Se7en + 1 Hike through the Burn at Cape Point…

It’s the weekend, and a good time to be thinking about hiking. Our hike from this past Friday was so great that we actually just can’t wait to share… All our Cape Point hikes begin with a lesson from our fabulous SANParks ranger.

This month we went exploring through the fynbos in exactly the same spot that we went wandering last year. The task was to map the area, observing any unusual features…

A part of the world where you always have to take a closer look…

A wander through a dry lake…

And who can resist stepping stones…

After our class we headed to somewhere that has been peaking our interest since last summer. From time to time during the Autumn prescribed burns are performed in the Table Mountain National Park and we had noticed from observing a previous burn site just how quickly the environment burst back into life… New plants bursting with life attracted lots of wildlife to the area… we have been keen to explore here and hopefully see some wild life…

We were on a roll, even remembering to take a photograph before we got going…

And for Marcia, who thinks family photos are the easiest thing in the world…

It looks like the middle of nowhere…

But there are markers all the way…

There are signs of life…

And then…

We spotted these…

The streams were dry…

The bushes were golden…

And the bontebok everywhere…

We stopped for lunch…

And to look at the view…

Then onwards and upwards…

And we discovered a fantastic natural playground…

With interesting nooks and crannies…

Of course we stopped to play…

Who can resist a rock that looks like a pile of pancakes…

Or dare I say a turtle…

And look back on past hikes, that’s sirkelsvlei in the distance…

And when you feel like the rocks are watching you… chances are that they are… from above

Wherever we looked… from below…

And as we came over the top of the mountain from one side, we met this crowd coming over the mountain from the other side… the surprise was mutual…

The ground turned rocky…

And the shortest person in our group really really wanted to spot an elephant…

Finally we made it to the top… and a howling Cape gale blowing…

And a look down on the route that most folk take when they visit the Park… to the light house and back as fast as you can go…

We could see our hardest hike in the park… (had I seen this before we may never have attempted it… forget about a contour path, up and down and up and down and up and down over each of those mountains).

And a peek at Cape Point…

And down again…

And all the new green…

And there is always one more mountain to climb…

And over the top…

Well marked all the way…

And into the wind…

Last rest before the end…

And the end of the hike in sight…

And these hour markers… well we always take much longer… that may well be because we have to stop and play along the way, but they are good for a guide.