Centenary hut - Injasuthi (Drakensberg) Mar 2005

I drove to Albert’s work at the JSE in Sandton, early Friday afternoon. Zelda was already there. We transferred all our equipment to Zelda’s Golf and left for the Berg just before 3pm. The drive through Jo’burg proved to be less problematic than I expected it would be and we got to Harrismith at 6pm where we had dinner at the Spur. At 7pm we left for Bergville and arrived just after 8pm. I paid for Darrell and Liza as well so they needn’t worry about the accommodation when they arrive later. The three of us set up camp so long under the tennis court club house. Darrell and Liza arrived sometime after 11pm. I helped them to set up the tent before all of us went to bed.

Day 1 (19 March): I actually forgot for a while that it was my birthday. We had a quick breakfast, packed up and left for the Berg. However, Al forgot his contact solution and we had to wait in Winterton for a pharmacy to open. When we heard from someone that the owner was there but wouldn’t open up, Al decided to force the issue. Luckily he managed to get his solution soon after 8am and we were finally able to leave for Injasuthi. The road there is as bad as it always was and we only got to the Office after 9am sometime. We signed in, paid and packed our bags ready to go. There was a fair amount of cloud in the sky and it wasn’t too hot when we started. Where the path led off the road I decided to take the shorter route that would require us to cross the river, as opposed to the longer but drier walk along the top. We got to the river soon enough and all of us had to take our shoes off and struggle across the river. It wasn’t too deep but it was flowing quite fast. With the river behind us I set off up the slope to where I suspected the lower path should be. Through the thick vegetation at the bottom I managed to pick up a game path but wrongly thought that it was an overgrown version of the main path we should’ve been on. Therefore I stuck to the dim path with grim thoughts about how the path will look further up. Luckily we kept on climbing and not long after we started up the slope, stumbled onto the real path. From here it went easier but when we got to the little forested stream it was already almost 12:00. I decided on an early lunch. We had another 500m to go before we reached the turn-off to Marble Baths so we were approaching halfway. However, it was still a long way to go and we didn’t linger. We crossed the little stream just before G8 junction without shoes. The junction was virtually non-existent but I picked up the faint trail leading up next to the river. With Al and Zelda in front we made decent progress despite the very heavy vegetation along the path. This time I managed to stick to the path all the way to where it swung into a side valley. Here the path all but disappeared and I decided to go for the hill. We filled water bottles and headed straight up the steep grass slope. We soon crossed the path again after which the climbing was hard but not intolerable. Liza took her time up the slope but made good progress. Just after 4pm we finally topped out just short of 2200m and our destination was not far off. After a good rest we set off again and finally made it to the hut at 16:45. We were all fairly exhausted after a long day but we set up all our stuff inside the hut. Vandalists had ruined more glass panes throughout the hut and we had to do some sweeping to get rid of the shards. Al, Zelda and I had Mince Mate for dinner while Darrell and Liza cooked rice and mince. We settled soon after dinner.

Day 2 (20 March): I had set my new thermometer during the night and it measured a minimum temperature outside of 9.0 degrees. It was fun to play around with a new toy! Although we rose just before 6am, we took our time to pack everything up and were only ready by 8am. Darrell, Liza and I removed the tops of our packs and stuffed all our gear and food needed for the day. The five packs were scattered between rocks and grass outside the hut, and we tried to camouflage it a little as well as protect it from possible rain. We set off at a fast rate up the slope to the contour path and then started traversing to the south. It was a nice day for a walk in the mountains and we all enjoyed the easy trail around to the bottom of Corner pass. At the pass we started climbing. There were a number of large clouds up on the escarpment and both Darrell and I suspected rain later on. After 40 minutes of climbing and 150m higher in the pass, I calculated that we would not be able to go up Corner, down Judge’s and all the way back to the hut. So instead I aborted the pass and decided to walk around to the bottom of Judge’s pass for lunch and also to inspect Judges pass for future attempts. It was still another 2km around the spurs but we got there after 11am. We had a quick snack before Darrell, Al and I set off to at least where we could see the entire pass. We walked to a major split in the river and sat at a small waterfall for a while, contemplating life. We returned to where we left the girls at the bottom. Al had a refreshing bath in a pool in the river while the rest of us lazed around. At 13:30 we started heading back to the hut and I decided to track the entire path back on the GPS. Without packs, the walking was easy and we maintained a fast pace. At Corner pass I mistook a game path for the real thing and got us onto a steep slope on the true left of the river bed. But we managed to clamber down to the real path and were on our way again. Dark clouds were building on the escarpment and I speeded things up a bit. We saw a lone hiker walking towards us on the lower path leading away from the hut. I was immediately suspicious and sent Al down to investigate. But it turned out to be an innocent hiker on his own mission in the Berg. As we descended towards the hut it started raining lightly and we made it back to the hut just before heavier drops came down. We stayed inside until we heard voices around 4pm. We climbed out and saw some people coming down towards the hut from the contour path. They were a group of seven that camped close to Lower Injasuthi Cave the previous night. We chatted a little and offered to sleep in the one large room of the hut so they could take the other two. This time we had Tuna Mate for dinner. The other group prepared dinner in the room next to ours. They chatted a little afterwards but soon five of them vacated to the two tents they pitched outside. During the night it rained off and on.

Day 3 (21 March): It was a beautiful morning when we woke up. We were underway at 07:30, aiming for the Injasuthi Management track. We got there relatively fast and started the slog back to camp. I didn’t know if there was a path from the Field Ranger’s hut where the track ended; we thought that the path indicated on the map would be a bit long to do. As we hiked, heavy clouds formed on the escarpment and pushed over towards the east. The track hiked very easy and just before 11am we were on the last few 100m looking down on the road back to camp and the cars far beneath us. I was a little worried about getting back because we still haven’t found the trail indicated on the amp, the weather was threatening and there were plenty cliffs right below our feet. But confident that we would find something we kept going, and just a 100m from the Ranger’s hut, we found a path leading down. We took it full of hope which turned into a nice surprise when we saw that the path was in fact pretty good and did lead all the way down. However, the steepness was extreme and the three ladders we had to negotiate did not make things easier. Eventually we got down safely and were on our way back to the cars. Just as I put my pack down it started drizzling slightly. After signing out and all having had a shower, we started driving back. Unfortunately we had to wait an hour for a flooded river to subside before we could cross a low water bridge on the way back to Pretoria.