The story behind a missing man
During the long winter months following her son’s disappearance, Maureen Trask joined a support group for the families and friends of missing persons. Early on, she met a woman whose sister had disappeared more than 40 years ago. Suddenly, the thought of wondering what happened to her son for the rest of her life was crushing. “I just broke down,” says Maureen. “I can’t imagine one year, never mind that many.”
So when I called Don and Maureen from Camp Wanapitei the day after we made our find on Diamond Lake, they were dumbfounded. “I thought, ‘Is this for real or is this a dream?’” says Maureen. “Of course it was emotional for us, but we were totally relieved.”
A few days later, the couple welcomed me to their split-level home in Waterloo. Insect repellent, GPS units and assorted camping gear cluttered the dining room, and maps covered the kitchen table. Don and Maureen had returned from nearly a month of searching out of Camp Wanapitei less than a week previously, and their friendly smiles and chattiness belied the harsh reality of lives on hold. Don, a retired firefighter, quickly explained that he’d be prepared to spend the entire summer camping out, if that’s what it would take to find his son’s body.
We spend hours pondering what could’ve gone wrong. I describe the dozen or so cut or partially cut standing trees we found in the vicinity of Trask’s clothing. It seems likely the deadwood would have been used to build a shelter or fires. Yet subsequent ground searches by police officers and a cadaver dog within an 800-metre radius of the site revealed no evidence of lean-tos or campfires. However, they did turn up a sleeping bag, toiletries and a pair of underwear and socks. In June, divers and police in side-scanner-equipped boats searched the waters of Diamond Lake and found no sign of Trask’s body.
It goes unsaid that Trask was grossly under-equipped and, despite his summer of adventures in Temagami, ill-prepared for a lengthy stay in the wilderness in the fall. Our best guess is that he fell victim to cool, damp November weather or broke through thin December lake ice. Hypothermia looms large in the shoulder seasons, when it is all too easy to end up incapacitated by a deadly combination of wet and cold. Don mentions “paradoxical undressing,” a phenomenon in which severely hypothermic people sometimes peel off their layers, possibly due to a burning sensation caused by constricted blood vessels at the skin or a cold-related malfunction of the brain’s thermostat. According to a Swedish study, this irrational behaviour “is followed almost immediately by unconsciousness and death.”
Maureen continues to post Ottertooth updates and remains resolved to piece together what happened to her son. She and Don are certain that Trask left behind a trail of cryptic messages, such as a crude signpost searchers found atop a peak near Camp Wanapitei that points northwest to Maple Mountain, and that these messages may ultimately explain his strange journey. Perhaps the clothing at Diamond Lake is one more piece in the puzzle. “I think he is trying to tell us something,” says Maureen. “We just haven’t figured out the message.”
Before I leave, Don shows me a sequence of photographs taken by Trask with a disposable camera found in his car and developed after his disappearance last November. To me, the prints spread out on the table represent the classic snapshots of a Temagami canoe trip. Don insists there’s something more. “It was the little things we didn’t notice right away,” he says. Four images are particularly compelling: a self-portrait of Trask making a fist and flexing his bicep; a shot of his bare legs resting on packs in the canoe, his hand flashing a peace sign in front of the lens; a picture of Trask’s shadow framing a smiling face of rocks; and the image of a directional arrow made of stones on the ground. “We think he’s saying, ‘I am strong, I go in peace, and I’m happy and I know where I’m going…” says Don. Through tears, he gazes penetratingly into my eyes, and points to two more prints, the first depicting a portage trail, the second a sun-splashed lake. His voice falters. “‘Into the woods, into the light.’”
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*SPECIAL NOTE: The remains of Daniel Trask were located in May of 2015. Look to the Summer 2016 issue of explore for a special follow-up feature, “Requiem for Daniel Trask.”
