[ranger rock]

Carol

I'm bothered by her disappearance and just had to go check out an intuition I had about where she went. SAR searched the trail and near the trail, but did they search the old road? I asked SAR here in mason county and they said they could not comment on an open case and I should call the Bremerton police. I did not call the Bremerton police. We had to park 1/4 of a mile from the trailhead due to snow on the road. There were several other cars parked there too. Sadly this is no longer a trail to hike in search of solitude. Putvin trail is being loved to death, the upper meadow is turing to mud. Snow on the road was nasty, we post holed about every 4-5 steps, never knowing just when we would plunge in. Of course I did not think to bring my gaitors. The trails was snow free as far up as we went. But the old road that crosses the trail was snow covered. The snow was the same nasty kind that was down on the road. My intiution sent me to a specific spot, just before we turned the corner to that spot I told my hiking partner that the spot was around the corner. When we turned the corner we found a huge horrible ravine that had taken out the road. There were sketchy looking ropes going down into the ravine and back up the other side. My partner was willing to take the skinny ropes 30 down into the ravine, but I was not. It would be so easy to get tired and lose your grip while holding on to such a little rope. We stopped and had lunch there and I flew my camera down into the ravine to see what was down there. No proof that Carol left the trail and went onto this old road. We know she is not on that trail and she never retured to her truck that is all that is known. Reviewing my video footage when I got home I saw something that looked to be the wrong color down in the ravine. It could be anything, could be a leaf or part of a broken tree or maybe even garbage thrown into the river back when the road was still open.

could be anything

I will fly my camera up there again and see if I can get a better look at what ever it was. This spot is well before the wilderness boundary. I feel a little bit better now that my nagging intuition is gone. I sure wish I knew what happened to Carol though. We went five miles in total and I am so sore today due to the terrain. Here is a trip report from someone who actually hiked all the way up to the lake on the same day: https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/trip-reports/trip_report.2018-02-10.0286651845 We also ran into a crazy fellow as he was coming down from summiting Bretherton solo(?) via the same old road we were on. He went straight down the drainage next to the drainage ravine where we got stuck and had to turn around. The normal sane route for Bretherton is via Upper Lena Lake. He sure looked exhuasted. Detailed trip report and more photos on my blog: http://mosswalks.blogspot.com/2018/02/searching-for-caro-fergusion-on.html

Parking

The old road

SAR ribbon

snow and debris slide on old road

Our lunch spot

Untitled-2 copy

[moonspots]

[Sculpin]

I think your intuition about the road is a good one. I bet she did. That road actually is one of the recommended routes up Bretherton but I suspect it is used less now because of brush. The washout has been there at least 20 years. I have never actually been to the washout myself, I just bypass it by going straight up the slope from the trail where it gets close to the road, maybe a half mile from the trailhead. It is steep and moderately brushy but no more than 200 yards, the last bit up the road berm required a little bit of fingernail usage. The reason a person Carol's age would go up that road is to access the White Bridge bootpath (guessing she was not climbing Bretherton). As a long time Olympics hiker, she would no doubt have known about that route. I have thought about heading up the bootpath to look for her remains, but if she got off route it would be a big area to search. If I do go, it would be in summer!

[ranger rock]

[ranger rock]

[IanB]

[Sculpin]

If you search on "white bridge" in TRs you will find my description appended to a Granola Girl TR.

[ranger rock]

I don't do class three..

[Gregory]

The question is whether Mrs. Ferguson did class three. Personally, I think she went up there to say goodbye.I think she chose between dementia on the streets of Bummerton or her favorite place.I deeply respect that.

[Sculpin]

[ranger rock]

[Malachai Constant]

Better to burn out than to Rust

[Pyrites]

Anecdotal, not quantitative. But notes really are common. They’re not just a TV thing.

[treeswarper]

Snowshoes can be your friend walking on such road conditions. You can keep them on for short stretches of bare ground between snowy parts too.