Deep Creek Lake — Mountain Lake, Muddy Creek Falls & the Cranesville Bog

Two days in Maryland's high western corner, where the state's largest lake sits at 2,500 feet in the Allegheny highlands and the terrain feels more like New England than the mid-Atlantic. Day one splits between Deep Creek Lake itself — Maryland's biggest inland water, ringed by state park beach, boat rentals, and paddling coves — and nearby Swallow Falls State Park, home to Muddy Creek Falls, the state's tallest free-falling waterfall, tucked in a grove of 300-year-old hemlocks. Day two climbs the Wisp resort area for high-country trails and views, then drops into the Cranesville Swamp, a rare boreal bog left over from the last Ice Age, before a scenic drive back through the mountains toward home. It's a cool-weather, high-elevation escape built around water, waterfalls, and ancient forest.