We will walk through the atmospheric Steall gorge woodland from access point 4 on the map which is at the end of the Glen Nevis road. We will follow the old ‘high path’ to Steall meadows and return by the ‘gorge path’ This iconic woodland gorge path attracts over 60 000 visitors a year.

The steep, craggy banks of Nevis Gorge support a significant remanent of ancient native woodland, notified as native pinewood within the Ben Nevis SSSI and has been recorded as in unfavourable condition since 2021.This gorge woodland also lies within both Scotland’s Rainforest zone and the buffer zone of the Caledonian Pine Inventory site which lies to the south of the river. It is a diverse woodland comprised of birch and rowan with scattered willow, hazel, scots pine, alder, ash, oak, hawthorn and a little aspen.

In the past this woodland has extended beyond the present area, as shown on early maps. The old ‘high path’ is a shepherds path leading to 18th Century shepherds houses in Steall Meadows and there are 16th Century charcoal burning platforms outwith the present woodland edge. People have been connected with and travelled through this woodland for a long time. The remaining remnant woodland shows no significant signs of regeneration although there has been some expansion in woodland cover since the 1800’s evidenced by photographic record and a younger age structure around the western margin of forest. The Rainforest lichen and bryophyte assemblage which would be expected in this region is limited and may be due to the age structure.

Although most of the sheep were removed from Upper Glen Nevis in 2004, the herbivore impact of the deer population and feral sheep precludes regeneration. Further up Glen Nevis, scattered birch, willow and rowan cling to the sides of burns and in craggy areas. There are a small number of seedlings browsed to the level of the surrounding vegetation which could be released with further reductions in grazing pressure.