Umm.. You may be doing something wrong.
Check the wiki page for the
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In fairness (and iIrc, I'm a tad rusty on the game) the secret path takes you to 'Lake shore' side of the lake.
You still need to walk deeper to get to wolfden or Eden's cabin.
If you do that walk in the forest, it 6 times. But the safe 'trick' is to walk along the lake to the campsite area, then into the forest. From there it's just one move deeper into the forest to get to the den or cabin.