Adventures through the Cederberg

[Smiley73]

Hiking Day 1:

 

Resting in the shade:

 

 

Resting after putting our bags down after the big crack:

 

I'm at the bottom left, looking off into the distance...

 

Going down the big cracks:

 

 

 

Me going through the birth canal and coming out dazed and confuzzled:

 

 

More crack journeying:

 

 

 

At the top of Wolfberg:

 

 

Big ol' Arch:

 

 

(Notice Mr. Theron on the right)

 

At the top of said Arch:

 

 

Chilling at Gabriel's Pool:

 

 

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

you take good pictures. these are yours, ya?

[Smiley73]

no these are from the blond gentleman on the last picture of crack journey, name: Dirk Kotze

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

dirk? you don't meet many dirks nowadays.

[Smiley73]

Not even in South Africa

[Smiley73]

then the name must have some sort of different origin

[Smiley73]

hmm Dirk is of Danish origin, similar to Derek, we also had a Derek in the group

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

it's a kind of knife

[Smiley73]

that too

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

English sounds like maybe thru German but just guessing. there's a dirk in the Mercedes lackey arrow for the queen series I think it's called. and dirk diggler of corse

[paetric]

It looks like you had a great hike. *jealous*

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

very

[Smiley73]

to be completely honest I'd probably be pretty angry if it wasn't

[Smiley73]

Apparently the entirety of last night a Belcher (boy in my group who was sleeping nearby) was sliding off the rock he was sleeping on and Derek got stomach cramps, no not the kind that makes you need to go, but more like a muscle cramp, so think of it as abdominal crmps, apparently the most painful thing he’s ever experienced, I think I’ll just keep on getting enough salt in my body.

 

Me and Guy had a quick breakfast before we left, the basic plan for the day was:

 

· Wake up and pack-up – 5:30

 

· Leave camp – 6:00

 

· Breakfast – 7:00 (depending on how far it is to a good site)

 

· Continue hiking and peak Tafelberg before lunch

 

· Get to our campsite at around 4-5

 

So we started off today bundu-bashing (going through a place that has no path, so you have to walk in plants, that can sometimes be scratchy) through a couple kilometres worth of fynbos, I got a couple scratches but nothing bad seeing as I usually cover up most of my skin while I’m hiking. On the way there, Ozzie (Andrew, who is an exchange student from Australia) was whining about how hungry he was and kept on asking Mr. Court when we were stopping for breakfast. While we were walking Guy spotted some bones, and we got them all collected up for the Leopard trust. Les Straud-man Josh (aka insane fisherman) says that apparently it was a female klipspringer, because its bone were too long for it to be a rabbit or hare, and it did not have spaces in its skull for horns. When we had got the bones and GPS position, we kept on going to our breakfast spot, where Josh, made eggs, no joke there, he got a container thing and brought eggs for both of his hikes. After breakfast we walked along a plateau that was connected to Tafelberg, and then we had a scramble (more like crawling at an angle than walking) up the most of the remaining height. We stopped for a little break, got some water from an ice-cold mountain spring and continued upwards to a place called Spout Cave.

 

Now if you look at a picture of Tafelberg you will see the flat top area that gives it the name (Table Mountain) then next to it there is a rock formation called the Spout, because it looks pretty much like a spout (if Tafelberg were the kettle). In between the Spout and Tafelberg is Spout cave, which is a pretty nice place seeing as years of visiting hikers and climbers have toiled to put up windbreaks and such. The cave goes pretty far into the rock but is not very high, especially when you get past the mouth, so most of the time you would be stooping over instead of standing up. Unfortunately when we got there, the cave had already been taken by another group of climbers, but they were out at that point, we actually never met them. We dropped our bags off here and then moved off to where we would peak the mountain. When the peaking really started we got to a what might once have been a hill or cliff but there were just massive pieces of rock all piled on top of each other that went on for a bit, when we hit proper rock we had to go up a rock formation that was the only was up a small cliff (by small I mean more than 6 meters high), the rock formation was near where water drops off from the plateau above so the rock was worn and some parts slightly slippery, but I got up in one piece, then between the edge of the rock formation and the cliff top is a small gap, only about 30 cm or so, something you could easily step across, unfortunately the rock formation is now only a tiny little ledge, so I did a all-or-nothing sprint/dash over the ledge I banged my head on the wall on the opposite side, but I was fine. Then comes another cliff, this one with now way up (at least for mere mortals) beside a thick chain bolted into the top of the cliff. Some guys were frikkin’ ninja-stepping a 10-15 meter cliffs in a couple seconds flat. I took it slow kept a deathgrip with my hands and got footholds with my feet, no ropes or anything, so it pays to be careful. There were two chains bolted in I’m not sure why, the older one was much more useful.

