The walk back to Bear Valley was very slow. At one point, Reed sent two, men ahead to retrieve the first cache of food, expecting the third relief, a small party led by Selim E. Woodworth, to come at any moment. A violent blizzard arose after they scaled the pass. Five-year-old Isaac Donner froze to death, and Reed nearly died. Mary Donner's feet were badly burned because they were so frostbitten that she did not realize she was sleeping with them in the fire. When the storm passed, the Breen and Graves families were too apathetic and exhausted to get up and move, not having eaten for days. The relief party had no choice but to leave without them. The site where the Breens and Graves had been left became known as 'Starved Camp'. Margaret Breen reportedly took the initiative to try to keep the members of the camp alive after the others departed down the mountain. Soon however, Elizabeth Graves and her son Franklin perished before the next rescue party could reach them, and the party resorted to eating flesh off the dead bodies in order to survive.