Parking
Use Invermark car park in Glen Esk, by Old Glenesk Church and Invermark Castle. Cross the bridge and pass the church to reach the signed Queen’s Well track; the car park’s capacity is not published.
Overview
About Queen’s Well Trail, Glen Esk
Why go
- A distinctive crown-shaped spring monument and Victorian story
- Gentle climbing for a five-mile glen walk
Heads up
- The return retraces the same track
- Open, potentially boggy ground in poor weather
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Cairngorms map
Full mapElevation259–304 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 Queen’s Well Trail, Glen Esk, 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
Loch Lee and Invermark Castle0:00 / 0:31
“You're approaching Invermark, the road end for Loch Lee and its mountain views. The water is about fifteen to twenty minutes away on foot, so this works well as a lochside wander without a full hill day.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Cairngorms Tour Guide.
- 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 Queen’s Well Trail, Glen Esk
A quiet outing into Glen MarkQueen’s Well is a 5-mile out-and-back from Invermark car park to a spring monument in upper…
Queen’s Well is a 5-mile out-and-back from Invermark car park to a spring monument in upper Glen Mark. The stony track climbs about 80 m and takes roughly 2 to 2½ hours. It’s a good low-climbing choice for a walk into the glen with a memorable destination. This is the Queen’s Well walk, not the separate, much longer Mount Keen outing. Plan to return by the same main track.
Follow the track into the glenCross the bridge from the car park and pass Old Glenesk Church, following the Mount Keen and…
Cross the bridge from the car park and pass Old Glenesk Church, following the Mount Keen and Queen’s Well sign. After the house, go through the gate onto the track. Invermark Castle’s sandstone tower appears through the trees early on; then the way opens onto the heather and stony track of Glen Mark. The climb is gradual, but this is open moorland and the ground can be boggy. Near the end, take the narrower branch to the right for the well.
The spring and the crownQueen’s Well is a spring set beneath an unusual granite monument shaped like a crown.
Queen’s Well is a spring set beneath an unusual granite monument shaped like a crown. The local story dates Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s visit to 20 September 1861: they rode from Balmoral into Glen Mark, drank from the spring, then continued to Invermark Lodge. Lord Dalhousie later had the monument built over it. Red deer are looked for in the glen, particularly during the October rut.
Make the return simpleThe well is the turnaround; retracing the main track makes the route easy to follow and keeps…
The well is the turnaround; retracing the main track makes the route easy to follow and keeps the outing at about five miles. A different estate-side return is described elsewhere, but it passes a no-access sign near buildings and isn’t part of this mapped route. Dogs are welcome on the walk under Scotland’s outdoor access rules. No on-route facilities were identified, so bring the supplies you need and do not count on a stop at the well.
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.
