Beinn Chabhair - Bog, Bog and More Bog

[Steven001]

I spent hours looking for my "summer boots" only to realise that I had left them at a friends house in Campbell Town, so that meant I had to walk in my my stiff Scarpa Manta's for this trip.... I left the house late as usual and arrived at the Droves Inn for around 1130.

I walked around the perimeter of the Beinn Glass campsite and stupidly crossed the bridge and started walking up the wrong side of the river I realised my error after about 15 minutes and quickly back tracked and found the correct route.



The route started off very steep following the river most of the way up. Once the initial steep section was over, the ground became sodden and extremely boggy. I knew I should've worn my gators...





I came to a section where Scottish Water were doing some work and were excavating the landscape with diggers. I thought it would make a good contrasting photo to show the impact that man is having on the environment. I positioned myself in front of the digger and stupidly stood in a mixture of clay, mud and slurry. Both feet quickly sank to my knees and kept going. I pulled as hard as I could with both legs but that just seemed to push them in deeper. After some struggling, I grabbed my left leg with both arms and pulled as hard as I could. After a few minutes it came free but my left leg was still stuck. I tried to put my camera away but dropped it straight into the mud! I put my left leg back into the mud to try support myself but it just started to skin again - I wondered if I would ever get out. I then started to dig my right leg out before I gave up and lay horizontal on the mud and dragged myself out. The end result was very mucky trousers/boots, a ruined lens which is currently drying on the radiator and a photo which doesn't do the scene justice:





I continued on and it seemed to take an age to reach Lochan Beinn Chabhair.



The path disappeared and reappeared, but I eventually got there. From there on the route became more interesting and I enjoyed the ascent up the knolls and rocky humps to the summit.







I could hear deer snorting and groaning in the distance but I didn't manage to see any. The view from the top was great - a clear view 360' around. It was a shame the sun hid behind the clouds but it was nice to have a cloud free summit.





By the time I reached the car my left foot was numb from the steep decent and solid boots! I finished by enjoying a well earned burger in the Drovers Inn!

[Cairngorm creeper]

I enjoyed your photo's, especially the summit ones, your experience in the bog sounds nightmarish. We went up there on a very murky autumn day. No views and had turn back before we reached the summit to avoid trying to cross the bog in the dark . The bog plus the hydro works have sapped our motivation to try again.

[JimboJim]

You missed out "More Bog, Bog!"

Nice pics, despite the scare!

[Graeme D]

One of the completely random and inevitable things about hillwalking in Scotland is that one man's dream can be another man's nightmare!

http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=60556

You might say that the digger photo does not do the scene justice (sounds like you are well placed to make that statement!), but it is a cracking photo nonetheless!

[teaandpies]

I think the WH recommend walk is the problem here

[GillSte]

Thanks for your report. But it made me very sad to see that there's a hydro scheme under construction (see also http://parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2016/05/12/glen-falloch-hydro-schemes-1-ben-glas/) . This was my final Munro, and I enjoyed it tremendously, mainly because it was reasonably tough going across pathless boggy stuff, it was misty and there wasn't the usual walking by numbers on an established path. It was great. It felt like a proper mountain and bit more of a wilderness than many of the Munros. It's really upsetting that it's all been lost now that there's a hideous track heading up the hill.

[Steven001]

I can't seem to find the multi-quote function if there is one.

Cairngorm Creeper- Thank you. There's nothing worse than going through all the effort to get to the summit and being surrounded in cloud! I do agree, it's not one I would rush to go back and climb, especially with the addition of the hydro scheme that's going on. It's a shame really.

Graeme - Wow! Loved your report, the pictures are incredible. I love the mountains in the snow, it gives them a whole other dimension. Hopefully I can get out a decent amount this winter and get rid of some "reds" as you call them Looking forward to your next report.

GillSte - That's impressive, when did you summit it? It's a real shame. Without the hydro scheme, I can imagine it having a real scene of wildness which the surrounding Lomond hill lack. It is a fair walk to get to the lochan and like you said, there's no obvious path to get there, just a few sections of flattened grass. I hope you don't have future plans to ruin any more of the area.

Thanks for the link to the blog post.

[Steven001]

I can't seem to find the multi-quote function if there is one.

Cairngorm Creeper- Thank you. There's nothing worse than going through all the effort to get to the summit and being surrounded in cloud! I do agree, it's not one I would rush to go back and climb, especially with the addition of the hydro scheme that's going on. It's a shame really.

Graeme - Wow! Loved your report, the pictures are incredible. I love the mountains in the snow, it gives them a whole other dimension. Hopefully I can get out a decent amount this winter and get rid of some "reds" as you call them Looking forward to your next report.

GillSte - That's impressive, when did you summit it? It's a real shame. Without the hydro scheme, I can imagine it having a real scene of wildness which the surrounding Lomond hill lack. It is a fair walk to get to the lochan and like you said, there's no obvious path to get there, just a few sections of flattened grass. I hope you don't have future plans to ruin any more of the area.

Thanks for the link to the blog post.

[GillSte]

It was June 2015, so they have sneaked those diggers in pretty quickly!