2018 TGO Challenge Day 1

TGO Challenge Day 1

Strathcarron to Wild Camp near Loch Monar - ~12 miles

Total Trip Miles: 12

Friday, May 11th, 2018

Day 1

The four of us met for breakfast and then caught our train to Strathcarron.  We didn't sign out until almost 11am, my latest start on a Challenge.  When we got off the train we ran into Brad Williamson, who we had met at the end of the 2016 Challenge.  It was nice to see a friendly face we knew right away.

Officially signed out -- the Challenge is on!

The intrepid Challengers about to set off

We didn't actually set off until almost 11:30am, because, as usual, we were all faffing about.  The first bit was along the road, but we soon turned off the main road and went through some homes and farms in Achintee.  

We found the path that took us up into the hills where the wind quickly picked up.

Looking back at Strathcarron

Leslie attempting to not be blown away by the wind

Navigation discussion

Ava and Leslie in the hills

Up and over!

Lunch!

After lunch we finally reached the top of the hill we'd been climbing.  Coming down the other side was pretty wet and slippery and I had a good slide down a small section.  No damage done except some muddy pants and a bruised ego.

Some nice views

After a bit of off-path navigation we came out to Land Rover tracks (LRT) that took us to Ben Dronaig Bothy where we took a bit of a break.  It started raining when we arrived so it turned into a longer break than anticipated.  There is a working toilet in the bothy, you just have to fill the tank with water from the stream outside to flush it (what luxury!). 

Ben Dronaig Bothy on the right

A little less than 3 km north of the bothy we went off path once again and over the saddle between Beinn Tharsuinn and Bidein a' Choire Sheasgaich to reach Loch Monar.  It was about 3km up over trackless bog/heather/general squishiness to get to the top of the saddle and it took us quite a while.  We stopped around 7pm to cook dinner about 2/3rds of the way up in the one area we could find with a little bit of wind protection.

Cooking dinner on the leeward side of the rock

We finally reached the top of the pass and began our descent.  It was slow going over the bog and we saw a couple other tents on the way down.  We weren't having any luck finding places to camp that were large enough for 3 tents; every time we thought we found something suitably flat it would be boggy or it would be dry but way too slanted to sleep comfortably. 

In the rain on the climb up

Around 10pm, just as we were losing daylight, we found a spot that seemed like it could be ok for us to camp.  It wasn't the most comfortable site (kind of lumpy and tight for three tents.  Also, Ava and Kenny had to move their tent shortly after pitching it because they were on much more of a slope than they thought, but when we woke up the next morning we realized we had a pretty amazing view around us.

The view the next morning