Sitting beneath the shadow of the rugged Black Cuillins and nestled between an inland lake and a turqoise bay populated by seals, otters, whales, and jellyfish, this wild camping spot is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful spots on the Isle Of Skye and quite possibly all of Britain. Just getting here is a triumph in itself, but if you’re looking for even more glory, considering getting there via the route the locals call the Bad Step–the most terrifying 25 feet of trail we’ve ever done.
At a Glance
Trail Type: loop (can also be out-and-back)
Duration: 2 days
Mileage: 15 miles
Elevation: 2800 feet
Start/End: Camasunary Car Park, Kilmarie, Isle of Skye, Scotland
Not many places can boast the beauty and feeling of remoteness that Loch Coruisk offers. Uniquely situated at the foot of the rugged and beautiful Black Cuillins, Loch Coruisk is a freshwater inland loch (lake), about 2 miles long and 400 meters wide, from which the shortest river in Scotland flows a brief 400 feet into the nearby saltwater “sea loch”, or bay, Loch Scavaig. It’s not often that you find a large freshwater lake this close to saltwater, let alone one nestled under the shadow of the UK’s most intense mountain range. The Black Cuillins are the remnants of a 60 million year old volcano which extruded huge amounts of basalt and gabbro, giving the range a dark color and associated “black” title, in addition to its rough, jagged texture, which fortunately makes it very suitably grippy for hiking and climbing. So what do you when presented with a place often referred to as “the wildest scene in the UK”? You go there. And not only that, you go the hard way.
The 4 Ways to Loch Coruisk
There are 4 ways to get there, ranging from easy, to somewhat challenging, to potentially life-threatening.
1. The first is a boat from the nearby town of Elgol. If your main focus is seeing marine wildlife, this might be your best bet. More info here: https://mistyisleboattrips.co.uk/
2. The second is to walk in from Sligachan, a popular and centrally located starting point for many hikes in the area. It’s a 7 mile trip each way and is fairly straightforward.
3. The third is to walk in from Camasunary Car Park, a less popular and more remote trailhead. This route is about 9 miles each way, passing Loch na Creitheach, is also slightly more strenuous than coming in from Sligachan.
4. The fourth way to get there also starts from Camasunary Car Park but involves skirting around the base of Skurr na Stri, via a notorious traverse known as the Bad Step. This is actually the shortest route at 5.5 miles, but it is by far the most technical, involving traversing an exposed 25 foot long thin crack in a rock wall with a 20 foot drop into the rocky water of Loch Scavaig below. Successfully completing this section in a mounting rain storm was one of the highlights of my trip in Scotland. The rest of this post will detail our experience taking this harrowing yet rewarding route.
Trip Report: Loch Coruisk via the Bad Step
This trip was taken 5/23/23-5/24/23. Something something May weather.
Day 1: 5.5 miles and 800 feet elevation
From the carpark it’s a straightforward ~2 miles up and over a small saddle which provides nice views of Sgurr na Stri looking over the bleak but beautiful Camasunary Bay, which would be a cool place to stay in its own right. There is an old house down there and both a functional and non-functional shelter in case you needed some place to stay.
After crossing the beach of Camasunary Bay, you have to cross the Amhainn Camas Fhionnairidh, a decent-sized river which luckily was not flowing very heavily, which will take you onto the jutting peninsula aka the base of Sgurr na Stri. At this point you begin navigating what is probably one of the least used parts of the Isle of Skye, at least by non-locals. The trail is wet and hard to follow at times, and the wind coming off the sea can be a factor. By the time we reached the tip of the peninsula, some anxiety started to set in and we lapsed into silent focus. The last mile before the Bad Step is somewhat difficult to navigate itself and involves crossing several sheer rock faces, which are slippery when wet and require hand use at times. And unfortunately for us, a foggy/mist had been rolling in during this last mile and was threatening to transform into full blown rain.
We finally got the Step and I took off my pack and went up to check it out. It’s basically a ~3-5 inch crack in a large, sloping (maybe 20 degrees?) rock, which extends up about 10-15 feet and then descends down another angled 10 feet, before finishing with a 2-3 feet drop onto a small patch of solid ground. You can definitely jam 2 feet into that crack and the rock wall is sloping upwards enough to reliable to lean on, but there aren’t many solid hand holds. I did most of it without my pack and honestly thought it was pretty doable…but that might be a different story with a full pack…but the real issue for us was that a misty rain was starting. The rock was already getting slick and the wind was picking up. We sat around for another 10 minutes, nervously contemplating whether we should wait for the wind/water to leave, but it eventually became clear that this was a break point: we either went now or got stuck in front of the Bad Step for who knows who long, as navigating the way we had come in a full rain storm also sounded harrowing. So we hopped up onto the Bad Step and just…did it. The wind was gusting and the rock was already pretty wet, and one of my feet slipped but luckily landed on another grip an inch lower, which was kind of scary. But before we knew it, it was done. The worst part was the fear. I’d say that if you are physically fit and experienced navigating some technical terrain (especially with pack weight), then you should be able to pull it off. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the presence of mind to take pictures or videos of our actual navigation of the Bad Step due to being busy making sure we didn’t die.
