Willow Glen Resident

Letters & Opinions

If could have happened to any of us

By Moryt Milo

One summer I worried about a tsunami hitting shore while my daughter was backpacking along the Eureka coastline. Another time there were fires and lighting strikes in Sequoia National Park the same time she was out there backpacking for a week. On a different trip her group was deluged with heavy rains that swelled the creeks, which I learned later the teens had to cross. Last summer my son hiked in the Trinity Alps and returned home to report a number of snake encounters.

These jaunts my children took into the back country of the state left concerns, as anything is possible when a person is at the mercy of Mother Nature. But, in each instance, precautions were taken and proper planning made from the get-go. Their leaders carried a satellite phone, medicine, even anti-snake venom and the appropriate gear, including a water pump for filtration and a portable stove. The hikers also had a "shake down" before the trips to make sure they were packing the appropriate gear and clothes. Yet two summers ago, a Boy Scout died when he was hit by lighting while backpacking, and others have been caught off guard in freak Sierra snow storms. Stuff happens.

So unless someone is a diehard survivalist or avid hiker who stores extra gear in his or her car, what happened to the Kim family could have happened to any one of us.

Taking a wrong turn, getting caught in bad weather, having no cell reception--none of these circumstances are unusual. We have all experienced these situations at some point. We have plenty of narrow roadways throughout Los Gatos and the Santa Cruz Mountains where there is nowhere to turn around. I can think of a number of occasions when I have had to back down after missing a turn on a windy mountain road.

It was the confluence of all these circumstances that became the Kim family's misfortune. It is a tragedy that none of us can imagine, or should second-guess when it comes to how we would have behaved in similar circumstances.

In hindsight, we can look back and say Kim should have stayed with his family. But the couple couldn't have known who would be found first when Kim left his wife to seek help. In the case of James Stopla, it was the exact opposite situation. His efforts to find help saved his wife and son when they were stranded by a Nevada blizzard back in 1993.

What is clear is that there was no right or wrong in this situation; there was only tragedy for James Kim, a father and husband, who tried to save his wife and children from perishing.

Less than a week before the Kim calamity, good fortune sided with Arnaud and Maria Stehle. Their luck held, and the couple was found after five days in the Santa Cruz Mountains. That's after they went for a hike, unprepared--without water, snacks or the proper clothes.

So who is to say what destiny has in store for us, why some of us survive while others perish? All of these individuals became snared in bad situations. Some made poor decisions, others made the only choices they thought possible. All of them were just looking for help and counting on others to rescue them.

One thing is certain, after back-to-back rescues near and far, I found myself reflecting on my future actions. The next time I go on a road trip I will probably think twice if I miss an exit and pull out a map looking for an alternative route. Losing time by back-tracking, in the end, might be a life-saver. Of course knowing the right course of action is easier when you are simply sitting in a chair analyzing a situation from afar, than when the moment of truth arrives.

Moryt Milo is the editor of the Willow Glen Resident. She can be reached at 408.200.1051 or via email at mmilo@community-newspapers.com.