Munro Name	Pronunciation	Translation	Height (m)
Schiehallion	She-hal-yun	Fairy Hill of Caledonia	1083

Route Map And Elevation Profile

Hike Report

Schiehallion is one of the most famous hills in Scotland and if you’re looking for a good candidate for a first munro to bag, this is a fantastic option. It’s relatively straightforward, has a well marked path and is relatively free of bog.

The hike itself takes roughly 4.5-6 hours to complete and is about a 10km round trip from the car to the summit. We’d taken a novice hiker with us on this trip to help him bag his first Munro and he was able to complete it with us in 5 hours and 13 minutes all in. Granted, he may have been a little sore the next day but he was still able to complete it without too much trouble.

History

If you are climbing this hill, it’s worthwhile knowing the historical significance of the hill.

In 1774, an astronomer of the name Charles Mason, used Schiehallion as part of an experiment to attempt to calculate the mass of the earth. It was chosen as the perfect candidate for this experiement due to it’s isolated nature and the fact that it’s almost symmetrical shape.

I highly recommend checking out more on the experiment here - Schiehallion Experiment.

Starting Point

The carpark for Schiehallion is located at the Braes of Foss car park. It is a relatively small car park which fills up quickly given this is one of Scotland’s most popular mountains for Munro baggers. There is a charge for this carpark which was £3 for the day when we visited and there is an overflow carpark a little further down the road if the main carpark is full.

If you prefer, you can attempt to go up the hill later on in the day when early morning hikers are coming back down and the car park is less busy. We took this approach and arrived at 2pm just as a fair number of hikers were arriving back at the car parks and we had no trouble finding a space.

I’d only recommend this during the summer months when the days are long and you have plenty of daylight to complete the hike.

The Hike

This is about as straightforward a hike as you can get in Scotland. The paths are incredibly well maintained and easy to follow for the vast majority of the hike. The only real challenge you may face is losing the path in places towards the summit where it starts to become more of a boulder field.

At this point, you just need to take care that you don’t roll your ankles and fall on some of the loose underfooting as you make your way towards the summit.

The views from the top are excellent, with panoramic views of the surrounding area and the nearby Loch Rannoch. It’s a great spot to sit and have a bite to eat and take in the views before heading back down the hill. Granted, on days where the weather is less than ideal, you may find the summit fairly exposed so bring some warm clothes and a good windproof jacket.

We sat for a few minutes and grabbed some photos before heading back down the way we came. If you’re feeling tired, be sure to take extra care on the descent as it’s easy to slip on the loose rocks and gravel on the way down.