Unlike many hills in the Southern Uplands, Craignaw has a complex and rocky summit area, with a long line of crags and rough ground on the east side.

On the west side of the hill, near grid reference NX458831, a few hundred meters from the summit is an F-111E Aardvark crash site.

The site is marked by a small memorial to the two U.S. Air Force pilots who were killed in the accident (Captains Spaulding and Hetzner).

Craignaw is quite a remote hill and climbing it is a long and rough walk from the road-ends at either Craigencallie or Bruces Stane.

However, in winter after a good freeze the broken ground on the east side of the hill has some of the best ice climbs in Southern Scotland with routes of up to 150 m in length.