| Name: | Carn a' Chaochain |
| Hill number: | 877 |
| Height: | 706.6m / 2318ft |
| County/UA: | Highland |
| Topographical area: | HW12 Chraileag-mhonaidh |
| SMC/RHB section: | 11B: Glen Affric to Glen Moriston |
| Catchment: | Beauly, Catchment Boundaries, Ness |
| Class: | Marilyn, Hump, Simm, Graham, Yeaman (Ma,Hu,Tu,Sim,G,Y) |
| Grid ref: | NH 23517 17784 |
| Summit feature: | cairn |
| Drop: | 270m |
| Col: | 437m NH220169  |
| OS map sheet(s): | (1:50k) 34 (1:25k) 415 |
| Observations: | note trig point at NH 236182 is only 2m lower |
| Survey: | obvious summit/Leica RX1250 |
| Change log: | show changes for this hill entry |
| GPS data: | show GPS entries for this hill |
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N.B. Some hill summits are on private property or on land where there is no public right of way. Permission should be sought from the landowner where access to a hill summit is through private land(*).
*For information about access rights in Scotland see the ScotWays website.
Please report via the contact page any logs you see below which describe or encourage acts of trespass. Please quote the hill number and hill name.
| Logged Descriptions (logged by 175 users, only the latest 50 shown - Show all) | By | Date of Ascent |
| Started at the Plodda Falls car park. The track to Cougie was lethal with black ice. The extra walking distance was welcome. Fork left onto estate track 242209. After approx 200 yds, you can see an ATV/pony trekking track which goes straight uphill across a small burn. Follow this, up through a deer fence, path becomes a stalker's track. Turn right onto ridge to find the trig at the western end NOT the initial cairn. | DampandDusty | 06/01/2024 |
| Standard route from Cougie. Beautiful birch woodland with variety of fungi in prime autumn colours. | sarahk | 22/10/2023 |
| Plenty room to park on north side of bridge just before Cougie. As others, up by Allt na Fearna to high point then SW. | duchally | 28/08/2023 |
| From Cougie. To avoid a telling off, do not park in front of the red barn, apparently the grassy area just over the bridge is preferred. Standard route up the fairly good path by the Allt na Fearna, then to near the col point 531. Up the easy ridge, then hurriedly skirted between the NE top and the eponymous loch in the interests of trying to beat incoming weather. On return took a more direct line down Coire Glas to rejoin the path. | Owen B | 25/08/2023 |
| From Cougie. Found the track up through the wood 450 metres west of the red roof shed. | Andrew Simmons | 25/07/2023 |
| see log for Carn a' Chaochain North Top | carole engel | 03/07/2023 |
| CK | SheilaS | 24/03/2023 |
| ELMA | donmeister | 13/10/2022 |
| From Cougie. Up track south through wood onto hillside and west up ridge to summit(s) | Jossker | 30/07/2022 |
| Route over Carn a'Chaochain from Glen Moriston. Parked W of Dundreggan opposite start of path. Took path, leading to vehicle track until just S of Beinn Bhan. Left track and contoured at just below 500m for several km in roughly westerly direction. Climbed to summit of Carn a' Chaochain, Carn a' Chaochain North Top. Continued to Carn a' Choire Leith. Descended SE to rejoin ascent route and return to start. Good views to Affric mountains, then rain at end of route. | RobertP | 08/05/2022 |
| Parked in the trekking centre car park, they are happy with that,. Do not park immediately before the trekking centre, Estate are very unhappy with that. Late start so settled on short walk. Straight up through the gap in the trees on a very clear path to Carn a Chaochain. Wind and snow became a problem then but crossed over to Carn a Choire Leith and straight vback down. | dickscroop | 18/04/2022 |
| 2 of 4: From the north top. With Karen. | ChrisR | 07/09/2021 |
| from Cougie near Plodda Falls, via Bealach Feith na Gamhna and trig point. | IanHHill | 21/09/2020 |
| Heather | garbo1103 | 23/08/2020 |
| Drove to Cougie, road no problem at all loads of signs to pony trekking so obviously now well used, actually better than the section to Plodda Falls. Parked by the sheds. Walked a few hundred metres along the track to just before a left bend where the track goes off. Cairn that was supposed to mark the track not obvious but we rebuilt on the return journey. Not obvious for the first few metres but then becomes a reasonable track up through the wood. Followed up to the col, a little intermittent in parts, then up the ridge to the prominent cairn, then followed the ridge around towards the lochan then past the trig point to the summit. Returned to the trig point which is a nicer little summit than the real summit and largely retraced steps taking a slightly different angle back down to the pass. Walking time 1hr 32 to summit + navigation and photo stops round trip 6 miles. | JulieB | 26/07/2020 |
