Skeleton Gorge

Monday was a public holiday, Heritage day or as it is more fondly known National Braai day.  It is a day to celebrate the cultural heritage and diversity of South African beliefs and traditions.  I did not have a braai, but I did go on an incredible hike.

Liz, Lisa, and I took a cab to Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens on the back side of Table Mountain. We did not get to view a lot of the gardens since the hike was supposed to take five hours and we wanted to be sure that we finished with plenty of time to catch the cable car down.  The part I did see was beautiful, and it seems that the flowers are all in the processing of blooming, so I will be sure to make a trip there sometime to actually stroll through the gardens.

The trail is in a deep ravine, called Skeleton Gorge, and it is surrounded by trees and waterfalls.  The path is quite steep heading up and would be dangerous to hike back down for fear of slipping and falling.  About 40 minutes in we hit these ladders that you have to climb up to get up the edge of the river bed.  Once at the top of those, the path was completely gone.  Sunday had an extreme amount of rainfall, so much that I stayed inside all day to avoid the nasty weather.  The water had gushed down the mountain increasing the size of the river and the waterfalls making the main route impassable.

Instead, we had to scale the side of the cliff, dodge random barbed wire fences, and creep along the edge of the cliff for about half an hour before we could get back on the main path further upstream.  This was pretty scary as we had to find our own path and cling to the side of the slopes so that we wouldn’t fall back down into the gorge.

Once that nightmare was over, we continued on the trail which was easy to follow.  The additional rainfall made the paths flood and the waterfalls overflow into our way.  We had to climb around several of these and got our feet nice and damp.  I have learned a valuable lesson about hiking after severe rainstorms and will not be attempting that again.

We reached a high point and stopped for a picnic lunch with an incredible view out over the eastern side of Cape Town, with the southern suburbs and False Bay.  The hike continued on a trail called Smut’s Track that connects Skeleton Gorge to Maclear’s Beacon, the highest point of Table Mountain.  I was very proud when we reached the top and were the only group of girls up there, while there were tons of guys who had hiked up.

From Maclear’s Beacon it is a flat hike for about 45 minutes to reach the other side of Table Mountain and the cable car. The hike took roughly 4.5 hours to complete.  We celebrated by having wine with our very early dinner (I was starving and exhausted after that hike).

Less than four weeks until my safari!

1) Kirstenbosch

2) Kirstenbosch

3) Waterfalls

4) Waterfalls

5) The dangerous cliff - where is the path?

6) Picnic stop

7) Hiking

8) Almost to the top

9) Maclear's Beacon