 

We stopped and gathered around here and put up a stop at an oddly eroded rock that looks uncannily similar to an alien spaceship or as Mr. Court said “Sputnik” (Russian accent optional but advised). Damon, Big man, you’ll see him in one of the Sputnik photos, dashed in first to get a photo, seems like he had been looking forward to it. We all eventually got a picture in it and then got a group photo and then move on to the peak which wasn’t hard to get to. Just like Wolfberg this peak was on a mushroomy rock formation, but there weren’t many around and it wasn’t as tall as the ones in Wolfberg. Tafelberg those is much higher, It’s the second highest mountain in the Cederberg at something like 1986 meters, so quite possibly the highest above sea level I’ve ever been (on solid ground at least). So we stop here, take some photos and then trek off to another trig beacon some way away, I don’t know if it was marginally taller or something but we got there anyway. Then we went back a way and Mr. Court took us to a spot where you can look over the edge of Tafelberg and see a straight drop for hundreds of meters, well it seemed that big anyway.

 

Coming back down Tafelberg, began alright, I had little problem with the chain and a little guidance got me over the little gap between cliff and slippy rock formation. Where I really failed was going down the area with the big blocks tumbled on each other, I just did it very slowly, just like hiking downhill, I wasn’t physically, or mentally drained I just did not feel comfortable going faster, so I fell pretty far behind, behind enough that by the time that I was down the big, tumbly rocks, everyone else had been down for at least 10 minutes. Then of course I had to figure out my own way back, using memory and the cairns for directions. I was pretty sure that People would be looking for me then or soon and I thought I heard some voices calling my name, but I wasn’t sure when I was sure about people calling my name I got out my Swiss army knife and rape whistle attachment (not actually a rape whistle, just really loud, so we dubbed it that) and blew on the rape whistle, I don’t think it helped because when I came over the ridge and waved to Mr. Court and Theron that I still lived it seemed like they didn’t know where I was, but yeah fine, they went off and Guy who went searching the other rock-jumped to where I was and led me back to the cave where we all had lunch.

 

So after we had had lunch we moved on out down a very steep downhill slope that we did small zigzags down. The entire path was made form small rocks sitting on top of each other so you had to be careful with your footing. So we got down that hill all in one piece but apparently two boys who were bringing up the rear were harassed by a black spider, because as they were zig-zagging down, the spider went straight and they kept on seeing this spider run past.

 

After that hill it was flat for a bit and we stopped at little rock formation and some people went off for water, where Mr. Court also got a nice spot for a campsite, not for us but maybe when planning for next year’s Epic. We moved on and soon came to another downhill, which ended in a path going towards the Jeep Track, which is exactly what it says it is a Jeep track that goes around a lot of the mountains in the Cederberg. The hill we had just descended is called Deception Hill, because when you go up it it looks like after the first uphill you will be done going up, but in reality when you get to the top of the first hill you cry “DECEPTION” for the earth has tricked you with a false horizon. Well, I walked along the Jeep track with the rest of the Guys right at the front, because no downhill was involved I could keep up pretty well. Now we were supposed to have crossed another group a while back but hadn’t yet and it was beginning to get late, in hiking terms, about 3 PM. We did eventually cross them as they came out of a really big few sets of rocks where they were hiding from the sun, apparently because their teacher in charge is “lazy”, Mr Court’s words not mine.

 

Where they were chilling away from the sun out turned out to be our campsite of the night, our teachers told us after they had had a long chat with the other group’s teachers. The place is called Cedarhopekop I think, which is just a conglomeration of random words to all of my understanding.

 

There was a waterfall nearby but I journeyed somewhere nearby to it but mostly stayed near where I first came across the stream. I got my water filled up, headed back to camp, got myself fed up and set up and got some shut-eye before what Nr. Court had told us would be the hardest day of our hike with him.

 

 

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

ok, next lifetime, i'm doing this.

 

awesome is a word that gets overusead a lot. but this really sounds awesome, in the literal sense of the word.

[Smiley73]

PICTURES:

 

Damon being keen inside Sputnik:

 

 

Our group gathered up on top of Tafelberg, I an second from the left and guy is on the far right in the red shirt:

 

 

and then one with a topless Ozzie from Day 1, this is from the Wolfberg cracks:

 

 

and thats all for now folks

[Smiley73]

it really is a really nice experience, this is so out of my normal life, its a joke but being in a group of guys you don;t miss anything with all the banter going around

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

haven't thought about that aspect of it at all, the interaction. just the beauty of it. and the being away from everything else.

 

think the people would make it less fun for me. more than a few i mean.

[Smiley73]

nah the people her made it absolutely great, no one had any big problems with each other, which helped, but its just very enjoyable being around the guys I was in a group with, thats what my brother took as his highlight, just the vibe in the group where everyone is having fun

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

yeah, i think the group would be great for most people.

[Smiley73]

yes but there is something called the solo that happens at around day 9 or ten in my Epic, that is 24 hours alone

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

that sounds like fun.

[Aiel Heart]

I'm planning on doing something like this someday. I don't know if it'll ever happen, but I hope so!!

[Smiley73]

I won't lie it is a lot of planning

[Aiel Heart]

Hahaha I bet