On Saturday, fifteen days after
arriving in Cape Town, I was finally able to hike Table Mountain. Every day
since arriving, Table Mountain has been staring at me, begging me to hike it,
explore it. Nearly everywhere I went I could see Table Mountain looming over the
city, calling my name. As soon as I had a free day, I woke up at 6:15 in
the morning and set out with some friends to conquer the beast.
We decided to head up through
Kirstenbosch Gardens and climbed the Skeleton Gorge trail based off some
stellar advice I received from a friend – shoutout to my girl Dani Haims! It
was incredibly hot on Saturday, and the hike up was delightfully shady. It
was a relatively strenuous hike up the mountain, consisting of mostly natural
steps made of stone and a couple ladders. Once we got to the top we discovered
a reservoir – about the last thing I would have guessed would be sitting atop
Table Mountain. And the color was incredible! The water gradually turned from a
warm yellow to deep red and then dark purple. I was wary of the cleanliness of
the water, but we met some local hikers who re-filled their water bottles in
the reservoir and told us it was just clean rainwater. I was less concerned
after watching them drink it, but I decided I would hold off on filling up my
bottle. Better not risk it, I thought.
From the reservoir we hiked across
the top of Table Mountain along the Smuts Trail for a couple of kilometers
until we reached the beacon marking the highest point of the mountain.
Along the way we passed Castle Rock, which my friend Josh and I decided to
climb up. It was pretty tough and I needed a helping hand from Josh, but it was
so cool to stand on top and have a panoramic view of one side of the mountain.
We could see from Rondebosch all the way to Hout Bay, which was really an
unbelievable view. I don’t have a picture from the top of Castle Rock because I
didn’t want to risk climbing up with my camera. Sorry everyone!
Past the beacon we continued our
hike across Table which had evened out into more of a relaxing walk. The path
hugged the edge of mountain along the Table Bay side, and it was breathtaking.
The way down was a completely
different story. I had thought that the hike up was tough, but compared to the
way down it was a piece of cake. The majority of our group decided to take the
lovely cable car down, but Josh and I wanted to finish strong and decided to
hike down through Platteklip Gorge. I don’t regret it one bit, but it was
exhausting. The way down snaked through a sharp valley in between two peaks and
offered virtually no shade. The entire path was a steep staircase of orange
stones that baked under the heat of the sun. Some steps were slippery, and some
were so large I had to scoot down them. The only things keeping me going were
Josh’s encouragement and the looks of utter exhaustion I saw on the faces of
the hikers who were climbing up. The sun was so strong because it was only and
hour past noon, and I shared some water with a couple of hikers, chatted
with passersby and wished them good luck, because they were going to need it.
We when finally hit that last step
it felt awesome. Josh and I high-fived and I was so elated, relieved, proud,
and exhausted all at the same time. We hiked about 10 kilometers, heading up
one side of the mountain and down the other. It was the most beautiful hike
I’ve ever done, and I’m certain when other kids want to experience it I’ll be
the first to volunteer. But I’m probably going to take the cable car
down.
 |
| Caroline on the top of the world |
No comments:
Post a Comment