Hatfield
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Hello Hatfield (and other websleuths), as it happens there aren't really any cabins or cottages. Southern California is very beautiful and diverse but one thing we don't have a lot of are beautiful lakes surrounded by cabins. Lake Castaic is a prime example as it is yet another reservoir and right next to a freeway. The city of Castaic is basically a glorified truck stop, and small enough that he would have been spotted there by now. The only way I think Bryce would have gone to get space between himself and the vehicle as soon as possible was south along the Old Road toward Valencia. This is because it's just wilderness to the east and west, and north is such a punishing uphill grade that a lot of cars don't even make it. Valencia is part of Santa Clarita, which is the fourth largest city in L.A. County, which is the largest county in the country. There is plenty of room to get lost.
I live east of Castaic and on my drive home from work each day I take a longer route, going up the Old Road and hanging a right on Rye Canyon. I do this because I keep thinking I'll find Bryce on the side of the road. On weekends the errands I need to run take me to the mini-malls at the corner of Rye Canyon and Newhall Ranch Road and of course I keep an eye out there too. There is Hamburger Habit that I go to a lot. It makes me think of the alleged sighting early on at a different Habit in town, a bit further down in Valencia.
Thanks and thanks to others who also confirmed there are not cabins or cottages like I expected.
It is so surprising to me because most "recreation lakes" I have been to in many other states always had some rent-type cabins close by that people could stay overnight and enjoy the lake during the day. They were not necessarily directly near the lake, but sometimes private citizens on private property relatively close to the lake would rent out their investment places to lake goers. They usually advertised in local papers and local stores and sometimes it took some work to find a place to rent and stay overnight. From the sound of Casaic, it does not sound like this sort of thing happens there, which I find rather interesting based on the size of the lake. It seems big enough to draw people that would want to maybe spend a couple or more days there.
Also, usually man-made lakes are some of the nicest lakes because the Army Corp of Engineers usually does a good job planning the lakes and planning for the lake's recreational usage along with it. I suppose for this particular lake, it may have been designed as only a day-use only type lake and they may have purposely not wanted any overnight stays near the lake.
As I had mentioned a long time ago, I would love to fish that lake someday because it became famous nationwide when those record size bass were caught years ago. Back when that happened many many years ago, I remember reading in a fishing magazing about this particular lake.
The Forest areas sound real rough and wooded. Wonder if there is a chance if Bryce did not know the area well enough and maybe ended up getting lost in the woods if he was trying to avoid the LE that were training that morning.
This case is so sad, as he seemed like such a nice young person. We all just want him found.