There are plenty of warnings around this path of the fatalities which have occurred to those who have left the path to get a better view of the waterfall and slid down the steep sides of the hill. Because of the spectacular scenery, the walk up to Loch Skeen is very popular indeed with the casual visiting tourist, but really, proper hill walking footwear is necessary for this path. This is very often not the case for those who go there on impulse and not equipped for the terrain. There is a visitor centre by the car park where it is possible to "watch live" wild birds nesting - as viewed from a remote camera on the hillside. From Loch Skeen there are a range of options open to the walker. Any combination of these routes is of course possible. The hills around Loch Skeen offer classic geological features of international interest. Loch Skeen has also been used successfully to try to preserve the endangered species of fish called the vendace which has a history in Britain going back to glacial times. There were vendace in the Lochmaben Lochs until as recently as 1963. As these lochs silted up and the vendace were threatened an unsuccessful attempt was made by Dr Peter Maitland of Stirling University to transfer some to Loch Trool in the Galloway hills before they became extinct. It is the heavily glaciated shapely landscape in these hills which offers such visual interest to the walker. The surface of Loch Skeen is 510 metres above sea level and as such is probably the highest loch of any great size in the South of Scotland. The classic route here is to park at Annanhead above the Devil's Beef Tub (room for several vehicles there) and walk up over Annanhead Hill, Great Hill and Chalk Rig Edge to Whitehope Heights, a route which goes round the top of the Beef Tub. From Whitehope Heights most walkers would choose to go on to the top of Hartfell. Mostly the return route would be to just return by the route taken outwards, but it is possible to go down over Arthur's Seat to the River Annan at Ericstane, climb out of the other side of the valley and onto the A701 and hence back to Annanhead. The area in the valley around Ericstane is rich in ancient remains (settlements and burnt mounds) and before you get back to where the car is parked you will pass a monument above the Beef Tub to John Hunter of Tweedsmuir, a covenanter who was shot in 1685 while trying to escape from dragoons by climbing the side of the Beef Tub.