Cairngorms National Park, Scotland

Not only did it take a while before I set foot in the Cairngorms National Park during my ongoing hill country explorations in Scotland, but it also has taken me even longer to add any photos of the place on here. What you find here now is a sizeable selection spanning 2009, 2010, 2023 and 2024, and more trips may ensue should the inspiration arise. Thus far, not every photo has an associated commentary because of other life commitments, a shortcoming that I plan to address now that things are in place.

Established in 2003, this is the largest national park in the United Kingdom, covering approximately 4,528 square kilometres across several local authority areas in north-east Scotland including Highland, Aberdeenshire, Moray, Perth and Kinross and Angus. The park encompasses five of Scotland's six highest mountains and features diverse landscapes ranging from arctic-alpine plateaux and granite peaks to ancient Caledonian pinewoods, peatlands, rivers and lochs. It supports exceptional biodiversity, with roughly a quarter of the UK's rare and endangered species found within its boundaries, including capercaillie, Scottish wildcat, red squirrel, ptarmigan, dotterel and ospreys.