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Duck Mountain Provincial Park , some 100km northwest of Dauphin, is a large slice of the Manitoba Escarpment, comprising several thousand acres of thickly wooded rolling hills punctuated by meadows, bogs, streams and hundreds of tiny lakes. Most of the park is boreal forest , a mixture of white spruce, jack pine, balsam fir, aspen and birch, but many of its eastern slopes are covered by maple, burr oak and elm, which are usually found further south. Black bears, moose, white-tailed deer and lynx inhabit the park and it's not unusual to hear the cries of coyotes and wolves at night or the unmistakeable bugling of a bull elk amongst the dense woodland. The park is noted for its fishing, with pickerel, pike and trout in most of its lakes, and the delicious arctic char to the north. Access to Duck Mountain Park is along two partly paved roads - the east-west Route 367, which branches off Hwy 10 just north of Garland and cuts across the middle of the park to Hwy 83, a distance of 80km; and the south-north Route 366, connecting the town of Grandview, on Hwy 5 just 45km west of Dauphin, with the village of Minitonas, 130km away. Approached along Route 366, the best part of the park is its southeast corner, where Baldy Mountain (831m) is the highest point in Manitoba, complete with an observation tower which provides views over the forest. A few kilometres to the north, the twin West and East Blue Lakes are among the park's finest - curving strips of clear water fed by underground springs. Between the lakes is the Blue Lakes Campground (tel 1-888/482-2267; May to mid-Sept), close to both the Blue Lakes Trail, a six-kilometre cross-country hike, and the Shining Stone Trail, a short path along the peninsula that juts out into West Blue Lake. The campsite has a beach, a grocery store and petrol station; the camp office advises on boat rental and fishing. There are only unserviced sites here ($10). For serviced sites, try Childs Lake Campground (tel 546-2463; $12-14; May to mid-Sept), with similar facilities; it's on Route 367 on the west edge of the park. Great West Trails (tel 734-2321) organizes horseback riding excursions through the park that include camping and fishing. High Mountain Outfitters (tel 967-2077), based in Kelwood, on the east edge of the park, can also arrange a variety of one- to seven-day camping trips.
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