I was very unimpressed with the show. It was produced not by ABC but by an outfit called "Firecracker Films." The events had been the subject of an exhaustive report by the Oregon State Sheriffs Association, but I doubt the producers ever bothered to read it. I realize that no one ever has "total recall," but Kati Kim's story told on the 20/20 show was very different than what she told Tim Evinger, sheriff of Klamath County, Oregon, when he interviewed her six weeks after she and her kids were rescued.

In the 20/20 show, she was asleep for much of the time they drove into the backcountry. In 2007, she provided detailed recollections of what she saw on the drive. In the 20/20 show, they turned onto the logging road by mistake, because of bad signs and bad maps. In 2007, they took the logging road on purpose, hoping to find a lower-elevation route to Gold Beach.

I think what really happened is that they were in the grip of "Get There Itis." They really wanted to get to the Tu Tu Tun Lodge, which is the most luxurious digs on the Pacific northwest coast. They wanted to get there so bad that they ignored eight separate warnings, and common sense. And they were terribly unprepared, with two very young kids along.

A lot of us have made some bonehead moves, so it's not like James and Kati are horrible people. But to blame signs and maps and SAR, well that was just wrong. In the end, for all the media coverage, it's pretty outrageous that none of the reports said what needed to be said here. To that end, I wrote (and have just updated) a website about the events, Kim Tragedy. It tells the whole story, and has links to the relevant reports, along with a "Lessons to Learn" section that links to this website here, which I think is really outstanding. I've taken a lot of grief for saying what I think needs to be said, but the ultimate purpose is not just to assign responsibility but to point out the need for travelers to always use the most important survival tool we've got: The third digit of our I.Q.