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Hike Table Mountain (Platteklip Gorge and Kasteels Poort) (about 15km minus all the steps...)

26, 27 July 2008

Weather - Saturday - Sunny, then thick mist on top of the mountain, Sunday - severe rain and wind in the morning, which turned into a sunny day as we descended down the mountain.

12 Apostles view                   down Kasteels poort                    Comparing Table Mountain and Hermanus at 1:50 000

The eight participants;

Click here for time breakdown of route.

We started hiking at 11:00 after packing the divided food and splitting up into two groups of four. On the First day Jacques, Hans, Stephen and I walked in one group with Michelle Keryn Jason and Matthew in the other. This made it much easier for the smaller groups to stick together. Walking in larger groups usually results in some rushing ahead and others trailing behind.

We stuck to the planned time quite well (see time breakdown of route above) on the first day. While we were ascending Platteklip Gorge we also entered the misty cloud and half way to Maclear's beacon we decided to turn to the hut as there would be no view anyway. The walk to the hut was much more pleasant than the steep uphill of Plattekilp Gorge  and we managed a good pace.

Everyone was happy to reach the hut with no one overly tired or unchallenged by the day. Michelle, Keryn and Jason's knees gave them a bit of trouble but it wasn't too serious. The hut is in excellent condition and even has a solar geyser which should work wonders in summer but made no change in the mist resulting in no one taking a shower. We had supper and played a bit of cards while the mist was thickening and the wind was blowing more and more cold outside. Then everyone went to bed surprisingly early before 21:00.

The next morning it rained hard and the wind  was really stormy. Because of the early night everyone was up early. I decided we should start walking as soon as possible in case the weather got worse and to take the shortest route down. Hans was feeling bit nauseous and didn't eat much the previous night. I think it was because of stress. I asked everyone to eat breakfast and to get ready and went for a walk outside to test if we could do the hike in the weather as it was. The rain came from every direction due to the wind and it was quite cold. I came to the conclusion that all should go well if everyone kept walking. I know the path very well, so that didn't bother me, but if something should happen to someone that would prevent them from walking we would could be in deep trouble because of the cold. I wasn't sure what to do, we could stay put, but that could place the group under big stress if the weather did not improve soon. Then we would need to stick to our decision to stay put and spend a night with limited food and cause another newspaper headline of scouts stuck on the mountain.

We had plenty of extra time because we chose a shorter route and it was still early. I decided it wouldn't do harm to go and see the reservoirs as we all still had dry clothes should we return to the hut to stay put. The walk went very well despite the bad weather. No one except me have seen Wood head reservoir before and everyone thought it was interesting. Because this walk went so well we had a rest and something to eat at the hut and went on our way to Kasteels poort.

Half way down Kasteels poort  we reached the sun and had nice rest with a view. The walk down the pipe track went well with almost no other hikers because of the bad weather a while before. On a sunny weekend day/public holiday it starts to look like a shopping mall, that is how popular the pipe track is. While we were walking on the pipe track some rushed ahead and others started trailing behind because we walked in one big group. I battled to keep everyone together, so we reverted back to our two smaller groups. We reached the end an hour too early and sunbathed a bit. On our way home we supported Macdonald of course.

 A note on the food;

On this hike I organized the food and everyone ate the same. This improves team spirit (every hiking group is a team), results in everyone carrying a little less weight (everyone doesn't need to take their own equipment) and saves everyone except the organizer a trip to the store to buy their food and relives the burden of planning your own food.  The other option would have been for everyone to take their own food, the plus points to this method is everyone can take whatever they like and and you don't need someone to organize the food for the group. The best method depends on the hike -  I decided to eat as a group because it is the first overnight scout hike for a couple of scouts and they might not be sure what to take.
We had cheese sandwiches with chutney for Saturday lunch, thank you to Martie - Michell's mom for making them. They were delicious and yet so simple to make, the bread was unpacked from it's packaging and then repacked so you don't even need a container. Next time I won't be able to improve on it.
Supper was two "Boerewors rolle" each. I am not an expert yet with doing sausage on a fire and they came out too well done and dry, but I was worried they might be raw. Next time I wont make the same mistake. We had hot chocolate with cookies as well. The cookies was just enough.
The next morning we had two yogurts each with boiled eggs and oats so easy. For some reason no-one ate the oats so easy? Most of the eggs broke in Jason's bag. Next time I will choose a less violent person to carry them and pack them in an un-crushable container. The 6 surviving eggs was eaten.
Lunch was provitas, fish paste and peanut butter as well as biltong and bananas. The biltong disappeared in a flash, and everyone liked the provitas with the peanut butter and/or fish paste, we actually ate all of it! Next time I'll leave out the biltong, because it is too expensive to just disappear and replace it with peanuts and syrup/marmite/cheese spread for the crackers.

Everyone enjoyed and learnt a lot on the hike despite the bad weather.

Written by Felix