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~ I dont blog about things to be liked. I blog about things that I like ~
... so that one day, on my death bed, I will have said and done what I wanted to do, and die peacefully without regrets.
Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning, Satan shudders & says..' Oh shit....She's awake'
Showing posts with label Devils Peak. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Devils Peak. Show all posts
Monday, November 15, 2010
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Hiking Smuts Track on Table Mountain
Hiking Smuts Track was not a another walk in the park. Again, another breathtaking walk - famously known to have been the route of General Jan Smuts which he walked up to the age of his mid eighties.
I had my heart rate monitor
on, and burnt 1680 calories from start to end. Had we not done the cable way down, Im sure I could have added another 400 calories to this figure.
The route starts at the foot of the mountain by Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden. It cost us R35 each to get through the gates and onto the route, which is via Skeleton Gorge.
Follow the Skeleton Gorge signs inside the Botanical gardens.
Kirstenbosch Botanical gardens is also a very popular venue for Concerts in the Park.
The path going up varies between wooden foot steps and well placed rocks.
This route is a difficult and potentially dangerous climb, particularly in wet weather.
A good 30 minute walk from the TOP Entrance gate in Kirstenbosch, will take you to cross over the Contour Path and a small sign indicating the start of Smuts Track (there is no confusion as to which way it is, but only up)
The path zig-zags its way up the steep stone steps into the gorge. During winter this is the main flow down for the Liesbeeck river. I particularly love this section of this route the most. Its not often that one can see so much green moss covering the rocks in such a condensed area.
About two thirds of the way up Skelleton gorge, we reached a few wooden ladders (and gladly no chains as the sign indicates). These wooden ladders are a real welcome! Usually by now we've had our second break, but today was one of my stronger days for climbing and we went up in one go all the way to the top.
Looking at these pictures, Im very sad to say that my new Blackberry 9700 Bold
takes very poor pictures compared to my Nokia N82
. Dont get me wrong, I just love the Blackberry for what it has to offer for business etc, but for taking photo's it gets a thumbs down. Had I not dropped my Nokia so many times (on my hikes!) and it was still working, I would have used it hands down as my main source for taking my pictures.
Once we emmerged from the Gorge and its dense forest below, the view of False Bay and the Helderberg is clearly seen. During a cold winters day, the rays of the sun is also a warm welcome.
From here, we walked another 20min up the steep incline before we reached our next crossroad.
At the first crossroad once we reached the top, we turned right to follow the path hugging the side of the mountain overlooking Kirstenbosch and surrounds.
The good news is we reached to top of Skeleton Gorge, the bad news was... the 'mountain' ahead of us.
Its very disheartening if you think you have reached the top, when you see another monster hill in front of you.
Our GPS
indicated that we were on about 800m from here, and we had another 280m to go before we reached our peak... MacClears Beacon.
The climb to the top of the beacon was actually a beautiful walk and fairly easy to walk in about 1 hour from the top of Skeleton Gorge.
At the top of the fabulous walk we were again blessed with a near 360 degree view of the Cape! This is for sure a must do walk if you have not done it.
MacClears beacon marks the highest point on Table Mountain of 1080m. We started walking at an altitude of 50m, so a 1km climb over about 4.5km is not too bad for one to consider it a good walk for the day.
We found a comfy spot on the rocks at MacClears Beacon to have our halfway mark lunch break. Looking down onto our route of last week - Devils Peak. Im still keen to find a way from Devils Peak to MacClears... not sure if there is one? Have seen a few faint paths on Google Earth, but Im going to have to set out on a mission to find this one.
Due to our respect for this majestic mountain, we are very careful to not just go wandering off onto some route into the unknown...
After a short break, we ventured on - heading directly for the cable way. This path follows a almost flat path all along the face of Table Mountain. I just love it here, and would recommend it to anyone to come and see the views this fairly easy and flat section has to offer.
The path literally hugs the cliff face for us to enjoy looking down onto Lions Head and the city of Cape Town almost all the way back to the Cable Station.
Thissection is us looking at Platteklip Gorge from an angle we are not too familiar with. Platteklip Gorge is the easier route to walk up to the top of Table Mountain if you do not wish to take the cable way. Be sure to remember that Plattes (as known by the locals) has no mercy for the unfit either.
The Upper Cable Station is very well equipped - the walkways are also made for easy access for disabled persons - and there is a rather pricey restaurant / coffee shop at the top.
