Here's a link to the Cabin Trails map:
http://www.drxc.ca/maps/cabin trail map.pdf
On the above map, "Park Avenue" is to the south of where Bret was found (not sure of distance). Presumably Park Av comes out of Algonquin Park. I'm wondering if Bret arrived at the location from the west (i.e. through Algonquin), rather than along the trails that come in from Deep River to the east.
Safetytwin, would you say your red dot places Bret close to Hut Lake? Do you know if there is an actual "hut" at Hut Lake that travellers would seek out for shelter?
Here are some folks talking "hut to hut travel" with mention of the Chalk River Canyon Route. Their recollection is that the cabin is run by the DR x-country ski club:
http://www.myccr.com/SectionForums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=10971
Here's a pretty good map of Algonquin Park (zoom to about 200 to find Big Bass Lake at the very right edge of the map). Just gives an idea of where Bret was in relation to the Park.
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~crpalmer/algonquin/alg2.pdf
SB, The red dot is indeed at Hut Lake, the location of the DR XC ski cabin.
The cabin is locked if there is no-one there. Bret was found in the outhouse,
which would have been the only accessible shelter.
AFAIK, "Park Avenue" is a dead end trail, just an out and back excursion
from the cabin for a scenic view of the CR canyon.
While it is not totally impossible that Bret might have approached the cabin
from the west, I think that realistically it is highly unlikely. There are
no developed or marked trails in that part of Algonquin Park, no public
roads, no campgrounds, no ranger stations, not much of anything except
bush, rocks, trees, swamps, etc. If you look at the Google satellite view of the area,
you can see that it is rough country, very difficult to travel through
on foot, and it takes a long time to get anywhere (based on personal
experience). He was not dressed or equipped for that sort of expedition.
He might have been hitchhiking along Hwy 17 and for some reason headed up
the Bass Lake Road. Perhaps he asked someone where Algonquin Park was and they pointed
in that direction without explanation. Perhaps he did not
understand English very well and misinterpreted what someone said. Even a
road map shows where the park is, though no map was found with him. Perhaps it was lost somewhere,
along with his ID.
A lot of questions and no answers.
As an aside, there is some weather data from the CR station here:
http://www.climate.weatheroffice.gc.ca/climateData/dailydata_e.html?
timeframe=2&Prov=CA&StationID=4243&Year=2001&Month=9&Day=3
It doesn't tell you much, except that if he was outdoors he would have
gotten wet on Sept. 3rd, and that the nights were cool.
