Centennial Ridges Trail — Attraction in Unorganized South Nipissing

The trail was in pretty rough shape—really muddy, even though it hadn’t rained in days. We had to walk through mud repeatedly, and it felt like we were constantly at risk of slipping. It’s frustrating that Ontario Parks didn’t put up any warnings about the poor conditions or close the trail, and there weren’t any boardwalks or infrastructure to help in the worst spots. It could definitely use better map placements throughout the trail too.

Some parts were nice, but only about 4 or 5 viewpoints were worth it. Viewpoint 10 was by far the best, and you can actually skip the whole loop and go straight there from the other side for the top view. definitely bring bug spray.

As for the trail itself, it’s not as easy as some people say. If you’re used to hiking, it’s may be easy, but if you’re in regular sneakers and worried about getting wet, you might struggle. It took us 5.5 hours to finish, even though some reviews said 3-4 hours, but the muddy parts slowed us down (There are many). The views were beautiful, but with the challenging conditions, I’d only recommend it for more experienced hikers. I’d also recommend not bringing kids under 15—it’s just too long, tricky and...

I'm just posting this because I didn't see it mentioned. But there are two spots that can lead you astray and considering the hikes 4-6+ hour completion time (no joke. I thought people were joking about 6+ hours) any time getting lost is not good.

You generally want to see a blue marker every 200m at the most. If you don't, consider second guessing your path and double back.

The first is around 7-8 lac cloud lake. You'll encounter a sheet of rock on your right (if taking the long way there) which seems to lead up to a path which leads to another short rock climb. I even saw a couple bikes which made me think I was going the right way. No. If you walked past the sheet of rock you'll see the familiar blue dot.

The second is lac rutter lake #12. Make sure you walk right up to the #12 marker as you will see a bridge that leads you out of the trail.

I encourage whoever manages the path to put white dots marking the sheet of rock and maybe better positioned blue dots at that point so that people are able to find it...

This trail is not for the faint-hearted, you've got to be seriously, and I mean seriously fit to attempt it, maybe it was because it just rained some hours before I started, and it might be better in dry conditions, but it is one of the toughest trails I've ever attempted. But for every 10.4KM difficulty it throws at you i.e. slippery descents, massively spread out tree roots, rocks, steep inclines, bugs (bug spray helps, but the hum is still annoying) etc., the views at the top of the ridges are breathtaking, marvelous, beautiful and very worthwhile. The guide book says it takes 5-6 hours to complete, but I got it done in 3HRS54MINS with 35MINS of rest time.

CONS: The directions (blue tags stapled on trees) are very poor near the foot of the lakes, every time, I was at these locations, it took some guessing to find the right direction. The park administration could definitely do a better...