Barbara Bolick: Gone Without a Trace
A woman vanishes from her favorite trail while hiking with a guest
Hiker Vanishes
On July 18th, 2007, Barbara Bolick, 55, vanished without a trace from the Bear Creek Overlook — her favorite trail. With her that day was a guest named Jim.
He would go on to tell authorities that she had quietly disappeared when he looked away briefly. Not a trace of Barbara or any indication of what became of her would ever be found.
But how — and why — did Barbara suddenly vanish from a trail that she had hiked countless times, both on her own and with others? One that was made up of loose shale rock, making a soundless exit of any kind difficult, if not impossible.
What happened to Barbara Bolick?
Barbara Assunta Bolick
Barbara Assunta met Carl Bolick, the man who would become her husband, in New Jersey while he was still in the Air Force. He went on to work for a JP Morgan Chase Bank in New York City.
After they retired, the married couple moved to Corvallis, Montana, in 2001. Carl was a Montana native, but his wife had never lived there. However, Barbara, an avid hiker, soon grew to love her new home and frequently went on long hikes in the nearby Bitterroot Valley.
“This is the place I want to be,” she told her husband.
The cautious Barbara always brought along a backpack that contained food, water, and a .357 Magnum revolver for protection. Montana is home to a variety of wild animals, including bears, mountain lions, rattlesnakes, and moose. Her fear of heights also made her actively avoid getting too close to any cliffs she encountered during these walks.
At the time she went missing, Barbara had been taking pilot lessons and was eager to get her license. Additionally, she was learning how to ski. According to Carl, his wife was very happy with their life together and had no real complaints.
Carl’s Cousin Visits
In July 2007, Carl’s cousin Donna Biles came to Montana for a visit and brought along her boyfriend, 58-year-old Jim Ramaker.
Barbara always enjoyed taking guests with her on hikes to show them the scenery. Carl stopped coming along on these walks after suffering a heart attack.
The plan for July 18th, 2007, was for Barbara, Donna, and Jim to hike Barbara’s favorite trail — the Bear Creek Overlook, a moderately challenging 2.6-mile trail, located near Victor, Montana. It was about a 15-minute drive from the Bolick home.
But when Donna woke up that morning, she found that she was hungover from the drinks they’d had the night before and decided that it wouldn’t be a good idea for her to go hiking.
However, Barbara and Jim still wanted to go, so at around 8:30 or 9 a.m., Barbara woke Carl up and told him that she was going to take Jim to the Overlook and that they’d be back later. Carl assured her that he’d take care of making dinner.
And with that, Barbara and Jim left.
Unbeknownst to Carl, he would never see his wife again.
Where Is Barbara?
Carl Bolick spent the morning working on a carpentry project.
When noon rolled around, Donna was starting to feel anxious about the fact that Barbara and Jim hadn’t returned yet. Carl, on the other hand, knew that his wife was an experienced hiker and extremely familiar with the trail they were planning to walk that day, so he reassured his cousin that there was nothing to worry about and that they’d likely be back any minute.
Yet when there was still no sign of them an hour later, Donna began to panic and suggested that Carl call somebody. He was about to do just that when the phone rang around 2 p.m. He remembered picking up the phone and hearing an unfamiliar voice on the other end.
“It was a forest service law enforcement officer. She asked me if my wife’s name was Barbara and I instantly thought something terrible had happened.”
To his distress, he learned that Jim had reported Barbara missing. Carl immediately drove to the site, hoping that his wife would have been located by the time he got there, but he was devastated to find that this wasn’t the case.
Jim Ramaker Describes Final Moments
According to Jim Ramaker, he and Barbara hiked the full length of the Bear Creek Overlook and then stopped to have a bite to eat. They came across other hikers — two young men — around this time and the group talked for roughly half an hour while admiring the scenery together.
It is unknown exactly when the men left or how far ahead of Jim and Barbara they might have been, but Jim stated that he and Barbara started to head back at around 11:30 a.m.
At some point, Jim stopped to look around. He said that he did this for no more than 45 seconds before turning back and finding that Barbara — who had been 20-30 feet ahead of him — was no longer there. Accounts vary as to exactly when this occurred, placing her disappearance at any time between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m., a fairly big window of time.
“When I turned back to continue heading down, Barb was nowhere to be seen.”
His next course of action, Jim explained, was to search the immediate area for Barbara, while calling out to her. However, he received no response and saw no sign of either Barbara or her backpack. According to him, it was as if she’d simply vanished into thin air.
He made his way back to the trailhead and found construction workers there — the road leading to the trailhead was closed for maintenance that day. It’s unclear exactly when the workers arrived, but when Jim came across them, he asked if they’d seen Barbara and gave a short description of her.
They hadn’t seen her but did remember seeing two young men with a black-and-white dog exit the trail earlier.
Jim reported her missing shortly thereafter, and the search for Barbara Bolick began in earnest.
Search and Investigation
Carl remained at the Bear Creek Overlook until midnight, desperate to find Barbara. He was encouraged to go home and rest, which he finally did. The following day, he came back with a group of friends and neighbors who wanted to help him look for her.
In the coming days, several ground search and rescue teams, accompanied by search dogs, were organized to look for Barbara Bolick. Aircraft using infrared and thermal imaging were utilized as well.
Strangely, nothing whatsoever was found. Not only was Barbara missing but they could find no evidence that she was even on the trail that day. The dogs were unable to pick up her scent anywhere.