Ha ha, this is Alex - DONE!!! I dont often find him chillaxing like this after a walk... blaming it on a weak stomach - I told him to ease off on the italian salami he had the day before :)
We remembered to take the Wild Cards, which eased off on the price tag of taking the Cable Car down.
Normal price is about R85pp one way, but it cost us R68pp as South African Citizens we had the Wild Cards which helped us get it at a more discounted rate.
You can also buy tickets online if you dont feel like standing in the queue. Note: This queue for the cable way coming up is often over an hour long.
This is a snap that I captured as the cable car started moving down - with the lower Cable Station in sight.
Here is the view from the cable car, looking at the point of mountain we had just come from... I just love staring at the mountain after a walk... trying to see if I can recognise our path we had just done.
Before I got the Garmin eTrex Legend, I used to do this type of picture manually. Now the GPS does it for me automatically. Love it!
Costs of route:
R35pp entrance fee to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens
R68pp down the cable way with a Wild Card.
Distance: 8.5km
Altitude: start 50m to 1080m at MacClears Beacon
Calories: 1680
Time: 4 hours
What a walk! We did this walk just over a year ago, but forgot to take pictures (it was raining and we had a white-out on the day - loved that toooooo!), but at that time we were focusing on staying on the track. Great walk, great workout and good all round fun as part of living the life that our environment has to offer us.
I had my heart rate monitor
on, and burnt 1680 calories from start to end. Had we not done the cable way down, Im sure I could have added another 400 calories to this figure.
Follow the Skeleton Gorge signs inside the Botanical gardens.
Kirstenbosch Botanical gardens is also a very popular venue for Concerts in the Park.
About two thirds of the way up Skelleton gorge, we reached a few wooden ladders (and gladly no chains as the sign indicates). These wooden ladders are a real welcome! Usually by now we've had our second break, but today was one of my stronger days for climbing and we went up in one go all the way to the top.
takes very poor pictures compared to my Nokia N82. Dont get me wrong, I just love the Blackberry for what it has to offer for business etc, but for taking photo's it gets a thumbs down. Had I not dropped my Nokia so many times (on my hikes!) and it was still working, I would have used it hands down as my main source for taking my pictures.
From here, we walked another 20min up the steep incline before we reached our next crossroad.
At the first crossroad once we reached the top, we turned right to follow the path hugging the side of the mountain overlooking Kirstenbosch and surrounds.
Its very disheartening if you think you have reached the top, when you see another monster hill in front of you.
Our GPS
indicated that we were on about 800m from here, and we had another 280m to go before we reached our peak... MacClears Beacon.
MacClears beacon marks the highest point on Table Mountain of 1080m. We started walking at an altitude of 50m, so a 1km climb over about 4.5km is not too bad for one to consider it a good walk for the day.
Due to our respect for this majestic mountain, we are very careful to not just go wandering off onto some route into the unknown...
After a short break, we ventured on - heading directly for the cable way. This path follows a almost flat path all along the face of Table Mountain. I just love it here, and would recommend it to anyone to come and see the views this fairly easy and flat section has to offer.
Normal price is about R85pp one way, but it cost us R68pp as South African Citizens we had the Wild Cards which helped us get it at a more discounted rate.
You can also buy tickets online if you dont feel like standing in the queue. Note: This queue for the cable way coming up is often over an hour long.
Another favourite thing of mine to do, is to draw our route of the day off Google Earth map.
Before I got the Garmin eTrex Legend, I used to do this type of picture manually. Now the GPS does it for me automatically. Love it!
Costs of route:
R35pp entrance fee to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens
R68pp down the cable way with a Wild Card.
Distance: 8.5km
Altitude: start 50m to 1080m at MacClears Beacon
Calories: 1680
Time: 4 hours
What a walk! We did this walk just over a year ago, but forgot to take pictures (it was raining and we had a white-out on the day - loved that toooooo!), but at that time we were focusing on staying on the track. Great walk, great workout and good all round fun as part of living the life that our environment has to offer us.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Devils Peak from Google Earth via my Garmin GPS
Alex dragged me up Devils yesterday, and oh boy, am I feeling it today! When I said Devils Peak The Easy Route... I did not mean its easy, I meant "the easy route" as in there are way more difficult / hard routes that can take you up to 6 hours just going up.
Having hiked this route so many times before, I must say that this time I was very exhausted at the end. (Burnt 1200 calories
- not too bad for 'just a hike') I guess its been a while since we have been hiking good routes again.
