Somerset-Sneeukop – a birthday surprise
This hike will long be remembered for the sweet surprise of a birthday cake at 1105 m ASL. Yolanda and Kevin hatched the plot and Kevin carried it up in his already very full pack. He even played dumb when I happened to mention that it was my birthday as we took...
read moreArangieskop hike – take two
Arangieskop Hiking Trail is a very fine trail, well laid out by somebody who was determined to show the diversity of views and flora to be found on a single mountainside. Make sure that your knees are in good nick and that your pack is light, because the climb is...
read moreSweni Wilderness Trail, Kruger NP
Almost 10 years to the day after the last occasion at Sweni with my wife and daughters, and late father-in-law, Marion and I returned to immerse ourselves in wild nature once more, with friends Paul and Debbie. As I have written many times elsewhere on this blog about...
read moreTable Mountain the easy way: Orange Kloof
The route up the jeep track that skirts Orange Kloof and the path up Disa Gorge is probably the easiest route up to the "back table" on Table Mountain, where the reservoirs are located. It passes through a restricted area and you will need a permit from SANParks or...
read moreHarkerville Coastal Hiking Trail
Harkerville Coastal Hiking Trail is variously described as "more spectacular than the Otter Trail" and "the best two-day trail in the country". I have always been somewhat sceptical about these claims, but I have to admit that after doing it, there is some substance...
read moreVideo: Botmaskop to Saaltjie hike
Kevin led an MCSA hike from Botmaskop along the watershed to Saaltjie, the north-eastern rim of the Jonkershoek valley. It was the reverse of a route previously hiked. A pleasant morning that left me with stiff flanks. It must be because of all the cycling ... [HTML1]...
read moreKaroo MTB Tour
This is not a race; it is a tour! Disclaimer: I am not a cyclist nor MTB rider, so take the following from whence it comes: from a hiker who found himself riding a bicycle for 7 days over 611 kms on dirt roads and tracks. The first hint that this was not the leisurely...
read moreBoegoekloof Circuit Boland Trail
Some of the benefits of being a mountain club member are that you get to go to places that you would not normally be able to explore - and camp out there - and share the mountains with like-minded people who also know what they are doing in these lofty places....
read moreFull moon at Dwarsberg
So there I was in bed, sleepily easing into a lazy Saturday morning with no particular plans or obligations when an SMS pinged in on my 'phone: would I like to join the mountain club party that was heading up that morning to the Dwarsberg plateau to overnight under...
read moreThe Otter Trail
19 to 23 January 2013 I last hiked the Otter Trail, perhaps South Africa's most famous hiking trail, circa 1994 with some friends. It was mid-winter, fairly cold and mostly cloudy. Nevertheless, I remember that it was spectacular and never really expected to walk it...
read moreHell on wheels: Seweweekspoort-Anysberg
It sounded like a good idea: an unsupported bicycle tour through the Swartberge and Anysberg for me and Gaucho Pedro (Peter Groves) who was visiting from the UK. It is a good idea, except when the Karoo decides to visit a heatwave on you. Three successive 40+°C days...
read moreSquare Tower Peak: where nobody goes
Square Tower Peak has attained a degree of notoriety in the Stellenbosch Section of the Mountain Club. When a club trail leader from Cape Town called Stellenbosch's Paul Verhoeven asking for directions down from the peak, the helpful reply went something like this:...
read moreAdventures at the end of the world
After Torres del Paine the mission was to sea kayak in the Chilean fjords. We (there were now only four) hadn't done our homework very well, but had a vague plan to hook up with a kayak outfitter in Ushuaia, Argentina's southernmost city on Tierra del Fuego. Shaun...
read moreScrambling up the Cathedral
Katedraal is the Afrikaans name for the Second Ridge Peak, one of the thin, serrated ridges that line the eastern rim of the Jonkershoek valley south of the Pieke(Twin Peaks). The Mountain Club's Stellenbosch section tackled it as yet another cold front made ready to...
read moreSolitary walk on Stellenbosch Mountain
When Paul bailed from our planned hike I was so desperate to get into the mountains again that I did something that is not recommended and is potentially stupid: I went hiking alone. It was the first hot day of spring, 34°C or so, and crystal clear. Cape Point was...
read moreBobbejaansrivier potholes
The Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphone does incredible panorama shots. This was taken on the Bobbejaansrivier (Baboon River), a tributary of the Witte River that courses down Bain's Kloof. It was a beautiful midwinter day, yesterday.:
read moreDigital Patagonia
Digitally processed images from the Torres del Paine and Los Glaciares treks and Tierra del Fuego. I have tried to select some of the better photos and give them some unusual treatment. Perhaps it works and adds drama to the scenes; perhaps it doesn't. Click on the...
read morePatagonian treks: Torres del Paine
I could try and describe the extreme beauty of Torres del Paine in words - but that would be futile. I would rather let our photos convey some sense of its wonder and grandeur. We walked the classic 'W'-trail over 9 days covering some 107 km, starting at the CONAF...
read moreA circuit of Paarl Mountain
There are many easy walking routes around the granite inselbergs of Paarl Mountain, most of them ideally suited to leisurely outings with a young family. Paul and I decided to get into the outdoors again for the first time after our return from trekking in Patagonia....
read morePatagonian treks: Los Glaciares
The first of our treks in southern Patagonia during April was the classic circuit at the northern end of Parque Nacional Los Glaciares (Glacier National Park), in Argentina's Santa Cruz province. The 5-day circuit of 53.5 km takes one to the glaciers, lakes and...
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