Boggiest Hills?

[Lightfoot2017]

I bagged Beinn Teallach at the weekend; a very simple up-and-down quick-hit hill.

There was nothing overly arduous about the trek..... but one thing that really surprised me was just how boggy it was. My boots were soaked through by the time I got half way up. (Note to self: buy new boots. )

I wasn't aware that the hill would be as sodden as it was - this despite a relatively dry Winter so far. 

This got me thinking: what are the boggiest hills you've ever attempted? Are there any that should have a snorkel warning? 

The only other hill I can remember being as bad is Sgiath Chuill which is a complete swamp from start to finish.

Be interesting to hear other folks' experiences. 

LF

[prog99]

Ok its not quite in Scotland but The Cheviot is so boggy theres a set of flagstones to the summit.

[McMonty]

Done the Monadhliath trio at the weekend, they were probably the worst I've experienced so far, waders required stuff up and down. Fortunately the bog on the plateau towards Carn Sgulain was frozen but the boots were like wet sponges by then. New boots also on the radar for me!

[Lightfoot2017]

Done the Monadhliath trio at the weekend, they were probably the worst I've experienced so far, waders required stuff up and down. Fortunately the bog on the plateau towards Carn Sgulain was frozen but the boots were like wet sponges by then. New boots also on the radar for me!

Probably my favourite round of Munros (so far). I did them in the height of a very dry Summer, and didn't have too much of a problem bog-wise.

[walkingpoles]

It's not a hill, but the straight line between Strathcaillach and Strathan bothy on the Parph goes over top quality bog. Scotland's finest I've encountered. Occasionaly the walking poles were too short to find solid ground.

[McMonty]

I'll take your word for it Lightfoot, after a promising walk in with glimpses of blue sky I ended up walking in clag most of the way.

I'll go back one day, once my recollection of the bog has faded into a very distant memory.

[CharlesT]

As per a recent post, think Fionn Bheinn would be a contender if we're staying in Scotland. Otherwise I have one or two Welsh ones which would make the grade easily.

[rgallie]

I buckled both my poles on 2 separate slips on my arse coming back down Fionn Bheinn on the path above Achnasheen, think I had managed to stay dry until then

[Caberfeidh]

The Galloway Hills are spectacularly boggy; they even have a SSSI in the Silver Flow - a few square miles of raised bog of such ungodly bogginess that people get lost and die in it. Even the near-vertical areas are boggy; defeating the laws of physics by not running downhill. Of course this gives a prime breeding ground for midgies and they are hellish in season. This ability of bog to stay stuck to the side of hills and not run downhill also makes for the strange phenomenon of climbing amphibians; a sight I have seen in a few places, including two thousand feet up a hill in Glen Callater in the Cairngorms. As I struggled up a gully I noticed I had company, in the form of a toad who seemed quite at home clambering up the near-vertical bog. This brought to mind the hilarious Ripping Yarns adventure spoof by Michael Palin and Terry Jones, "Across The Andes By Frog". Which was filmed at Glen Coe. Coincidence? I think not...

Puddocks ~ born mountaineers.

Ripping Yarns ~ Across The Andes By Frog

[garyoppolis]

Definitely Beinn Chabhair, by a country mile.

The approach from Inverarnan is like Passchendaele.

[jupe1407]

Definitely Beinn Chabhair, by a country mile.

The approach from Inverarnan is like Passchendaele.

Machine gun fire would at least make the approach more interesting

It's my most hated hill so far. Multiple false summits, knee injury worsened by that steep descent to the campsite, just awful.

[Csm8]

I'd agree that Beinn Chabhair is pretty nasty bog wise, thankfully I picked a cold frosty day with almost no snow and the whole thing was frozen, allowing me to keep my feet dry in trainers!

The approach to Am Faochagach on a wet day during a thaw was particularly grim, grade 5 bog style, had the boots on that day...

I suppose it's all relative though, after a long spell of dry weather even the worst bogs can be tinder dry...like the day I did the fisherfield hills during last years legendary summer, the bog on the way back to Shenevall, dubbed the swamplands of Mordor by a friend, was almost completely dry...which allowed me to out run the swarming clegs!

[Pastychomper]

Hmm, might have to pay a visit to Glen Callater. A toad would be make a change from the frogs I usually meet in Sutherland.

That reference to "across the Andes by frog" reminds me of a possibly unrelated sci-fi story I read years ago, about a group of reluctant colonists on a damp Earth-like planet. The hero asked the ship's (slightly damaged) computer for an all-terrain vehicle to help him search the vast bogs for the wayward heroine, and it constructed a large mechanical frog with a saddle.

[jmarkb]

Definitely Beinn Chabhair, by a country mile.

I can recommend the approach from Derrydarroch as a good alternative - there is a newish, but thankfully not too ugly, hydro track that leads to the stream junction at NN357196. From here, follow the burn and open grassy gully above (no path but reasonable going) to join the normal route at the col just E of Meall nan Tarmachan.

[Caberfeidh]

That reference to "across the Andes by frog" reminds me of a possibly unrelated sci-fi story I read years ago, about a group of reluctant colonists on a damp Earth-like planet. The hero asked the ship's (slightly damaged) computer for an all-terrain vehicle to help him search the vast bogs for the wayward heroine, and it constructed a large mechanical frog with a saddle.

It might just work! Either that or some enormous mechanical heron...