Above is the reading that our Garmin eTrex Legend
produced for us on my computer.The above vertical profile shows that we climbed 610m over a distance of 2.76km.
Remember that you can read more about this routes and its details in other posts of ours: Hiking Devils Peak
I dont normally re-write about a route that I have been on (blogging is very hard work - just in case you dont know it yet!), but this one deserved some more attention as I had a reader from Germany who asked me some questions which I thought I would answer via this blog entry.
The first thing that is important is that we have noted that Table Mountain National Park
have changed all the signs on the mountain. Thank you guys!
On the 2 signs that we did come across, some of the information was incorrect and the suggested changes were made with red indicators as you will see when you read on.
To get there take the Tafelberg Road which runs past the Lower Cable Station of Table Mountain Cable Way. About 3 km from the Cable Station, the path starts to the right (and opposite a car park) as indicated in the image below (or read my other posts of Devils Peak).
Soon you will be climbing steep steps that zigzag their way up the mountain towards the Contour Path.
As you see in the image below, when you cross over the contour path, the sign is easily misleading, so focus on the path going more upwards than the one flattening out (Contour path / Oppelskop). You should be heading towards the Saddle (but the arrow is wrong), so focus on going upwards.
After the above, crossing the path continues to zig zag its way up. Again, if you see other paths, continue to follow the one that is going up, until the path flattens out and heads towards the saddle.
A brisk 10 minute walk on a semi flat route, will take you to a T-junction by the Saddle.
Notice a large rock on the left and a small stream flowing on the right. This is where you turn right.
After your right turn at the T-junction by the Saddle and the big rock, follow your nose and the stream for another 10 minutes.
Soon you will reach another sign, showing Devils peak is the way back. That is wrong. This is your mark where you do not go back to where you came from, but rather do you turn left and head up the steep slate and rather loose rocks to slog your way all the way to the top. They have upgraded this path about a year ago, but the rocks are still fairly loose and slippery.
Once we reached the top of Devils Peak, we headed for a spot away from the wind (the wind is always blowing up here!) and had our well deserved cuppa Nescafe Cuppachino :)
The view from here never seizes to amaze us. So relaxing and so beautiful!
On our way down, we came upon a group of people who were putting up this flag and banner.
We asked them what they were up to and they explained to us that they are protesting and trying to get the name of Devils peak to be changed to Windberg or Duiweberg as it was originally known to be.
The Legend has it that the devil disappeared onto this mountain 300 years ago, hence the name Devils Peak. There are other stories about where its name originated from, but a name change will be great.
More information and pictures about this hike can be found here.
Having hiked this route so many times before, I must say that this time I was very exhausted at the end. (Burnt 1200 calories
- not too bad for 'just a hike') I guess its been a while since we have been hiking good routes again. 
Above is the reading that our Garmin eTrex Legend
produced for us on my computer.The above vertical profile shows that we climbed 610m over a distance of 2.76km.Remember that you can read more about this routes and its details in other posts of ours: Hiking Devils Peak
I dont normally re-write about a route that I have been on (blogging is very hard work - just in case you dont know it yet!), but this one deserved some more attention as I had a reader from Germany who asked me some questions which I thought I would answer via this blog entry.
The first thing that is important is that we have noted that Table Mountain National Park
have changed all the signs on the mountain. Thank you guys!On the 2 signs that we did come across, some of the information was incorrect and the suggested changes were made with red indicators as you will see when you read on.
To get there take the Tafelberg Road which runs past the Lower Cable Station of Table Mountain Cable Way. About 3 km from the Cable Station, the path starts to the right (and opposite a car park) as indicated in the image below (or read my other posts of Devils Peak).
Soon you will be climbing steep steps that zigzag their way up the mountain towards the Contour Path.
As you see in the image below, when you cross over the contour path, the sign is easily misleading, so focus on the path going more upwards than the one flattening out (Contour path / Oppelskop). You should be heading towards the Saddle (but the arrow is wrong), so focus on going upwards.
After the above, crossing the path continues to zig zag its way up. Again, if you see other paths, continue to follow the one that is going up, until the path flattens out and heads towards the saddle.
A brisk 10 minute walk on a semi flat route, will take you to a T-junction by the Saddle.
Notice a large rock on the left and a small stream flowing on the right. This is where you turn right.
