On Hiking Up Conic Hill, in Balmaha, Scotland
Photos from our hike up Conic Hill during our summer holiday in Scotland
I hope everyone is safe and well.
When we go away as a family, we love to be a bit adventurous. We are fortunate that both the boys, who are now aged 12 and 14 years, are used to hiking with me and my wife. As long as we have snacks to keep everyone going we can all work for miles. So for this summer we had planned to stay in Callander, Stirling to be close to some of the peaks we wanted to tackle together.
Conic Hill sits right on the Highland Boundary Fault and is a little summit that offers wonderful views over Loch Lomond as the hill rises above Balmaha in Scotland. We really wanted to do this hike with its easy path on the way up with some steps to negotiate and even a rocky scramble and boggy areas as we made our circular route to the summit. It was a wonderful way for us to spend half a day with our boys outdoors and it was actually quite an easy hike for us as we have all done Ben Nevis on a previous holiday trip to the Highlands, this one gave us lots of time to enjoy the landscape as we hiked.
We started from the back of the car park in Balmaha, where you can also find an information centre, and followed the walk marked by the Thistle symbols of the West Highland Way. We then continued on the path taking in the beautiful views of Conic Hill ahead and its neighbour and the surrounding area. There is a gentle curving path from here between these hills to reach a col and then catching sight of Loch Lomond with its many islands. Wow! There are so many places to stop and just take in the scenery on this hike as you continue towards the peak, because once you get higher than Conic Hill’s smaller neighbours, the landscape opens out beautifully.
It’s quite a busy tourist spot, with lots of people hiking and it’s a perfect activity for families and younger hikers and for catching the views, especially if the weather is clear. When we were in Scotland this year it pretty much rained every day, but on this day the clouds were starting to clear and this revealed the many layers of hills that were visible in all directions, including Arrochar Alps and Ben Lomond. When we were there the pathway up to the summit was being filled in with rocks and after a while, the pathway was flanked by huge white bags containing unused rocks ready to make the path.
The summit is a great place to relax and refuel and then to wander around the peak to enjoy the views. After a few photos we were ready to descend and just followed the same path back down to the car park. Coming down afforded us more stunning views of the Loch and Balmaha and the surrounding area. I found myself just clicking away all the way up and down hoping to have some great photos of this beautiful part of Scotland. Coming down you appreciate the views differently than when going up and hopefully I’ve managed to capture some of the beauty of the Scottish Highlands.
We used an app called Alltrails that gives you reviews form other hikers as well as keep local information and details about the route itself and you can follow the route on the app. This is great for knowing how far you’ve come and how far to go to reach the peak. I totally recommend this app if you’re going to be doing any sort of hiking. You get a week’s free trial and then pay after that.
Anyway, some more photos from our wonderful hike up Conic Hill
Hope you’ve enjoyed my photos from one of our Scottish Holiday activities. We had such an amazing time in Scotland and cannot wait to return again in the future.
Take care everyone.
Dawud
These vistas are gorgeous! Makes me want to paint some landscapes. I’m so glad you got to have this experience with your family, thanks so much for sharing it here!
Absolutely gorgeous! That stone path! Those huge sunflowers 🌻 I am from England originally and have lived in America most of my life wishing to dive deep into my homeland and especially Scotland (maiden name is "Gunn"). Thank you for the inspiration ✨ (I found you when lovely Jenn shared this)