Scotland
Loch Coruisk
A loch locked inside the Cuillin mountains, reachable only by sea, the water black and still.
A black loch locked inside the Cuillin, reached by boat from Elgol or a long, hard walk from Glen Sligachan — Loch Coruisk sits in an amphitheatre of gabbro so dark it seems to absorb the light, leaving the water bottomlessly black. Turner painted it. Scott wrote about it. Both called it the wildest loch in Scotland.
Loch Coruisk lies in the heart of Skye's Black Cuillin, a freshwater loch enclosed by mountains on every side. The surrounding gabbro — dark, coarse-grained, magnetic enough to spin compasses — soaks up light so effectively that the surface reads almost supernaturally dark. The boat from Elgol crosses Loch Scavaig in about twenty minutes, landing on rocks where common seals haul out at the narrow throat where fresh water meets salt; J.M.W. Turner came this way in 1831 and painted the amphitheatre's oppressive grandeur. The walking approach from Sligachan crosses the Bad Step — a notoriously exposed slab traverse above the sea that has turned back many — which is why most arrive by water and leave humbled either way.
Solo
The boat in and the loch circuit alone — enclosing mountains, black water and seals at the entrance make a solo experience of genuine wilderness awe.
Friends
Most groups arrive by sea and are humbled anyway — the loch circuit together, black water and bare gabbro, is an expedition that earns its reward.
Nothing here at all — eat what you carried beside a loch like the world's end.
Afternoon tea and local seafood back in Elgol after the crossing.
Gageodo
South Korea
Cliffs of two hundred metres guard South Korea's southwesternmost inhabited island.
Kodiak Island
United States
The world's largest brown bears fish salmon streams on America's second-largest island.
Mitchell Falls
Australia
In season, four tiers of water thunder through sandstone on remote Wunambal Gaambera Country.
Cruzinha da Garça
Cape Verde
Twelve kilometres of cliff-carved path end at a fishing hamlet on black sand.
Assynt
Scotland
Solitary mountains erupt from a moonscape of lochs and bog like cathedrals without congregations.
Hoy
Scotland
A 137-metre sandstone stack stands alone in the Atlantic, defying every storm thrown at it.
Kintail
Scotland
Five ridges fall in parallel from cloud into the sea loch like a giant hand opening.
Rum
Scotland
A volcanic island where a shuttered Edwardian castle guards its orchestrion and faded excess.