Oregon ? A San Francisco man who got stranded with his family in the snowy wilderness had taken a wrong turn in the car down a logging road that is normally blocked by a gate, but vandals had cut the lock, authorities said Friday.

James Kim, 35, was found dead of exposure in a mountain creek Wednesday, two days after his wife and the couple’s two daughters were rescued from the car.

The gate had been locked for the winter Nov. 1, after the end of deer hunting season, so that “people don’t mistakenly go down that road,” said Patty Burel, spokeswoman for the federal Bureau of Land Management.

Searchers looking for the family found the gate open, Burel said. An investigation is under way to find out who cut the lock.