"The Great Wilderness" had always been in the back of my mind after first hearing the phrase from another walker back in May 2016 while descending off Stob Binnein. I had a keen eye on the weather in the run up to the weekend and with 3 days of gorgeous sun guaranteed, it was a no brainer!
My good friend Colin and I left Greenock at 8am on Saturday morning with the excitement of the Northwest Highlands beckoning us. The drive was ok considering I would be stuck in one position for ~5hrs. Once past Inverness I was now in uncharted territory. The furthest north I'd been was Beauly up until that point and I was eager to see just what made this part of Scotland so special. Once past Garve, the landscape started to open out and the scenery was just amazing. When An Teallach first came into view it was truely breathtaking.
Managed to get a parking space in the layby luckily as someone was just leaving. The entire length of the road almost was lined with cars. Looked like we wouldnt be alone in the "Great Wilderness".
Leaving the car about 1pm we set off with our large rucksacks aiming to reach a wildcamping spot below the summit of Ruadh Stac Mor by 8pm.
The walk begins with a track through a small forest before opening into a nice valley with views of An Teallach on the right.

"An Teallach is a real page 3 of a Munro" - Muriel Gray. 100% fact.

Cairn marking the high point of the walk in to Shenavall bothy. All downhill until we get to the bothy.

Descending down the small gorge towards Shenavall. The Corbett Beinn Dearg Mor in the background is a real stunner.

Shenavall bothy comes into sight.

Beautiful setting for a bothy.

Quite a large and well maintained building.

I couldn't get the Wifi to work for some reason.

We spend about 20 mins looking around the bothy and found a lot of people had laid out sleeping bags in preparation for returning late at night.

We left the bothy around 4pm to continue on until reaching a suitable wildcamping spot. The terrain between Shenavall and the Munros is a boggy mess and requires a good bit of care to navigate without losing a foot. Colin wasnt so fortunate.

Looking back in the direction of Shenavall gives you a great view of the back of An Teallach.

River crossing required and if you wander along the side far enough you'll find a decent bit to get across without having to take your boots off. Beinn Tarsuinn able to be seen in the distance at the end of the glen.

Loch Beinn Dearg at 7pm as we climbed up towards our wild camping spot.

Looking back down the glen.

The summit of Ruadh Stac Mor finally in sight. Our camping spot was between two small lochans just below the summit.

Reached our wild camp spot for 8pm and were set up cooking our dinner by 9pm.

Sunset that evening was surreal and lasted for hours.



It was still very bright up until midnight when we finally succumbed to sleep. It had been a heatwave for the last few days and that night it was very mild. A gentle breeze kept the midges away.
The next morning we arose at 8am raring to go. We had breakfast and packed up for 9am and began heading to the top of Ruadh Stac Mor. As we climbed we got a brilliant view of our camping spot between the two lochans in relation to the remote landscape we were now in.

The summit of Ruadh Stac Mor was reached by 10am and marked Munro number 141/282. Making it the half way point in my Munro bagging career.

This area of Scotland is truly stunning and the 360 degree views were mesmerizing.

From the summit of Ruadh Stac Mor you get a good view of arguably Scotland's most remote Munro, A' Mhaighdean.

Quite a steep down climb from Ruadh Stac Mor required to continue our journey.

Looking back at Ruadh Stac Mor as we made our way up A' Mhaighdean.

Summit of A' Mhaighdean reached for midday.

I'd seen many photos from other walkhighlands reports of people standing in this same location and I can completely see why. The scenery was phenomenal.

From here it was a long descent of 400m before having to reclaim a similar height at the summit of Beinn Tarsuinn. Once reaching the Beinn Tarsuinn ridge you get a good view of the two Munros we'd just completed.

Beinn Tarsuinn in sight.

The ridge has a few nice scrambling sections if you stick to the crest. Brilliant views and good fun, would have been easier without the big packs though haha.

This incredible platform on the ridge made us wish we'd selected it for our wild camping spot instead.

Summit of Beinn Tarsuinn at 3:30pm. I can't stress enough how good this landscape is and I'm running out of vocabulary to convey its beauty.

The descent from Beinn Tarsuinn was quick enough but unfortunately the highest Munro in the circuit was now ahead of us. 300m of ascent to reach the top.

It was a bit of a slog to the top of Mullach Coire Mhic Fhearchair. Made it to the summit for 5pm.

The descent of Mullach Coire Mhic Fhearchair was pretty awful due to the scree. The boulder field up to the last Munro, Sgurr Ban was extremely tiring and the day's exploits had finally caught up with us. The heavy rucksacks had been digging into our shoulders for 2 days and the weight making every step an absolutely chore.

We reached the summit of Sgurr Ban at 6pm and was too exhausted to take anymore photos until the late evening sunset. We'd completed the Munros and the additional Corbett just seemed too much to include and we were running very low on water so we decided to find a stream to fill up. We descended down to Loch a' Bhrisidh and reached a decent stream to replenish our supply of water. We followed the stream to the bottom of the glen and then found our way back to Shenavall just as the sun was setting around 10pm.

The bothy was silent but absolutely rammed with people sleeping so it was another night in the tents for us. This was a unforgettable trip to a fantastic area of Scotland. Extremely demanding and tough but well worth it!