Magic in the Mountains

May 8, 2024 (10.8 miles)

Kingshouse- Kinlochleven

Hands down the best day on trail! We started the morning by waking up at a leisurely 8am and went to get breakfast in the resort kitchen. We both had variations of the hot rolls- I had mine with eggs, bacon, and black pudding and Cade had his with eggs, bacon, and cheese. They were delicious! I love the hot rolls because they’re just extra huge and buttery.

After breakfast we bought our lift tickets and paid the refundable deposit for a couple of discs to go play disc gold on top of the ski mountain. This resort is in a breath taking place and to actually be up on top of the mountain was amazing! The course was nine holes and took us all over the mountain, we could see crazy long range views and plenty of peaks that still had snow. It was so rugged and desolate, it’s hard to believe we were barely over 3000′. We had sunshine and blue skies the whole time we were up top which was just incredible. The chairlift was cool enough on it’s own because it went over a waterfall, but getting to play at the UK’s highest disc golf course was easily the highlight of the trip because it was such a unique and awe inspiring experience.

After playing all nine holes (Cade won, he was -5 par) we went back down the mountain to have toasties at the resort before getting on our way. We were hiking just a little after 1pm and had ~11 miles to go. We passed the Kingshouse Hotel and began a rental climb up on the ridge where we paralleled the road with some pretty dramatic views of the mountains. We sang songs and chatted and made the time go by quickly as we made our way through the valley.

The real exciting part of the day was getting to climb the devil’s staircase. It was just another hill, but apparently it’s supposed to be really hard (but not as hard as the rocky/rooty terrain around Loch Lomond). It was about 850′ of elevation gain and it was tough, but we not “stoppied til the toppie” and officially reached the highest point of the WHW. The views from the top were stunning and we sat at the top for a while taking in the scenery and enjoying a bag of “big fizzy” gummies. When the wind became too much to handle we started making our way down.

In my opinion the descent was the toughest part of the day just because it was so long and steep in sections. The views just kept on getting better and better, though, so it felt good to take our time going down the mountain. In total I think the descent was about 5.5 miles and 1800′ so it was hard on the knees. I’m glad I had my poles. You could see the loch and a hydroelectric power plant in the distance and the closer you got to town the more visible the village of Kinlochleven became.

We finally made it down into town and made a quick walk through the downtown space before finding our way to the MacDonald Hotel where we had reservations to camp. The place is obviously more of a “camping cabin” place because there isn’t much space for tents, but thankfully we found a perfect pitch and got set up before it started raining. We got drinks at the bar before our dinner reservations at the Bothy Bar in the hotel. Cade got curry and I got chicken stuffed with black pudding. The hotel is also home to Gins of the Highlands (apparently Scotland is big on whisky and gin) and I tried the strawberry and rhubarb gin and tonic. What a lovely evening and all around fantastic day. Topping it off by falling asleep to rain on the tent.