After your right turn at the T-junction by the Saddle and the big rock, follow your nose and the stream for another 10 minutes.
Soon you will reach another sign, showing Devils peak is the way back. That is wrong. This is your mark where you do not go back to where you came from, but rather do you turn left and head up the steep slate and rather loose rocks to slog your way all the way to the top. They have upgraded this path about a year ago, but the rocks are still fairly loose and slippery.
Once we reached the top of Devils Peak, we headed for a spot away from the wind (the wind is always blowing up here!) and had our well deserved cuppa Nescafe Cuppachino :)
The view from here never seizes to amaze us. So relaxing and so beautiful!
On our way down, we came upon a group of people who were putting up this flag and banner.
We asked them what they were up to and they explained to us that they are protesting and trying to get the name of Devils peak to be changed to Windberg or Duiweberg as it was originally known to be.
The Legend has it that the devil disappeared onto this mountain 300 years ago, hence the name Devils Peak. There are other stories about where its name originated from, but a name change will be great.
The coloured flag was a prayer and the other the symbol of the cross.
More information and pictures about this hike can be found here.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Devils Peak the easy way
Hiking Trail: Devils Peak (via the Saddle - not the Saddle Ravine as stated previously)
Name of Reserve / Area: Table Mountain National Park
Nearest Town: Cape Town
Province: Western Cape
Country: South Africa
Duration of hike: 4 hours
Directions
to get there: From Cape Town CBD, take Buitengracht Road, the one road that goes straight up to the cable way and becomes Kloofnek Road. At the top of the road, just before you cross over into Camps Bay, turn left into Tafelberg Road. This road hugs the mountain, which if you drive along it all the way, eventually becomes a dead end. Drive pass the Cable Way house on your right and follow the road for another 3km. Pass Platteklip gorge parking and soon you will find another parking area and a sign directing you to the start of Devils Peak.
Best time of year to go: Anytime
What costs did you incur to do this hike: none
How safe is it: Fairly safe. There are no exposed areas which need to be climbed. Its all straight forward walking. Take a mace spray with you at all times.
Fresh Water: The stream above runs almost all year, but its always recommended that you carry sufficient water along with you.
Difficulty: Moderate. A fit person can climb to the top in about 1 hour. We climbed for about an hour and half, taking it easy and enjoying the photo opportunities it provided along the way.
Pets: Allowed. Always make sure you also cater for your pets when hiking on the mountain. They also need regular refueling like you do. The paths can give their paws deep painful blisters if the day is very hot.
How will I rate this hike? Since May this year, I have done this hike about 6 times from all different angles. This route, via Tafelberg Road is the easiest one. Each route up this mountain is really awesome.
This hike starts with a steep climb up zig-zag steps leading to the Contour path above.
Once you reach the contour path, take a sharp left at this sign indicating the route towards Oppelskop and Devils Peak
.
Climb more steep steps for another 10 minutes and soon the path will flatten out until you reach the Saddle (The Saddle is the section which connects Table Mountain with Devils Peak.)
At the Saddle the path will reach a T-junction. Left will take you around the front of Devils Peak - which is not where you want to go now. Take a right and follow the path up and towards the on coming stream. The stream is your path for a short while. Walk for about 10 minutes along the stream and then reach another 3 way path. This time turn left and start walking upwards towards Devils Peak.
I am always in awe about the beautiful views this mountain has to offer us. Once we reached the top we strolled around all 3 beacons and then went to find some shelter from the cold wind to enjoy our picnic and well deserved coffee.
Below is an image of Alex looking down onto the Knifes Edge. This is the first route that we ever took to climb Devils Peak. It was an incredibly hard climb and at times very exposed. Again, we were entertained by the breathtaking views of the Knifes Edge from all directions.
Looking down onto our return path, one can see the zig-zag path on the side of Table Mountain leading towards the Contour Path. Tafelberg Road is also clearly seen in the image below.
This little river had the most beautiful tiny waterfalls along the way. We followed the river down towards the Contour path again.
We often forget to stop and enjoy the views. Today we took it easy and consumed every special moment this walk could offer us.
The zig-zag path will take you back to where you parked your car in the road below.
The image below is just a FYI. I have been noticing many stones lately WITHOUT the direction plates on them. Are they being stolen or are these stones waiting for direction plates? Does anyone have any idea, as I would be very sad if its the former.
Photos: Alex Aitkenhead
As always, thanks Alex! I love working with your pictures.
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