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My sister-in-law is flying in from Saskatchewan next month and my wife is going to take her camping for a night at the Mew Lake campground. I was hoping that some of you would have suggestions on nearby hikes or other adventures that they should make a priority during their two days in the park.
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as i stayed at mew lake for a night last year and had a spot on the 'no noise' campground, i was taken aback how well i could hear the highway, especially trucks climbing up the hill to late at night. Never had any quieter camping neighbours though. Bit of a contradiction. Noise free campground is anything but that in the daytime due to traffic.
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Maybe check out what presentation they have going that night at the outdoor theater? There are some interesting topics that get presented there.
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Interpretative centre ... logging museum (favorite)
I like the hikes .. lookout trail spruce bog and if they are nature nuts mew lake is full of chipmunks that will take a peanut right from your hand ... perhaps not a thrill for the seasoned camper but entertaining for those that are not.
Moose sighting tour on Opeongo ...
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The Centennial Ridges trail is nearby and is my favourite day trail. It's a bit tough physically, but one is treated to some spectacular panoramic views. The shorter/less demanding Booth's Rock trail offers some nice views as well, plus some interesting things to explore on the grounds of the old estate.
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One thing you can do from Mew Lake is rent bikes at the Two Rivers Store and go for a ride along the Old Railway bike trail, making stops for a couple of short hikes. The western terminus of the bike trail is at the south end of the main loop of the Track and Tower Trail, so from there you can make a short hike to the lookout over Cache Lake. A short bike ride east of Mew Lake, the bike trail intersects with the LoTR–Provoking portage, which in turn intersects with the Highlands backpacking trail near the side trail to the Starling Lake lookout. So those are two scenic lookouts that you can use the bike trail to make short cuts to, which be long hikes if you were going on foot all the way from the Hwy 60 trailheads.
If you're just going to do the conventional thing and drive to hiking trails, I agree that Centennial Ridges is the best for scenery. If that's too long, the Lookout trail is a short dash of impressive ridgetop scenery. And consider the Mizzy Lake Trail in the early morning for wildlife.
If they're adventurous they could probably do a one-day canoe loop Cache-Head-Head Creek-Madawaska-Cache. Otherwise maybe just a short paddle on the Madawaska upstream of LoTR, or Costello Creek from the AO dock on Lake Opeongo. Even renting at the P Store, launching at Smoke and just paddling to Little Island Lake and back (circling the island?) I think would be a nice taste of portage country.
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