I had one reason for visiting Glenmore and that was to take on Cairn Gorm, the parks namesake mountain although no the highest in the range.
Hiking up Cairn Gorm
It was a rather long but steady trek through forests to start the ascent, it was all uphill but the start felt less so.
The signs warning of a path that was closed were a little confusing though as without a map attached it was quite difficult to know which path they were referring to. I carried on this way regardless.
As I came out of the forest and looked across the valley it was quite clear which path they meant as you could see where the land had slipped away and left a share drop which even climbers wouldn’t try to pass.
I mistakenly followed the road past the base station instead of heading up the more gracious hiking route. The sandy road did have some areas with ice and snow and it did eventually meet with the route I had intended to take albeit only for the final part of the ascent.
It was pretty cold and windy at the summit, although I was prepared for it. I got out my thermos and had a coffee whilst taking cover behind the weather station.
I checked out the rest of the path towards Ben Macdui from this spot. After some consideration of the amount of snow still covering large areas of the path along with the weather starting to take a darker turn I decided to leave it at the one mountain and head back down.
A quick coffee and cake at the base station and I made my way back down to the loch side. Looking back up at the mountains I think I made the right choice as clouds took over the summits entirely. I think I managed to grab the last of the views for the day.
I’ve done a lot of mountains but I did particularly enjoy that the first half of the journey towards the summit went through forests. The ascent was quite gentle it is definitely one of the more interesting mountain routes that I have headed through.
The Pine Marten
I’m not quite done with hiking today. A couple of quick pints in the Pine Marten whilst they played an awesome 90s rock playlist of some favourites from the Chilli’s and Nirvana and then go over the five mile loch loop again.
I’ve explored a lot of the loch on all sides and have found a plethora of available spot to pitch up. My worry was more about finding suitable parking. Which I have now done. The lay-by parking areas are too close to the road for me to find car camping comfortable but would be perfectly fine to leave the car when heading off into the forest to camp.
The free overnight parking can mostly be found on the western edges of Loch Morlich.
Now it’s an early night for me, and a good read of my book. I will need to make sure to take my kindle when I head off on Stafford to snowdon. It’s pretty lightweight and it will help to preserve the battery on my phone. One of my old small MP3 players might also make a good addition, again light weight and with its own battery, although I wouldn’t imagine that it would last very long.