Found Deceased WA - Jacob Gray, 22, Olympic National Park, 5 April 2017

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I am not understanding, and have requested more info, on why they have two Facebook pages dedicated to him. It seems redundant and an easy way to lose important info if such is reported. Anyone else know why?
 
New search scheduled 7/29. From the Fb page:

"The Clallam County Sheriff has set the official search for Jacob on Saturday, July 29th. If you wish to volunteer, please contact the SAR Coordinator, Sergeant Lyman Moores at (360) 417-2388 for details."
 
The information I read from other sites was that another search was planned for the 2nd or 3rd weekend in Aug. but haven't seen any new information about this. On the previous search cadaver dogs did show interest in several areas and searchers wanted to go back to those areas. Maybe funding and resources could be the issue for using specialized personnel in the search.
 
I am hoping over the labor day weekend at least one of the many visitors to ONP would find some evidence of Jacob's location.
 
Oh man, the video of the family searching for him on the FB page had me crying fast. Hope he is found soon so the family can have some peace.
 
I read on one of Jacob's Gray FB page that sometime in April or May there were sightings of Jacob but who knows how accurate they were. Anyone out there know of any confirmed sightings of Jacob.
 
According to Jacob's FB page there will be a smaller search done this weekend and one in mid-October. Praying for a good outcome this time.
 
I am unfamiliar with the terrain, so I may be confused by him swimming to the other side of the river, rather than getting back out on the side he slipped in. How cold was the water? Could he have suffered from hypothermia once he fell in and got confused?
 
Evidence shows that Jacob fell into the river while collecting water into a water bottle and the current of the river carried him to the other side where he might have grabbed onto a tree root and climbed onto the tree and walked away. Professional trackers did find shoe tracks on the tree but not 100% sure they belong to Jacob. It has been suggested that Jacob might have suffered hypothermia and died on land or survived but might have suffered a brain injury and became confused.

A major search was conducted at the end of July but no results. Praying for a positive outcome Jacob.
 
If the Gray believes Jacob is still alive why do they continue to search in ONP. If he survived his fall in the river he most likely walked away and/or hitched hiked out of park to get medical attention or suffered some type of concussion and didn't notify anyone that he was leaving the Park. This probably occurred before family arrived and any major SAR took place. I hope the family is searching homeless shelters in nearby towns.

Regardless of outcome the family needs closure.
 
It seems the coverage of Jacob's disappearance has loss traction here on WS and on his FB page. The family has posted on FB that there are no new leads in finding Jacob but private searches continue.
 
I want to give Jacob's case more exposure. If any WS members who live in the Olympic Peninsula area have any new information about his disappearance please let us know. MSM hasn't reported anything new since early August. This case seems to be getting cold and sadly its reached a dead end. I wish there was something new from either the family or LE.
 
I'm over near Seattle, but some things worry me about this case.

I found a map which shows where he went missing: http://www.mibsar.com/Cases/Gray/SkyValleyChronicleMap.jpg

It's been a long time since I drove on Sol Duc Hot Spring Road but it's very rural, and even the area around it is a park with very little in the way of services. The road itself is there to get to the hot springs and a few campgrounds. The resort was open this year when he went missing, so if he made it back to the road he should have been spotted. The road is closed during winter, as is the resort (in fact it is already closed this year.)

The nearest proper towns would be either Port Angeles or Forks, either of which is about 20 miles away as the crow flies - but there are plenty of mountains in the way. Route 101 (which is the main loop through Olympic National Park) is heavily traveled once it opens so if he somehow made it there (about 2 miles as the crow flies) he would have been seen pretty quickly.

Also looking at the NPS maps (https://www.nps.gov/olym/planyourvisit/upload/wildernessmap-10-25-16.pdf) there's really nothing around where Jacob went missing except for the trail.

So let's look at the Aurora Ridge Trail, since his belongings were found at the trailhead. The Washington Trails Association has people discussing this trail - there's some good insight here (AllTrails has some information as well.) It's advertised as having moderate traffic, but there aren't many reviews of this trail leading me to think that this is actually not a high traffic trail, and it doesn't get as much maintenance as a result. It sounds like a difficult trail, with a number of ways to get lost (game trails and such) - over 9K elevation gain for a 30 mile hike is challenging. Some also mention the trail is steep (could Jacob have fallen?) and that there are some aggressive goats on the trail. There's also limited water.

We don't know what kind of shape Jacob was in (I'm guessing good because he was trying to bike from Washington to Vermont), so he may have been in good enough shape to get far on the trail but perhaps gotten lost or injured; he may even have not brought enough water with him and had to go off-trail. With the description of the trail, it sounds like it could have been very difficult for SAR to be able to find him if he had fallen or wandered off the trail for water. The dogs picked up a scent but he could be anywhere if he had (for instance) decided to try to follow a source of water down instead of going back on the trail.
 
Thanks PaulR for you post it gives me a better insight as to what type of terrain Jacob was dealing with. It does not sound as promising as I first thought but I continue to monitor Jacobs situation.
 
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