Loch Enoch has a surface area of approximately 50 hectares and a maximum depth of approximately 120 feet. It is situated 1,617 feet above sea level but it is not, as is often claimed, the highest loch in Scotland; nor is it even the highest loch in the Southern Uplands. The outlet from Loch Enoch drains via the Elgin Lane, Loch Doon and the River Doon into the Firth of Clyde, just south of Ayr. The shoreline of the loch is highly indented and some of its numerous bays have small beaches of coarse white sand. The sand is composed mainly of quartz grains that have been leached out from the underlying granite. This sand was once highly prized for sharpening knives and farm implements such as scythes.