The only emotion to describe the feeling once we had safety made it across is elation. I still get giddy thinking about it while editing this post about 10 months later. After the tense and foreboding initial hike in and the near-boiling stress of the time we spent deliberating whether to go for it, it was an incredible relief to have safely made it across the Bed Step. And we made the right decision, as the storm continued to pick up and within minutes there was full fledged rain. Let’s GO! The rest of the hike to the beach was tricky too, due to the wet and incredibly slippery rocks, but it was still beautiful.
After reaching the beach, you have to climb up a bit and cross the River Scavaig to reach the little jutting piece of land where we intended to camp. It was actually a longer and more difficult walk than it seemed from the top of Sgurr na Stri (and even while looking at it while approaching the Bad Step). But we finally got there, wet and happy, and saw 2 tents already set up and some kayaks resting nearby. To our surprise, we also saw a nice looking white and blue building, which we have since learned is the Coruisk Memorial Hut. The hut is privately owned and used by some local Mountaineering Club dedicated to some dudes who died up in the Cuillins in the 80s. We noticed a light on in the hut, though, and decided to knock on the door. 2 older guys let us in to check it out and told us that they had come down from nearby Bla Bheinn and were working into the Cuillins proper the next day. They had rope and full climbing equipment–no joke. Compared to something like that, the Bad Step is probably a joke. Huge respect to those guys. We also said hi to our tent-bound neighbors and were again met with 2 middle-aged men who told us that they had kayaked in from Elgol. This was nice. The only other people here seemed to be rugged, borderline insane Scottish men. I felt like we were in good company. So we picked a likely spot, set up our tent, and crawled inside to change our wet clothes and have something to eat while we waited for the rain to calm down.
The rain eventually did calm down and the sun even made an appearance, so we went out to explore the area. Truly stunning. We would have gladly spent multiple days here hanging out and exploring. The bay nearby was full of large translucent purple jellyfish, there was a large sail boat casually anchored off a little ways out, and the kayaking guys told us of the many otters in the bay. We checked out the Loch, which seemed to stretch on forever, and then went down back by the bay, binoculars in tow, to check if the possible seal pixels we had seen while on Sgurr na Stri were actually seals. They were, which was very exciting. We sat down and soaked it all in: several large seals largely flopping around, the sun and mist doing battle within the basalt rampants of the Black Cuillins above us, the turquoise water all around, the sail boat anchored near our campsite, and the many visible waterfalls flowing down from the Cuillins. No words. Except the ~175 words above.
Day 2: 9.5 miles and 1800 feet of elevation
Immediately after we finished the Bad Step, we both agreed we would NOT be taking that route back and instead would take the Long Way we had been previously considering. In retrospect, we probably could have just taken the Bad Step back…but we couldn’t resist that warm feeling of knowing that the only challenges ahead of us were related to exhaustion and distance and not falling 20 feet into a rocky wet grave.
Our initial climb out of Loch Coruisk was painful. This section is 1.75 miles and about 1100 feet of elevation and we were going sloooow. There were about 6 different parallel foot paths all the way up from Coruisk, each one wetter than the next. Once got up to the saddle things sped up and after another 1.75 miles wet met back up with the Sligachan Path, where things flattened out significantly. The sun and clouds were pulling interesting tricks in the valleys as we walked along and this section was calm, pleasant, and resplendent.
The next section of trail up to Loch Na Creitheach is about 2.25 miles and is flat and easy, albeit wet. From here, the trail proper goes another 2 miles towards Camasunary Bay and then back up to the saddle. But as we passed by Loch na Creitheach, in the shadow of Bla Bheinn, the trail got wetter and wetter and we attempted to shave off a mile by following an unofficial AllTrails track up to the saddle and ended up trudging uphill through completely saturated bogs and streams for about an hour. Don’t do what we did. The longer but drier route was probably also the faster route. From the saddle, it’s an easy 1.5 miles back down to the car park. As payment for our sufferings, the sun came out as we re-joined the main trail beneath the saddle, producing a stunning rainbow within the valley of Loch Creitheach. Plus we met a dog.
Overall, this was the coolest and most rewarding place we went to during our entire trip to Ireland and Scotland, made even more rewarding by the absolute thrill of surviving the Bad Step. From what I’ve seen, perspectives on the Bad Step vary, with some finding it to be overly difficult, or at least terrifying, and others thinking calling it the “Not So Bad Step.” As with many things, I found the reality to be somewhere in between. My takeaway is this: Technically, no it’s not impossibly difficult and anyone who is experienced and fit should be able take this on. Especially without pack and in dry weather. Please consider the fact that I am saying this as a fairly (but not extremely) experienced and physically active 30 year old male. But also consider that my girlfriend, who is also fit but a bit less experienced than me, did it too. But she’s also incredible at everything she does, so take that with a grain of salt. Anyway, as far as I’m concerned, if you can get to the Bad Step, you can do the Bad Step. So get over there and do it.
