Scotland · Cairngorms National Park

Cairn Lochan

Munro TopSimmMurdo

2 classifications here — Simm and Murdo — belong to lists OpenFell holds only part of, so they have no list page. See how far the coverage goes.

Height
1214 m · 3,983 ft
Grid reference
NH 98511 02549
Coordinates
57.10274, -3.67698
County / area
Highland/Moray
OS Landranger
36
OS Explorer
OL57S 403S
Summit feature
cairn
Key col
NH982010 (1123 m)

Access rights here

Yes Right to roam: Statutory right of responsible access to most land and inland water.

Yes Wild camping: Wild camping is broadly lawful under the 2003 Act.

General position for Scotland — local byelaws, seasonal restrictions and closures can override it. Full details: access rights in Scotland ·check another location.

Daylight at this summit today

Sunrise
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Sunset
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Daylight
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Civil twilight ends
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Computed astronomically for 57.103, -3.677. Plan your finish with the daylight safety planner.

Summit weather live

Loading forecast for the summit (1214 m)…

Forecast adjusted to summit altitude. Weather data from MET Norway (CC BY 4.0).

Finding the summit

Surveyor's note

indistinguishable in height, by Abney, from cairn 90m NE at NH 98579 02606.

The recorded summit point is cairn. That distinction matters on broad or flat tops, where the obvious cairn is not always the true high point.

Survey method
Abney level/Leica RX1250
Record revised
23-Nov-22
Drop measured from
NH982010 · 1123 m

Survey notes are field observations recorded in the Database of British & Irish Hills (v18.3, CC BY 4.0) by the hill-surveying community.

Get food nearby

3 places to eat or drink within 10 km of the summit, rated under the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (Scotland runs its own Food Hygiene Information Scheme, a pass/fail equivalent).

Rated places to eat within 10 km of Cairn Lochan
PlaceTypeRatingDistance
The Pine Marten Bar & KitchenRestaurant/Cafe/CanteenPass6.9 km · N
Loch Morlich WatersportsRestaurant/Cafe/CanteenPass7.3 km · N
Glenmore Visitor CentreRestaurant/Cafe/CanteenImprovement required9.2 km · N

Classifications and ratings are the local authority's own and can be coarse — this is a lead, not a guarantee of opening hours or that food is served to non-residents. Follow a name through to the official rating page to check, and confirm before you rely on it.

Food hygiene data from the Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland (Open Government Licence v3.0). Distances and directions computed by OpenFell from the summit.

Which hill this one belongs to

Cairn Lochan is not counted as an independent hill in its own right. In prominence terms it belongs to Ben Macdui (1,309 m) — the nearest Marilyn you can reach from this summit without first dropping below its key col, 1,123 m.

Grouping is by prominence alone: a summit belongs to the nearest higher Marilyn it connects to without a deeper intervening col. Over a large massif that can gather hills no one would walk in a single day, and which few would describe as parts of the same mountain — it is a measure of independence, not a suggested route.

Nearest listed peaks

PeakHeightDistance
Stob Coire an t-Sneachda1176 m1.2 km
Creag an Leth-choin1052.6 m1.8 km
Carn Etchachan1120 m2.4 km
Cairn Gorm1244.8 m2.5 km
Sron na Lairige1184 m2.8 km
Stacan Dubha1014 m2.9 km