Maol Cheann-dearg is a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 Mountain situated between Upper Loch Torridon

Loch Torridon

Loch Torridon is a sea loch on the west coast of Scotland in the Northwest Highlands. The loch was created by glacial processes and is in total around 15 miles long. It has two sections: Upper Loch Torridon to landward, east of Rubha na h-Airde Ghlaise, at which point it joins Loch Sheildaig;...

 and Loch Carron, in the Coulags deer

Deer

Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...

 forest in Wester Ross

Wester Ross

is a western area of Ross and Cromarty in Scotland, notably containing the villages on the west coast such as:* Lochcarron* Applecross* Shieldaig* Torridon* Kinlochewe * * * Aultbea* Laide* Ullapool* Achiltibuie...

, Highland region

Highland (council area)

Highland is a council area in the Scottish Highlands and is the largest local government area in both Scotland and the United Kingdom as a whole. It shares borders with the council areas of Moray, Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross, and Argyll and Bute. Their councils, and those of Angus and...

. It is one of three Munro

Munro

A Munro is a mountain in Scotland with a height over . They are named after Sir Hugh Munro, 4th Baronet , who produced the first list of such hills, known as Munros Tables, in 1891. A Munro top is a summit over 3,000 ft which is not regarded as a separate mountain...

s in this area (the others being Sgorr Ruadh

Sgorr Ruadh

Sgorr Ruadh is a mountain situated in the mountainous area between Strath Carron and Glen Torridon in Wester Ross in the Highland Region of Scotland...

 and Beinn Liath Mhòr

Beinn Liath Mhòr

Beinn Liath Mhòr is a Scottish mountain situated in the mountainous area between Strath Carron and Glen Torridon in Wester Ross in the Highland region. Geologically Beinn Liath Mhòr is made up of Cambrian quartzite scree and Torridonian sandstones giving the mountain a distinctive colour contrast...

) and reaches a height of 933 metres (3060 feet), it is slightly isolated from the other two being separated by a low col of 420 metres and therefore tends to be ascended separately. The mountain is typical of the region in that geologically it is made up of a mixture of sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

 and quartzite

Quartzite

Quartzite is a hard metamorphic rock which was originally sandstone. Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts. Pure quartzite is usually white to gray, though quartzites often occur in various shades of pink...

, it has a steep flanks and is rock-strewn. The dome shaped summit is littered with red sandstone boulders and lacking in vegetation making its translated name of “Bald Red Head” especially appropriate. The mountain is not to be confused with Maol Chinn-dearg, another Munro on the south Glen Shiel ridge.

Ascent

Maol Cheann-dearg is one of the few Scottish hills which is encircled by good stalkers

Game stalker

Defined narrowly, a game stalker is a hunter who for sport, approaches close to its timid quarry before making a kill. The practice is commonly associated with the moors of Scotland where the principal quarry is red deer. However, the skill is found worldwide and is of extremely long standing...

 paths, being located on the Beinn Damh

Beinn Damh

Beinn Damh is a Scottish mountain situated in the wild mountainous area between Upper Loch Torridon and Glen Carron, 25 kilometres north northeast of Kyle of Lochalsh...

 deer estate, these paths can be utilised to do an attractive circuit of the mountain to examine the sandstone cliffs and the picturesque lochs of Loch an Eion, Loch Coire an Ruadh-staic and Loch Coire Fionnaraich which surround the mountain and are frequented by some interesting wild birds. For strong walkers the mountain can be ascended with the neighbouring Corbett of An Ruadh-stac

An Ruadh-stac

An Ruadh-stac is a Scottish mountain situated in the Wester Ross region of the Highland council area. It is located 26 km north east of Kyle of Lochalsh.-Overview:...

 (892 metres) which lies two kilometres to the south.

Although it is possible to start from Annat at the head of Upper Loch Torridon, Maol Cheann-dearg is usually ascended from Coulags on the A890 road in Glen Carron where it is possible to park in a disused gravel pit. The valley of the Fionn-amhainn is followed northerly passing the MBA

Mountain Bothies Association

The Mountain Bothies Association is a Scottish charity which looks after almost one hundred shelters in some of the remoter parts of the UK.Most of the MBA bothies are in Scotland, with others in the north of England and Wales...

 bothy

Bothy

A bothy is a basic shelter, usually left unlocked and available for anyone to use free of charge. It was also a term for basic accommodation, usually for gardeners or other workers on an estate. Bothies are to be found in remote, mountainous areas of Scotland, northern England, Ireland, and Wales....

 at Coire Fionnaraich, a fine shelter with a lone Ash tree

Ash tree

Fraxinus is a genus flowering plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae. It contains 45-65 species of usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous though a few subtropical species are evergreen. The tree's common English name, ash, goes back to the Old English æsc, while the generic name...

 outside the front door. 500 metres further on a curious upstanding stone is encountered, this is the Clach nan Con-fionn (The Stone of Fingal’s Dog) where the legendary Fionn mac Cumhaill

Fionn mac Cumhaill

Fionn mac Cumhaill , known in English as Finn McCool, was a mythical hunter-warrior of Irish mythology, occurring also in the mythologies of Scotland and the Isle of Man...

 reputedly tethered his hounds while hunting. Another 500 metres further on a path leaves the valley and goes west to the top of the Bealach a' Choire Ghairbh from where the south east ridge can be followed over broken quartzite and awkward boulders to reach the summit. The summit has a very large cairn

Cairn

Cairn is a term used mainly in the English-speaking world for a man-made pile of stones. It comes from the or . Cairns are found all over the world in uplands, on moorland, on mountaintops, near waterways and on sea cliffs, and also in barren desert and tundra areas...

 and has one of the best views from any Munro with the Torridon Hills

Torridon Hills

The Torridon Hills surround Torridon village in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. The name is usually applied to the mountains to the north of Glen Torridon...

 well seen to the west along with Beinn Bhàn

Beinn Bhàn (Applecross)

Beinn Bhàn is a mountain in the highlands of Scotland, lying on the Applecross peninsula, on the north side of Loch Kishorn.The most striking features of Beinn Bhàn are the rocky corries on the eastern side, which are seen well from the A896 road...

 and the Skye Cuillin

Cuillin

This article is about the Cuillin of Skye. See Rùm for the Cuillin of Rùm.The Cuillin are a range of rocky mountains located on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. The true Cuillin are also known as the Black Cuillin to distinguish them from the Red Hills across Glen Sligachan...

to the south west.