Hello,
I've got a group of friends going to White Laggen Bothy in Galloway Forest Park next weekend. My mate and I were thinking about going out a day early and having a bit of a camp out before heading over to the bothy. He said he quite fancied going up to Merrick, which I think is a good shout, but I'm just trying to work out the logistics of the whole ordeal. The earliest we can leave is the 15:25 bus to Newton Stuart, with another bus putting us in Glentrool around 17:46. I reckon it would be pretty optimistic to try and get up Merrick and back down that night. We would camp out with hammocks and tarps.
Newbies can't post links on this forum, but the map I'm looking at is the first link if you search "Galloway Forest Map". I also looked at some other circuits folk have done. What I can't really tell is how best would we get from Merrick to White Laggen, which is south of Loch Dee. I can't tell if there is any kind of trail or path that you can follow from point A to B there. Also, as we are using hammocks to camp, we'll need to find a spot with some trees.
I've no ambition of getting on top of Merrick on Friday and making it to the Bothy same day, I think it's too far. Would it make more sense to head up towards Merrick and find a spot, then do that hike in the morning, settling in round the Bothy sometime Saturday? From what I hear Merrick is quite boggy, as is the trail to the bothy from the fire road. At any rate, we'll head back to Glentrool and catch the busses back to Dumfries on Sunday. Any experienced traveller in this region, I'd love to get some advice. Just looking to have a good time and not find myself gone pear shaped halfway through the trip. Been there before, I'd rather plan properly.