Mike's pass to Old Fire Lookout - Cathedral Peak (Drakensberg) Jun 2005

I picked Gordon up at his home and drove through to Bergville. There wasn’t anybody at the campsite’s office so we left R50 and a message that we were sleeping at the tennis courts. We read a little before bed but were trying to get up early so we went to bed just before 10pm. During the night temperature dropped to -2 degrees and I was optimistic about some really cold weather up on top.

Day 1 (11 June): We got up at 05:30 and were on the road before 6am. Just after 7am we arrived at Cathedral Peak and signed in. We left the car at the bottom of Mike’s pass and started hiking up, very hopeful in getting a lift to the top. After about an hour’s walk we started to realize that we were not going to get a lift. There were just no cars on their way up! There was one long section we could have skipped by taking a steep shortcut, but the hope of hitching a ride and the steepness of the path kept us on the road. We stopped once to take a quick breather but only sat down for a while once we reached the top of Mike’s pass. It was just before 10am when we started the slog up to the Old Fire Lookout. We made good time around the first few hills; the veld was burnt all around us and the path was as clear as daylight. Then the steep ridge to the hut began. Having already walked up Mike’s pass, the effect began to show and we slowed down considerably. Because I expected there to be water at the hut neither of us packed a lot of water. We had a few bites to eat before we got to the hut. Arriving at the hut just before 2pm, we were shocked to find the water tank in two pieces on the ground and the roof of the hut falling apart. The lack of water was appalling. With my feet packing up over the last 2km I wasn’t really in a state to go any further – we had already decided that we were not going to push for the top. But now without water, I had to rely on Gordon to take the Drom bag and go look for water. He left at immediately. I rested my feet and had a short snooze before a family from Qumbagana showed up at the hut. The kids poked around the hut and they all had a good lookout before going down again. Gordon got back at 15:30 having found some seepage water not too far up the path. He managed to collect a good 8 litres – more than enough for us. We started with food at 5pm and had a very nice dinner with mince, bacon, tomato and onion relish with some rice. After dinner we took pictures of a beautiful sunset and went to bed. The wind blew all night. Although we didn’t get any unwanted visitors, we barely slept with some very strong winds trying to take the hut off the mountain.

Day 2 (12 June): We got up early having grown quite tired of trying to sleep with gale force winds raping the hut. The temperature dropped to a low of 4.9 degrees only – very disappointing. We had a quick breakfast and left down the path. We made good time and was soon at the top of Mike’s pass. We were hoping to catch a lift down but once again, nothing came along. We decided to go down the shortcut this time and were able to skip a good 3km of the pass. The shortcut was steep and very loose in places but at least we saved a lot of time. We were down again just before 10am. After a good shower we signed out and left for home.

It was a rather disappointing hike. Although we managed to climb just over a 1000m in the day, we didn’t reach the top of Organ Pipes and the expected cold never came. But we also learned that we shouldn’t bank on water at the hut again.