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.

Oregon State Police Lt. Gregg Hastings said Kati Kim told a detective the family intended to take Oregon 42, the usual route from Interstate 5 to the south Oregon coast, but they missed the turnoff, found Bear Camp Road on the map and decided to take it instead of turning back.

Their car was 15 miles from Bear Camp Road when found.

The complicated network of roads in the area is commonly used by whitewater rafters on the Rogue River or as shortcuts to Gold Beach in the summer, but the roads are not plowed in winter and can be impassable.

Curiously, 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.

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."

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.