Hiking Devil’s Peak with the Gang…

It is hiking season over here, we have literally hiked all day every day this week. It is the best time of year for glorious days… not too hot and not too cold. Last weekend we embraced our family tradition of hiking on Table Mountain over the first weekend in May. We have been doing this for years and done a lot of exploring over time. Since our first stagger up Platteklip to the People’s Trail last year. This year we decided to try something new to us and headed up Devil’s Peak. It was fantastic… in fact I can’t understand why the whole world goes up Lion’s Head so often, when Devil’s Peak is there.

Don’t get me wrong, we loved hiking Lion’s Head, but if you have enjoyed getting up Lion’s Head… then next time head up Devil’s Peak. The views of Table Mountain and the city are unprecedented and while the hike is steeper and further than Lion’s Head… there are none of the crowds, just wide open space and fynbos like never before.

From Tafelberg Road…

We began our hike on Tafelberg Road… If you drive past the Table Mountain Cable Car Entrance, and keep going past the hut at the start of Platteklip Gorge, just before the road closes with bollards there is a group of trees where you can park.

The path begins on the road there and then zigs zags upwards, cross the contour path and keep going up the slope towards the saddle.

There are stairs… and lots of them… and it is totally doable, just keep plodding.

I am guessing that this in the heat of summer must be pretty unbearable, but in the early morning on a perfectly crisp autumn day, it was lovely.

This will take you to flat rock and you will be rewarded with pretty running water…

And from the saddle… it is a 300m push to the top… it is steep and gravelly… but just take it slow and chug up it… the views are totally totally worth it.

You pop up at a good rest point, just before the last short push to the top. There is a great lookout over Table Bay…

And then a last stretch of up to the first beacon…

That isn’t quite the top, but it is very close to the tippy top. A quick walk through the most pristine and untouched fynbos will leave just in awe… And that’s it. You are at the top.

Unprecedented Views

Let’s say, that you can see straight into the hike that is Platteklip George. From our perspective, while Platteklip is a hugely popular hike, it is not for the faint-hearted… and I would treat that hike with caution.

Otherwise the view from above the car park quickly emerges…

And from the saddle…

From the first beacon…

From the top you can see the whole of Table Bay…

As well as down the peninsula towards Cape Point… not to mention the whole of Table Mountain.

And the Knife Edge, which is a hike for another day…

Fynbos and Birds

Otherwise it appears to be the season for King Proteas and they were everywhere… and spectacular. And sugar bird on almost every single protea bush.

A Little Diversion… to Pulpit’s Rock

After some coffee at the top… we headed back down the slope that took so long to get up (!) and arrived back at the Saddle fairly quickly. The gravity that made it so hard to get up to the top, meant that we could tumble down fairly fast. Instead of going back down the way we came we took a quick walk towards the Newlands side of the mountain so that we could have a look at Pulpit’s Rock.

Which, of course we had to climb… because having seen it from the highway, looking up the mountain for years, we really wanted to have a chance to look down on a miniature Newlands Forest and the Southern Suburbs.


It is a long way down…

The Way Down

From Pulpit’s Rock we headed back to the Saddle, and instead of the zig zag stairs down to the road we took an alternate route past Oppelskop Ridge down to the road…

This path is not nearly as steep as the way we went up…

And some astonishingly beautiful natural features…

And this is Oppelskop…


Following the path takes you back down to Tafelberg Road… you can further around the front of the mountain to Woodstock Cave or the King’s Blockhouse, but we were happy to take a look at the guns below the road and then take a wander along Tafelberg road, back to our parking spot.

Gallery of the Gang

Photo Album