Hiking Scafell: The Highest Mountain in England

Early on a Saturday morning, a few days before the solstice I woke up at 4:30am and drove to the trailhead of Scafell Pike, the tallest mountain in England. ⁣I'm not much of a morning person but I also don't like crowds so my desire to climb the mountain outweighed my desire to stay in bed. And it helps that the light was already starting to creep across the sky when I started my drive to the base of the mountain. (Although I must admit I did take a 20 minute nap before setting off on my hike).

⁣I started up the mountain at 7am. My timing turned out to be perfect. I had no trouble finding a spot to park at the base of the mountain, and I managed to start heading up before the masses came and as the sunrise hikers were on their way down. It was me and a handful of others on the trail, just the way I like it. 

Unfortunately, Mother Nature wasn't quite as accommodating. The clouds, which were hugging the top of the mountain and threatening rain, didn’t seem to want to budge. I slowly but surely made my way up the mountain the mountain. It wasn't the steepest ascent but it wasn't the most gradual either. And for the first 1.5 miles, it felt like I was on a stairway to Heaven. By the time I reached the last half mile, I started putting on layers of clothing as I was about to go into the cloud cover, which still hadn't budged much to my dismay. The clothes became necessary as the temperature dropped about 15 degrees and it became very clear how important cairns (the purposely built piles of rocks on a trail edge) can be for keeping track of the trail. With the visibility so low, it was all I could do to make sure I was spotting each cairn and heading in the right direction. 

Maybe on a nicer day I would have stayed on the top longer, as it was, there was a constant stream of people starting to make it up the mountain and the cold weather had me heading back down after taking a few pictures.  

Another mountain top under my belt

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On my way down, I took the long route back to the car so I could continue to avoid the crowds. And I'm glad I did, the trail of people I could see making their way up from the path I started on, looked like ants coming back to the ant hill. A constant stream of people heading up for their photo op. As for me, I went down arcing across the valley and back around because as soon as I got down out of the clouds it was a gorgeous day for a hike. Although I noticed the clouds cleared from the top by the time I got back down to the car, I was still glad I went up as early as I did. And now, I can say I've successfully hiked the highest mountain in England. Maybe I'll make a goal to eventually get to the highest in Scotland and Wales too. 

👣 Total Distance: 9.4 miles circular route ⁣

⏱ Time: 6 hours⁣

🏔 Elevation: 3004 feet⁣

Just below the clouds, looking out at the valley around Scafell Pike