Autumn arrives in Natal as leaves fall. A view from our living room...not bad.
Back on the hike, another look down a gorge as the colors rear up at us.
A favorite scene as we watch the sun light up the area below the Cathkin group, including Monks Cowl.
The trails in South Africa are tough. However, in all our hikes thus far, we have met but one small
group of locals. We don’t know what it means but perhaps they know something we don’t. Could it be too much
biltong, braaivleis and Chevrolet? After four hours, we crossed paths with a Canadian and his African
trail guide. Once again, they were the only two people we saw all day on the mountains. Yet, we are never
lonely. Says something about our editor.
We had left the town of Winterton early in the morning, arriving at Cathedral Peak Hotel where we parked
the car and set out to face this formidable mountain and her sisters. In our rush to get going and
the fact that we had left the cottage in the dark, arriving after first light, we forgot to turn off the
headlights of the car. After one of the most tiring hikes, we set out in search of a jumpstart. The staff
at the hotel were most helpful, fortunately. Jenni did not seem up to the task of giving the car a push to get
started. Clearly, she's not what she once was.
Jenni in the thick of mountains, an exciting place to be.
A scene on the way to Kamberg, the other side of Cathedral Peak. Gone fishing.
The Outer Horn, the same height as Cathedral, protects her flank.
As we get higher, scenes like this one become etched in the mind...we hope. The hotel lies
below the extended buttress.
It was incredible to summit many of the smaller mountains on the way up and face the Cathedral
after traversing three of her neighbors and punching through a gulley. A key point en route was to reach
Orange Peel Gap, a name not out of place in South Africa. Thereafter, one traverses a few more mountains
and another gorge positioned before the final ascent must be tackled. The latter gulley/gorge is very tough,
a rock and rough terrain scramble for what seems an awful long way upwards at an incredibly steep angle.
At all times, the peak seems to beckon to weary hikers to ‘try me, if you can’. Jenni summarized it
concisely when she mentioned after some rest, “I did not realize I had so many body components that could
hurt at the same time.” Two days later, she felt better but was still stiff and hurting in a few spots.
The line-up in this part of the Drakensberg.
Returning after deciding that life is too precious to risk it, just above this position. As an aside,
might or might not be a lesson in the art of shoe lacing.
A field of dreams on the way to Kamberg. One for Kwa-Zulu Natal.
An added touch would have been to see antelope again but there were none on view—we did notice a couple of
baboons de-fleaing each other, though. In addition, we viewed birds and on one occasion, nearly jumped out
of our skins when they flew from a low bush-nest, squawking as if we were hostile. This occurred on a narrow edge
and certainly made the adrenaline flow a little quicker through the body. We passed a trout hatchery early on and
in a gorge, came across a ‘friendly’ snake. Our definition of friendly is one that has no hostile intentions.
By the time we got close to ‘home’, the trailhead, if an elephant had passed by, we might have snubbed it. Although
we were not too tired, the rocks and stones played havoc with our feet. Thank goodness for the visuals as they had a
soothing and distracting effect for our worn bodies.
A hop, skip and jump over the mountain behind, the editor comes down in one piece.
Another of this well-received position, high, colorful and deep.
A last look at a very intimidating sight as we bid farewell to the Cathedral after coming out the
gorge positioned below on the right.
We took more than our usual amount of time on the hike which added to the experience. It turned out that
we ate breakfast overlooking a waterfall after commencing soon after sunrise, lunch staring at a dam many miles
distant and closing with an early sunset. Dinner was a more formal affair in our diner aptly called, The Purple Cottage.
Our editor hiked all day but continued to provide her usual high standard of cuisine...veggie-burgers...cuisine?.
Jen turns to look down into the gorge from the Orange Peel Gully after arriving a 'little weary'.
A tough one but easier than the next one following 2kms hence.
What an experience, what a region, what a mountain range!
Cheers,
Jenni and Jeffrey
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