I’ve had some early morning rises on behalf of photography outings in the past - but I think this one took the all-time-prize with a 1.30am alarm. The objective was a 2.25hr hike to Loch Coire Mhic Fhearchair for sunrise.
The journey over to the car park was fairly uneventful, although plenty of deer en-route and at times in the road, which made me extremely cautious after a colliding experience last year with a big red deer buck.
The car park was already almost full which was extremely surprising! But I managed to get a spot to part and heading off in the dark up the now familiar path to the loch provided some great views of the rising moon during blue hour as dawn commenced. This area of the Highlands (like many) is just stunning and never grows old however many times the same spot is visited.
I didn’t have much optimism of great reflections at the loch after encountering surprising wind levels down at the car park. And on arriving at the loch we were confronted with a fairly drab view across the loch with a number of tents of overnight campers scattered around the perimeter.
But it was still very early and as the sun started to rise the conditions around started to change, with the tops of the buttresses and surrounding mountains being clipped with the sunlight.
As the sun rose higher, the breeze died down and the loch just turned into a millpond. Absolutely stunning. Such a transformation from when we arrived. The conditions were just perfect. After multiple visits to this spot, finally the photos that I had hoped for in the past were possible.
A stunning location - with stunning views and such a beautiful start to the day (back home was under total cloud cover!).