| From Pony stables at Cougie. Follow landrover track to first burn on left which leads to track through trees. Snow was soft and extensive higher up. Great day out. | iangalbraith | 22/03/2020 |
| From Cougie, with Ellie dog. | BLACKHILL | 18/09/2019 |
| From Cougie, to which the track is not really bad. Just take it easy at the bridges; all other potholes can be dodged very easily. Parked by the sheds and up by the standard route. The start of the path is not easy to spot, look for muddy wheel marks. The path through the trees is lovely, and continues easily to the bealach. The hill itself is nothing to write home about. You can choose between climbing over the various tops or skirting around them in bog vegetables and hags. I tried both, it's about equal. Plagues of incredibly irritating black flies may have affected my judgement of the quality of the hill. | Gill | 08/06/2019 |
| G and A, Elizabeth, Janet and Stella | arthurwhittaker | 26/04/2019 |
| tick | chazzyboy19 | 13/04/2019 |
| Walk up from Cougie after a horrendous drive up the road, which is for some reason now marked as a yellow on the OS | Nozzer | 25/05/2018 |
| Bagging the trig. | BigJ | 25/05/2018 |
| Dirt road to Cougie ok in an astra much slower than locals drive it. Along track 220 double paces to track beside burn. Many deposits left my pony trekking. Through gate in deer fence over several false summits to summit south of trig point. Good views & sunbathed at summit! | rogreeves | 09/05/2017 |
| Followed pony trekking signs along unsurfaced roads to Cougie. It appears to be OK to drive as far as 238206 from where a rough pony track leads SE up through the deciduous forest past many big and tasty bilberries. Turned SW at the bealach up the ridge to the summit. | Topographer57 | 21/09/2016 |
| From Cougie. | hils | 29/07/2016 |
| As Peterb. THree summits all with big views. | Campbell Singer | 02/05/2016 |
| Parked at Cougie by the sheds and ascended the track to the bealach and on to the ridge. We visited the unnamed cairn and then the trig point before going on to the summit. | Peterb | 24/12/2015 |
| As per the log of Peterb. Snow really started to fall on the descent. Climbed the Marilyn Creag Dhubh straight after. | bowlesy | 24/12/2015 |
| with Jenx from nr Cougie Lodge | nordicstar | 14/10/2015 |
| From Cougie. A path starts at NH239206, follows a stream, through a gate and across bog to the bealach. And then it is a switchback ride along the ridge, including a trigpoint pillar 400+m from summit. Icy snow, occasional sunny periods giving great views of bigger hills to north and west. Perfect. | Martin R | 04/01/2015 |
| self | davidsbatty | 30/06/2014 |
| 1 of 2 today from end of road, good path then booggy ground to summit. | robertphillips | 27/04/2014 |
| From Plodda Falls CP. Then to Trig Pt. | ChrisR | 29/10/2013 |
| fine summit area (esp Trig Pt), wet route along W edge forest. R Affric car pk @ 201233, tk to 211228, up Creag Dhubh, forest rides to Carn a' Chaochain | RHW | 07/05/2012 |
| Parked at Cougie. 3 fox cubs on road. Over bridge trying to find Dempsters route. Gave up after getting caught by extensive felling. Eventually to a greener slope over birch felling debris and to deer fence. Over this; absolutely shattered. Turned right over open tussock to find a path by a stream to a bealach at 1750' Steady progress uphill to large cairn visible from car park at 11.45. Continued around to left to upper slopes and column 8180 at 12.05. Continuation to true top about 800m away involves a 100' fall and a similar climb to a lumpish cairn at 12.20. The Ben, Chralaig and Eige. | arranc | 13/06/2008 |
| JEB, MM | HFB | 30/12/2007 |
| Solo | fergie | 25/07/2004 |
| Ascended from the north by path from Cougie. | JohnW | 25/06/2001 |
| Round of Carn a'Chaochain and Creag Dhubh from drive down to Cougie Lodge. | Eddie | 23/08/1999 |
| Date is first visit. Notes from later...fine summit area (esp Trig Pt), wet route along W edge forest. R Affric car pk @ 201233, tk to 211228, up Creag Dhubh, forest rides to Carn a' Chaochain | RHW | 31/12/1998 |
| kiltedbiggles | 30/05/2024 | |
| Frogreen | 20/05/2024 | |
| Blair282 | 07/04/2024 | |
| weaselmaster | 23/09/2023 | |
| anguscow | 15/06/2023 | |
| LesH | 07/08/2022 | |
| SunnyAdventures | 03/01/2022 | |
| scott duncan | 10/12/2021 | |
| GmacT | 30/10/2021 | |
| weaselmaster | 29/10/2021 |