After two weeks of intensive searching and investigation, Ravalli County Sheriff Chris Hoffman said Barbara Bolick’s disappearance was “a mystery.”
“We are perplexed,” Hoffman told the Bitterroot Star. “We have combed the area in the vicinity of the disappearance very well. No trace at all has been found. We would like to verify, if we can, that Bolick was even on the mountain that day.”
Jim told the police about the two men they’d encountered on the trail and law enforcement attempted to locate them, unsure if these were locals or vacationers.
To this day, they’ve never been found or identified. While it might appear quite odd or possibly even suspicious that they never came forward, it’s also important to note that Barbara’s case never received a great deal of media attention and it’s possible that they were, and still are, unaware that she is missing, especially if they didn’t live in the area.
Theories
Many have found it odd that Jim heard nothing strange the day that Barbara went missing. There’s a lot of loose shale rock around the Bear Creek Overlook trail, making it difficult, if not impossible, to move about quietly.
Lead investigator Peny Johnson stated:
“It’s hard to creep quietly across loose shale rock. You’d make some noise. Just the fact that someone simply disappears like that is a cause for concern.”
Animal Attack or Fall
If she’d been attacked by a wild animal, you’d expect to have seen some evidence of that in the area. Jim likely would have heard screaming or sounds of a struggle.
It has also been suggested that Barbara might have fallen suddenly and not had time to call out. However, her fear of heights made her especially careful around them. Additionally, this was her favorite trail and she was very familiar with it.
That being said, it’s possible that she slipped unexpectedly and was trapped in a crevice or cave — though it’s odd that the extensive search was unable to find any trace of her or her hiking gear.
Did She Run Off to Start a New Life?
As often happens in missing and lost person cases, the police initially wondered whether Barbara had decided to leave her life behind and start over somewhere else. As with the other theories, there was nothing to support this either.
In addition to the fact that she appeared to be very content with her life, she also left behind her wallet, ID, passport, and other valuables, as well as her beloved dog and cat. Also, she and Carl had planned an upcoming fall trip to the Mexican Riviera for which they were both excited.
Foul Play
Others have theorized that this could be a case of foul play. Jim was the last person known to have seen her. Did he do something to her? And could he have hidden her body well enough — in an area with which he was unfamiliar — that she’d never be found?
Another possibility in this scenario — one that could explain why the search dogs found no trace of Barbara’s scent — is that something occurred before they ever arrived at the trail that day. They took Jim’s rental car to the Bitterroot Valley, but did Barbara make it there? Perhaps not. However, it’s unclear what Jim’s motive would have been.
One might also assume that Jim could have concocted a more convincing cover story if he was responsible for Barbara’s disappearance.
He also cooperated with law enforcement from the beginning and even volunteered to take a polygraph exam, though they didn’t take him up on his offer. Ultimately, the detectives cleared Jim Ramaker of suspicion.
The police received many tips over the course of their investigation, none of which proved helpful, while some seemed to match the bizarre nature of the case. For example, one tipster called to say that Barbara was abducted by a “ghostly mountain man.”
Missing 411
Given its status as a Missing 411 case — disappearances in which people have gone missing in National Parks or other wilderness areas — David Paulides, the author of several books on this subject, was asked to weigh in with his opinion:
“I know the case extremely well. I actually interviewed the man she was with; it’s probably six or seven years ago. Some people believe it’s pure criminal. I haven’t formed an opinion.”
Aftermath
Carl Bolick was devastated by the mysterious disappearance of Barbara. He found it difficult to eat or sleep for weeks and ended up losing 35 pounds over the course of that summer.
Years later, he described his thoughts:
“I just couldn’t accept it. I just knew she was going to show up, one way or another, but it didn’t happen. It still hasn’t happened. I don’t have the answers. I wish I did. There’s just nothing. That’s what’s so perplexing.”
The loss of his wife also made him overthink his actions during their marriage, wondering if he had taken her for granted.
“You say, ‘Oh my God, why did I do that? Why wasn’t I more attentive?’”
While Jim Ramaker remained cooperative with law enforcement, he and Donna soon drifted away from Carl.
Sadly, Carl Bolick passed away in 2021, at the age of 80.
Investigator Johnson later reflected on the strangeness of the disappearance: “This whole case challenges our life experience. Whenever we go hiking, we expect that we’ll return to our vehicle with our hiking partners. We think nothing about it. That’s just the way it is.”
To this day, not a shred of evidence has ever been discovered regarding Barbara Bolick’s disappearance. The truth of what happened to her, the woman who seemingly vanished without a trace on that long-ago July day, remains a mystery.
Sources
(This article was originally published on HubPages)
Wow, that was my favorite hiking and camping spot when I lived in Missoula about 10 years after she disappeared and I had never heard of the case until now.
The Bitterroots are a massive mountain range and it's truly miles out in the middle of nowhere up there. Anything could have happened but a lot of strange disappearances happen in those kinds of places.
It's too bad they couldn't ever get a hold of the two guys that were on the trail that morning as verified by the construction crew.
This life is truly a mystery. I hope she's happy and at peace now where ever she is.
I will also say, that we went camping up Lolo pass in 2016, which is about 30 min drive up the Bitterroot from Victor where Bear Creek area is, and we definitely witnessed a UFO that summer night as clear and sober as anything.