Càrn a' Chaochain and Plodda falls

[gld73]

Great as it'll be when lockdown and restrictions have eased and normality is restored, it has been nice being in the Highlands and enjoying being able to drive on quiet roads, pretty much free of motorhomes, campervans, caravans and hire cars Single track roads in tourist hotspots will be places to avoid come the summer, so I took the opportunity this day to head to Plodda Falls. You can drive all the way to Cougie, but I opted to do Carn a Chaochain from the Plodda Falls car park as it gave a few extra kilometres of easy walking on such a nice day, and I'd extend the walk at the end to do a walk to the falls themselves as I'd never actually been to them before.

The track from Tomich to the car park is one to do at a slow crawl even if you're not stuck behind a motorhome, due to the size and number of potholes! Arrived at the car park eventually to find just a couple of other cars, and whilst booting up, the occupants of one returned from the waterfall and it was someone I knew from work - so a quick chat first, and then I set off walking to Cougie along the good track. Past the buildings at Cougie I kept an eye out for the little cairn at the side of the track marking the start of the path (thanks to BlackPanther and Strathlassie's walk reports giving photos of this point!) and headed up the hillside, following the nice path up beside the burn, then crossing it and continuing up to come out above the treeline and onto open ground. Through the gate and continuing on, the path became less distinct and very boggy with the snow melt. I lost it completely a couple of times but just continued towards the bealach and came across it again. Plenty patches of snow left in the shaded parts, but it was a lovely sunny day.

Heading along the track at Cougie

Wee cairn marking where to leave the track and head up the path

Path still snow covered in the sheltered parts...

..but clearer above the tree line

Nice views back to the Affric hills

Bit snowier further up, but nothing too deep (looking back the way I'd come up)

About to head up the slope on the left of this photo towards Càrn a' Chaochain

On getting to the flatter area I headed off up the slopes to the right, heading for the cairn on one of the bumps; not the summit, but a good viewpoint when I got to it. Still couldn't see the summit from there, but continued along, bypassing some of the tops of the lumps and bumps along the way and keeping to the right of the lochan.

At the first cairn, looking towards the next bump to head for

I passed to the right of the lochan

Trig point, but not on the summit

There was a lot of zig zagging to avoid the worst of the bog and the hags, but my boots decided to give up the fight to stay waterproof somewhere along the way. I didn't go up to the trig point, bypassing that top to head straight for the summit, where it was the driest part of the hill and had 2 cairns close to each other. Like the previous day's graham, it was nice to enjoy the views all around and spend a few minutes at today's summit getting the maps out in the nice weather, knowing they wouldn't blow away or turn to mush in rain

2 cairns close to each other at the summit

North Glenshiel hills

Affric hills

Heading back over the bumpy hill towards the lochan to go back down the same way

I headed back pretty much the same way, the ground seeming to be even wetter on the way back. Back at the car in an otherwise empty car park, I dropped my rucksack off and headed to do the 2km loop to the falls rather than just the direct short cut to them. I actually did a slightly longer loop than the waymarked one as I went past the waymarker post and ended up just sticking on the track to go past Plodda Lodge and cottage, before rejoining the intended loop and getting to the bottom of the falls. The snow melt might make for boggy walks up grahams, but it also makes for impressive waterfalls just now . The top viewing platform looks almost like a diving board from below, but I found the view from the bottom better than the one from the viewing platform when I headed up there. It was odd heading back to the car and seeing the innocuous wee burn, didn't look at all like a few metres later it could produce such a powerful and impressive waterfall!

Info board at the Plodda Falls car park

Plodda Falls from lower viewing platform

Plodda Falls selfie!

Top viewing platform

View looking down from top viewing platform