Wet Feet & Dry Scotch Whiskey

  “You’re off to great places, today is your day. Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way.”                                             —Dr. Seuss Stats-Today is our last day of hiking for this trip. The hike seemed easy and short on paper; only 6 miles of walking and just 1600’ of climbing and 1900’ down, plus the weather forecast looks great. Piece of cake…right….what could go wrong?….. Today is our last day of hiking so we start out with a leisurely breakfast with Gillian, a delightful young woman from Montreal who we meet back on the West Highland Way hike on the Scottish mainland. While she is not doing the same hikes as us, but is doing various peak climbing and other adventures, our paths have crossed numerous times and it has been a pleasure to talk with her and share some past adventure stories, a few jokes, as well as a couple of meals. Our taxi arrives exact...

 “There are no shortcuts to any place worth going”                              —Beverly Sills Stats- We hiked from the Storr Dam back southward along the high cliffs overlooking the sea. After 8.2 miles we had walked back to Portree. It was 1196’ of climbing and 1604’ of descent. It rained most of the time and the strong winds were in our faces. Last evening there was some discussion of not hiking today. The forecast was for a lot of rain…starting off easy at dawn and building up in intensity as the day progressed. We finally agreed to go with the window shade method. Open your window shade in the morning. If it looks good, we go. And it looks very good. At breakfast there is no rain, some blue skies and the wind has subsided. At 9am we are on our taxi headed to Storr Dam, close to where we started yesterday, but today we hike south rather than north. Our plan is to hug the costal ridge most of the way back...

 “The best view comes after the hardest climb”                           —Unknown Stats—We hiked a tough 14.75 miles with winds up to 100 kilometers per hour (62 mph). 4282’ up and 4030’ down. In many places there was no trail. Did I say it was a tough day…? From Storr to Quiraing Car Park                  For perspective, there is a sole hiker in the lower center of the photo (small dark vertical) We knew it would be hard. I just didn’t know it would be this hard. At 9:20 we are dropped off at the trailhead. We are already wearing mid weight merino long sleeve shirts over our merino short sleeve shirts. The wind is blowing hard in the parking lot, shortly we will don our rain jackets as windbreakers. They will remain on all day. The first climb is a continuous 1200 vertical feet.                     The Old Man of Storr. Th...

“For hiking is one of those things that you can only do when you have the determination in you.”                                    —Unknown    Stats-we slogged 12.25 miles today while climbing 654’ and descending 655’. Bogs and rain were the themes today! Our day starts with a leisurely breakfast and we on the taxi shuttle at 9:30. A 20 minute ride back to the Sligachan Hotel car park where we were picked up at the end of yesterday’s hike. We walk west and immediately the winds pick up so we stop to put our rain jackets on to break the wind. The hike is along a sea loch (essentially a sound from the sea). The path is faint and completely nonexistent in place. We are into the bog and the ground is like a soft wet sponge with spots of serious mud.  Within 10 minutes my feet are wet and will remain that way all day. The path is up and down through the bog and through the brush. It rain...