51.07 Free State and KwaZulu-Natal: Out and about in South Africa for too short a trip: Verdict: Love it.

South Africa's most honest weather report: Clarens, Free State. (Where's the rock?)
Drakensberg Retreat: Gone scrambling. This is an abandoned trail. The manager, Theo, related a story of a young gymnast who fell over the cliff and died 3-years before. He rushed to the scene but the situation was hopeless. It was heartbreaking for all concerned who tried to rescue her, besides of course, the tragedy for the young woman. 

Everest Game Farm with the Eagle prominent. 

The highlight of the trip for me was listening and observing how Jen stimulated and took care of Mom. Her finest hours. The picture to the left is of Wendy, my late sister, who died before her 40th.

By popular vote, most say they prefer this side of me. One wonders about the kindness of friends.
Mom explaining some of the finer points of administrative steps undertaken by a 93-year old, or everything I learned at college was wasted.
Our rendition of 'Somewhere over the Rainbow"—it was beautiful to listen to...maybe, observe.

By this time, Jen had had enough of potential snake attacks emanating from the long grass following her confrontation with a puff-adder the day before. She deals with snakes; I'm searching for the far more 'dangerous antelope'. The good news we learned just before our departure is that the snake should make a full recovery following the vicious attack suffered. Nevertheless, the 'hissing' amongst the local crawlers and winders is to remain low until that woman leaves the region. Apparently, some wise serpent announced that Eve had returned after a long absence This is unconfirmed in both the local papers, 'Under the Rocks' and the 'Tree-Swinger'.

You can see the issue: The arrow is pointing the other way. It's a one-way (abandoned) trail, Sweetheart.
Never thought I'd see this sight of someone who dislikes phones. Supposed to hold on for dear life, Dear, not the phone, though. 

We were on Mount Everest...one can still dream.
Sterkfontein Dam, colossal and full.
There were two reasons we visited South Africa. The first was to enjoy scones (with 5-Roses tea) at Shafflers Nursery, a place we find delightful. The other reason was...I forget now. 

 Cheers, 

Jenni and Jeffrey

51.05 Clarens, Free State. A wonderful all-round experience in a local park, plus some extras. 51.06 Same park, different hike.

Flowing water makes such a difference—we see waterfalls for a change. The route turns right after the falls and heads up. For Jen the proviso is that she finds her way out of the trees. (See below for perspective.)
Three days earlier, the same waterfall in the distance viewed from another trail.

Stop for a photo shoot. How cute!
Life on the road provides some interesting opportunities to meet people from all over the world. It's hardly surprising to meet a couple from South Africa in Clarens. However, to meet a rather charming and interesting couple from Johannesburg on a walk above the dam outside the town was unexpected. Beverley and Dave Nowikow from the big city had just arrived at a high viewpoint overlooking the water where we made contact. We spent much time conversing and the longer it continued, the less we wanted to separate. Therefore, we hiked back to the entrance of the park together spending a little time observing the surroundings and most of the period conversing--a nice term for good old talking. 

  We then reached our car, somewhere along the street way down from the park entrance. It still wasn't appropriate to separate so we headed into town for coffee and cold-drinks. After being thrown out of the coffeehouse for overstaying our welcome, we headed back to our parked cars. There comes a time to separate, even reluctantly, when we finally did. For us, it was a real pleasure to spend so much time with fellow hikers. They are indeed a charming couple who revealed some interesting aspects of life in the old country. Heck, we could even understand what they shared despite their local accents. Thank you, Beverley and Dave. 

Jen heading to way above the wall in front of her.

 An earlier view at water level. One of us, you might have noticed, has a fascination of reflections.

A view of the dam from close to the highpoint of the hike.
Reaching the endpoint of the hike as we go a little off trail to 'fool around' on the boulders.
Returning along the trail toward the dam below.
A peek into someone's home. Not nice but a nice view.
Across the way is the giant, Mount Horeb. On our last visit we reached the highpoint of the lower side. We were stopped by the management from entering the gated community, the official climbing trailhead. Dawn, our landlady, arranged with a local farmer to allow us for a fee to climb from his farm. A charming elderly man, he added, 'you walk across the veld, negotiate the dongas, turn right and go straight up.' He continued, 'shouldn't be a problem.' Sounded like an experienced hiker. He concluded, 'I've never done it myself though.' We wish he'd been with us. A real rough scramble without any form of trail. Always worth it though.
Jen eats brunch just below the peak, reachable from the other side where we were stopped from entering. What, might you inquire, do you eat, typically?
Look no further. We hunt, hike and eat. ('Heaven forbid'). My function is to ward off the vultures while Jen slices off the prime bits. 

