and print off maps, directions and alternative routes.

I'll have to admit that while driving from our home in the Chicago area to our new property in northern Wisconsin we've come to really enjoy using our Garmin Automotive GPS, and we do rely on it more often than not since we don't know the roads around the property very well yet.

We do quite a bit of "cold" driving from place to place to investigate the area, and we use the GPS to give us a route and to keep track of where we are, along with my navigator (wife) tracking our location on a street map.

When it recommends turning, we'll generally follow its directions if it seems reasonable (we won't drive into any lakes or private driveways). Still, there is a big difference between turning on to unfamiliar roads in northern WI without snow - and with snow. I simply wouldn't drive on to any unknown and unmaintained (unplowed) road.

Hi Tag, I agree that there's nothing wrong with those items for casual travel, provided you have "Plan B" ready to go with appropriate gear for the worst conditions you can expect.

I'm encouraged to see that the guy was "embarrassed" at his lack of preparation. Maybe he'll use the second chance to good effect.

this is the foggiest thread by far, half the posters don't even know they're discussing the wrong couple

True -- two couples both in Oregon just a few days apart. The first was an older couple on their way home to Reno NV who followed their GPS onto a Forest Service Rd (passing a "road not maintained" sign) and the second couple (w/ an infant) actually knew the way but followed the GPS anyway thinking it knew something they didn't and they could maybe shave a few minutes. Two examples of the same problem. The older couple actually were prepared to stay and did okay for a few days. The younger couple are the ones who started dying after one night and videotaped their eulogies (my impression from the news account).

The first rule of avoiding wilderness emergencies is to not get lost (stay found). Unfortunately,both of these couples knew exactly where they were located (and they went there regardless).

Edit: There's a third group too, but they self rescued. Story on all three groups at GPS-led travel goes amiss; 3 Ore. parties rescued