Parking
Start at Keiloch walkers’ car park near Invercauld Bridge, east of Braemar. It is an estate pay-and-display car park with a toilet; follow the Slugain signs rather than the Linn of Quoich branches.
Overview
About Ben Avon via Gleann an t-Slugain
Why go
- A varied approach through birchwood and Fairy Glen before the open plateau.
- A distinctive field of granite tors, with an optional short summit scramble.
Heads up
- A long, strenuous day with about 1,000 m of ascent.
- Cloud makes navigation across the broad summit plateau difficult.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Cairngorms map
Full mapElevation326–1,149 m
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
3 active Cairngorms alerts
- CautionStorm Boelo high windsStorm Boelo will bring extremely windy weather to the Cairngorms; take extra care and limit time outdoors. - The Park Authority expects the very windy weather to last until Monday 26 October.Official details
- ClosureGlenmore wildfire closures and dangerous treesWildfire damage has closed Allt Mor car park and the path to Sugarbowl/Utsi’s Bridge; keep out of the closed area.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Cairngorms Tour Guide
Your drive to Ben Avon via Gleann an t-Slugain, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Cairngorms National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Cairngorms audio tourRecorded for this trailhead
Keiloch and Ballochbuie Forest0:00 / 0:27
“Keiloch walkers' car park is coming up, a start for Ballochbuie Forest and Garbh Allt Falls.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Cairngorms Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- A Beak for Opening Cones
- Braemar Castle’s Pink Rooms
- Braemar, the Flying Stag and Kindrochit
- Recognizing Scots Pine
- 298 audio storiesacross Cairngorms’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Red Deer, Reindeer, Osprey, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 260 trails, 90 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Ben Avon via Gleann an t-Slugain
The walkThis is a 20.
This is a 20.75-mile out-and-back mountain walk from Keiloch through Gleann an t-Slugain and Fairy Glen to Ben Avon, returning along the same corridor. Allow about 8–10 hours for roughly 1,000 m of ascent. The payoff is a high, exposed plateau scattered with granite tors and the summit tor of Leabaidh an Dàimh Bhuidhe. It is a hard full-day outing, with a long approach before the final climb.
Before you set outThe plateau is very exposed, and cloud makes it difficult to navigate between its spread-out…
The plateau is very exposed, and cloud makes it difficult to navigate between its spread-out tors. Carry a map and compass and be confident using them; the route finding matters more than the short summit scramble. Leave enough daylight for the long return to Keiloch. The lower approach uses tracks and paths before the climb leaves the trees for fully exposed high ground.
Through Gleann an t-SlugainFrom Keiloch, follow the signed lane toward Linn of Quoich.
From Keiloch, follow the signed lane toward Linn of Quoich. At Alltdourie, follow the Slugain signs and stay on the straight track through the trees; branches for Linn of Quoich lead elsewhere. In the birchwood, the lower left branch follows the glen floor through Fairy Glen, past the roofless Slugain Lodge and a small lochan, then climbs to rejoin the higher route. The two lines give a quieter glen passage before the open upper valley.
Climbing to the SneckContinue up the main line above the burn, cross Glas Allt Mòr and climb the zigzags to Clach a’…
Continue up the main line above the burn, cross Glas Allt Mòr and climb the zigzags to Clach a’ Cleirich. A smaller path beside the stream reaches the Sneck, the high pass between Ben Avon and Beinn a’ Bhùird. This is the turning point: take the right-hand climb onto Ben Avon’s broad plateau.
Tors and the summitGranite tors dot the plateau, so the summit is not simply the first rocky top.
Granite tors dot the plateau, so the summit is not simply the first rocky top. Leabaidh an Dàimh Bhuidhe is marked by a large tor. Reaching its highest block involves a brief, optional hands-on scramble; a central dip is the easiest way up. The tors also make the best photo subject: frame one against the open plateau and distant Cairngorms when visibility is good.
Access and suppliesKeiloch walkers’ car park is the start and is pay-and-display; a toilet is available there.
Keiloch walkers’ car park is the start and is pay-and-display; a toilet is available there. No food outlet or drinking-water point is identified along the route, so carry provisions for the full day. Dogs can accompany walkers under Scottish access rights; keep them properly controlled around livestock and do not take them into fields with young animals.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Cairngorms
159 sightingsRed DeerMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
63 sightingsReindeerMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
102 sightingsOspreyMost seen around 5 PMSighting map
37 sightingsBlack GrouseMost seen around 4 AMSighting map
72 sightingsRed GrouseMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
82 sightingsPine MartenMost seen around 9 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Cairngorms. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
