After taking some time to explore the stone circles, we decided it was time to see more of the natural beauty of Scotland, preferably somewhere far off the beaten path. We both enjoy hiking, so taking a hike in the mountains of Scotland seemed to be a good way to spend some of our vacation, knowing that we wouldn’t be mobbed by other tourists and would get to experience some of the true splendor of Great Britain.
We ended up in the Cairngorm Mountains, a national park in the Scottish highlands. This place covers a huge amount of land, meaning that even though visitors come to the park to take advantage of the hiking trails, lake, and other natural features, we’ll be less likely to encounter other tourists.
We weren’t necessarily interested in the lake. We wanted to see the mountains and do some hiking. The Cairngorms include some of the highest mountains in Great Britain, and we were looking forward to the physical challenge of hiking some of the mountain trails, as well as to seeing the views from higher up and seeing what else we found along the way. We ended up spending several lovely days hiking in various places around the Cairngorms, and hardly saw anyone else at all.
On the first day, we hiked Cairn Lochan. This is one of the less traveled mountains in the national park, so there is a lot of completely unspoiled natural beauty. Cairn Lochan, at 3990 feet, is the fourth highest mountain in the United Kingdom. It took hours to make the hike, but it was completely worth it. We had to start early so we would have time for the entire hike and to stop and admire some of the views.
Because the mountain is so high, even though it was summer, it wasn’t especially warm. We had to make sure we were dressed warmly enough to protect ourselves against the low temperatures at the higher points of the hike. Some of the snow from the top of the mountain had melted, and we found a stream of water running from the snowmelt. The stream eventually runs down to a lake.
We saw some very nice scenery, but some of the views higher up were obscured by clouds or mist. Despite that, and despite the cold and wind, hiking Cairn Lochan was one of the better parts of our trip.
This is Hiking Day 1: Cairn Lochan, at 3990 ft., the #4 highest peak in the UK.
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You need to get an early start so you have time to pause and enjoy the peacefulness. |
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Mountain ice becomes a stream which runs down to a lake in this high mountain valley at 3,000 ft. It looks like snow but it |
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