More Photos of Ben Lomond
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Ben Lomond is the most popular hill in the Highlands for quite a few reasons. It is the closest Munro (hill over 3000 feet high) to Glasgow. It stands by itself, much higher than nearby hills. When the weather is adequately clear, it can be seen from many places on the south side of Glasgow and in South Lanarkshire, so it is the best known hill. The views looking down upon the adjacent Loch Lomond are great, as are the views deeper into the Highlands. It is easy to park at the base of the hill. There are two well developed paths leading up to the summit, along which there are only a few spots where one needs to use the rocks for hand holds. And there is reliable mobile phone service along both paths, due to the major highway on the other side of the loch. For these reasons I have probably walked Ben Lomond more than any other hill. The following pictures were taken at various times during the few years prior to 2007.
The 24th of August, 2004, was the first day I took a camera up Ben Lomond. It was a grey day, with cloud down to 2500 feet at times. There were several rain showers during my walk. The walk started beside a Loch Lomond beach and went along the track seen on the right.
The path starts up the hill beside the burn.
Above the trees the view begins to open out.
Looking up the hill, the path is on the right and continues on to the left below the fence. Waterfalls can be seen, as well as heather in bloom on the slope near the waterfalls.
There is heather on this rock outcrop with very green bracken beneath it.
Higher up the path the view of the many small islands on the lower portion of Loch Lomond begin to come in view.
Looking upward the path is passing through bracken at this level. Further up the slope becomes grassy.
The path goes past this lush hillside of heather, with cloud on the hill ahead. The heather is just past its prime. Some of the blooms are beginning to turn to seed. The heather in bloom on the slope, the cloud down on the hill, the grass and the stony damp path make this photo quite symbolic of Scottish hillwalking.
This picture looks down the path. The heather covered slope is on the left.
Higher on the hill, after a rain shower, I got the camera out again for this view looking down the slope I had walked.
Looking upward there are sheep grazing near the path. Note that the path in the foreground is wet from the rain shower that had passed over.
The sheep moved off as I ascended the zig-zag path.
The view back down the slope.
Looking across the loch at Tarbet the clouds are on the higher Arrochar hills.
The upper slope of Ben Lomond is sometimes visible and sometimes in the cloud.
This recently shorn ewe is leading her nearly grown lamb away from the path I'm walking.
This picture was taken on the upper slope looking down the path. The cloud was obscuring the view of the loch and beyond.
I was walking alone so this photo was taken with the camera sitting on a rock in timer mode. My hiking gear has evolved since then.
Looking up the path at the cloud on the top of Ben Lomond.
The misty view of Loch Lomond through the lower portions of the clouds.
Another view looking back down the path at the clouds blowing by.
The top of the hill was totally in the cloud when I got there. I then started down the main south path. At one point the clouds blew away for a few minutes and I snapped this picture of the hill behind me.
We again walked up Ben Lomond on the 29th of March, 2006. The weather was very different.
The hills are so brown in the winter and early spring. The irregular surface of Loch Lomond is evidence of the strong wind that was blowing that day.
This is the view of the upper portion of Ben Lomond.
This was our lunch view, beside the small lochan. At this spot we were somewhat sheltered from the wind that was blowing the clouds by very rapidly.
This is the view only 15 minutes later.
Looking north-northwest, we are in sunlight for the moment and so is the upper portion of Ben Vorlich, but everywhere else is under clouds.
Ten minutes later the sky is deep blue above Ben Lomond. I like the color contrasts in this picture.
The path to the summit is up that ridge line along the right. We went about 30 feet up into the snow and turned back.
If it looks like I'm leaning forward, it is not to counter balance the weight of my backpack. It was light because I had almost all of my clothing on. I'm leaning forward to remain upright in the howling wind.
Another view of the beautiful color contrasts.
We came upon these two ptarmigans in winter plumage. When they heard us approaching, they at first hid behind the raised hump of grass I stood on to take this photo. Then the whiter of the two walked off toward the left. Then they both walked off toward the right. It was appropriate to see these birds here, since this part of the hill is called Ptarmigan Ridge.
This is a zoomed-in image of the first ptarmigan walking away.
A photo of the second ptarmigan strutting off. After taking these pictures, I backed away and walked off in a different direction, in case they had a nest where I had first seen them.
On the way back down the hill, we played on this snow slope. There are quite a few footprints of other people who had done the same.
While descending the sun shown through the clouds one more time.
Near the bottom I got this dusk view looking back up Loch Lomond at the hills beyond Arrochar.
Lest anyone conclude that Ben Lomond is always bleak looking, let me add a few photos taken in July 2006. The slope that was so brown several months earlier is lush green now.
Even the upper slope of Ben Lomond is far less intimidating when it's mostly green. In the summer a t-shirt and shorts is all that is needed.
That's the upper slope under a blue sky with lush grass beside the path.
A view toward the Arrochar hills.
Lower on the hill, the hills beyond Arrochar can be seen more clearly.
I'll finish with a few pictures of Ben Lomond from a distance. This view is from the highway along the west shore of Loch Lomond, snapped on the 3rd of April, 2006.
This view of Ben Lomond and Loch Lomond is taken along the slope of Ben Vorlich, on the 26th of July, 2005.
This photo was snapped part way up Ben Vane, on the 29th of April, 2006. The hills are still brown, though the weather was warm and sunny that day.
This photo, taken from the lower slope of Ben Narnain, shows a rain shower approaching from the southwest that in a few minutes blotted out the view of Ben Lomond.
This view of Ben Lomond in the distance, was snapped along the upper slope of Ben Ime, looking across the saddle between A' Chrois and Ben Narnain, on the 12th of September, 2005.
This is what Ben Lomond looks like from ten miles away on the south shore of Loch Lomond. One of the islands blocks the view of the other islands and the east side of the loch. Ptarmigan Ridge is fairly distinctive at this angle, to the left of Ben Lomond. With so many photos taken from that ridge looking at the islands at the foot of the loch, this photo is looking back the other way. The photo was snapped on the 31st of July, 2005.
We can see Ben Lomond from an upstairs window. We use it as a weather indicator. Some days we can't see anything over the roof and between the trees. Sometimes we can see the buildings of Glasgow and beyond to the line of the Campsie Hills. When we can see Ben Lomond, 35 miles away, its clarity tells us more about the weather. There was snow on Ben Lomond on the 28th of February, 2006.
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