Victoria Peak with the Patagons
Kelson above Jonkershoek valley
At the beginning of the week that I finally became a member of the Mountain Club of SA, some of the Patagonian trekkers and I headed for Victoria Peak, the highest peak in the Jonkershoek mountains. It was a warm day with high cloud and haze and no wind. Pretty perfect. Our route followed the eastern contour path to Bergriviersnek, across Dwarsberg plateau to the peak (where we saw three klipspringers warily tracking our progress), up to the peak, and then continued along the Panorama route and down Die Kurktrekker (the Corkscrew). 18.6 km through 1200m elevation up and down, 8 hours – the sort of hike that you feel in your legs for the next two days at least.
Patrick Shone, the reserve manager, subsequently told me about an endemic protea that occurs only on the shale, grassed dome that is Victoria Peak. I believe that we saw some – survivors of last year’s devastating fires.
A Google Earth track and some more photos follow below…
Klipspringers on the way to Dwarsberg
Alternatively, download the kml track for viewing in Google Earth
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