My trailer lost a bearing buddy somewhere along the way to and from the
launch ramp the other day. I didn't realize the bearing buddy was gone
until I got home. The launch ramp is in sal****er. I did wash the
bearing/axle/hub area down well when I got home.

Guess I'd better pull the wheel and do some maintenance. Should I remove
all the old grease still in there and try to clean the bearing?

An option is to assume the packed in grease kept the sal****er out, just
stick a new bearing buddy on, and shoot some more grease to it.