The beauty of the system is that we don't have to wash and clean up afterwards--others down the food chain perform a perfect function. Nature developed a system, which seems cruel at first glance, but actually works well. It tickles me when people criticize the system, especially those who enjoy a thick juicy steak. Our brunch always contains fruit to accompany our yoghurt and cereal. Why fruit? I have imagined the advent of scurvy for the last twelve years so Jen always ensures we eat our daily requirement. Seems odd but there is logic behind this...I'll tell you another time.
Tapers to a narrow point and slippery for extra measure.
Cheers, 

Jenni and Jeffrey

50.45 Utah: Salt Lake City: Jack's Peak, once in snow, another occasion in impossible wind, third just fine.

We take a break from South Africa as we continue with one of our favorite cities. While we are no longer city people, for Salt Lake City, we make an exception. The hiking of this local mountain, Jack's Peak, occurs on the outskirts of the city and provided us outings when the big mountains and valleys got hit with heavy snow. 

The magnificent Salt Lake City and its surround.
Returning from the peak.
Trying to reach the peak.
Careful foot placing.
Rough but gorgeous.

Jen sits, not resting, but because the wind was so vicious we felt we could be swept off the mountain.
The next day we reached Mount Wire, across the way. Note the antennae at the peak.
Third or fourth false peak. A person reaches that point only to discover still a way to climb. 

In the thick of the autumn bush.

This is what weary looks like. You don't want to witness wiped out.

The city with the airport in the distance, the lake further back.
Some say this is people expressing their artistic side. We call it vandalism...but then we're 'old-fashioned'.

Cheers, 

Jenni and Jeffrey

51.04 Free State: Everest Game Farm, climbing mountains and stalking animals, what a life.

The Eagle, protruding fractionally, viewed from the extreme of the property with Mount Everest in front, a profile.
Jenni, on a previous occasion, views the Eagle while ascending. It's at this juncture where she came across a thick, colored and frightening snake, yesterday—her words. Besides lightning, this is Jen's worst nightmare. Well, then there's grizzlies and I should stop there. I might add that she said to me that on this trip she will be extremely brave and shut out any thought of being intimidated by bears. To that end, she did not even bring bear spray with us. What a woman!
During this visit to South Africa (a month thus far), we hardly recall a day without rain. This is unusual for the country. In addition, we brought with us clothes for a summer season. Wrong. While we prefer to hike in cool weather, the range of temperatures has been from cold to cool with the occasional warm day. The wind has been prevalent, too. The positive for the country is that all the dams we've come across, including the mighty Sterkfontein, are full. Another benefit for two 'too cool youngsters' is that the countryside is lush and green. It's a great sight and good for the country. It can do with a break or two as most things are already broken. Phew! I withdraw that. 

We can't help mentioning a speech recorded in Hansard, the Parliamentary record, of a woman member addressing the house about the drought and shortage of water and half-full dams. She said and I quote (and thank her) 'that the problem was caused by the apartheid regime. Had they built the dams at half the size instead, they would now be full.' (This is taken from the official records—I could not have made this up. I'm not smart.) Fortunately, we are two simple people who are enjoying a small part of the country before returning to Mom. (Yes, Mom, we're on the way.) 

Landing on the Eagle, a great feeling.
The Eagle in the distance, a striped horse in front.
A view from the just below the side of Everest. Weather turned us away from the final push (if there is one.)
Jen coming down from base of Mount Everest, cross-country.
Sunshine at last, albeit short-lived.
On our last visit, we had these spectacular climbs, wind free and with decent cameras.

Everest behind our chalet.
Heading for and reaching the other side and top of the game farm.
Don't fence us in.
From a high vantage point, we view what we have called, Harrismith's Table mountain.
Three years before, we reached Platberg, referred to above.
Jenni walks on the table, not considered inappropriate under these circumstances.
We saw much game and love the concept of stalking animals. It's become a great pastime for us whenever there is game about. Unfortunately, the animals are rather shy and intimidated by Jenni so they flee at first sighting of her or my smell. Had we had our regular cameras, we would have captured wonderful shots of the various species of antelope, the wildebeest, ostrich, zebra and maybe others. Instead we have wonderful photographs of blurred animals. By the way, there are no bears in Southern Africa—all stolen, now in China. 

Cheers,

Jenni and Jeffrey

How to befriend a zebra or maybe not.