Parking
Start at Gorstean Car Park; the other end is Laggan Wolftrax Centre car park. The usual walk is out and back. I could not verify parking fees or capacity.
Overview
About Gorstean Trail
Why go
- Wide, mostly even gravel between two car parks
- Mature woodland with a few open views
Heads up
- Shared with mountain bikers
- The published 4-mile return conflicts with the mapped corridor
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Cairngorms map
Full mapElevation251–274 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 Gorstean Trail, 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 area
Laggan and Corrieyairack Pass0:00 / 0:26
“You're coming up on Laggan, the eastern starting point for walking Corrieyairack Pass. General Wade's troops built this military road in seventeen thirty-one, with stone bridges and zigzags across the Monadhliath.”
Plays on the road 1 km from the trailhead in the Parkwolf Cairngorms Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Gold Speckles on the Moor
- Laggan Wolftrax and Dun da Lamh
- A Snow Bunting’s Changing Colours
- A Caddisfly’s Portable Home
- 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 Gorstean Trail
The walkGorstean Trail is an out-and-back gravel walk between Gorstean Car Park and Laggan Wolftrax…
Gorstean Trail is an out-and-back gravel walk between Gorstean Car Park and Laggan Wolftrax Centre. The published distance is 4 miles return, but the mapped path between those car parks measures about 1.32 miles each way. Those figures do not reconcile: plan for about 2.6 miles on the mapped corridor, and check an up-to-date local map if the longer figure matters to you. From Gorstean, the trail heads west through mature woodland, then opens up for views of the surrounding hills.
UnderfootThe path is wide, mostly even and firm gravel, with gentle and moderate slopes.
The path is wide, mostly even and firm gravel, with gentle and moderate slopes. Allow about an hour and a half for the return walk. This is a modest forest outing rather than a summit hike, and you can turn around at either end.
Shared with ridersThis corridor is also one of the easy mountain-bike routes around Laggan Wolftrax.
This corridor is also one of the easy mountain-bike routes around Laggan Wolftrax. Expect to meet riders; pay attention on bends and keep dogs under close control. The separate, steeper Gorstean Crag walk starts near the same car park but is a different route, with a climb to a viewpoint.
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.
