Mountain Sanctuary Park hiking (Magaliesberg) Oct 2006

After playing squash early in the morning I drove to Mountain Sanctuary Park on my own, arriving at around 08:40. This weekend was an MCSA organized adventure race where our Search & Rescue team would organize and set up events to perform. I didn’t wait very long for Graham and Christi to arrive. We expected Gert as well and waited for a while but only Rob and a client showed up.

Day 1 (7 October): Graham, Christi and I left for the Cedarberg campsite. I emptied my pack to be able to carry more gear, with the intention of walking back out to MSP and perhaps even sleeping there (at MSP) rather than up at the campsite. We arrived at Cedarberg campsite and there were already a few people for the MCSA Johannesburg section’s 75th anniversary meet. We took a while to sort out some ropes before leaving for either side of Cedarberg gorge to set up the Tyrolean traverse. Christi and I went to Frog gully while Graham went to the top of Boggle. When we arrived we waited for Graham to tell us exactly where he wanted the Tyrolean to run to. We then started setting up anchors but it wasn’t long before Gert, Graham and Ian also showed up and helped us to set up. Tony and Catherine went to Graham’s side to help out. It took us a long time to set everything properly and in the process the time ran past lunch. Since I still had to go back to MSP, I left. I then decided to come and sleep at the Cedarberg campsite anyway which meant I had to fetch my kit and drag it up to Cedarberg. On the way down I came across Arthur and Theresa as well as a few other MCSA members on their way up. Back at MSP I very quickly packed and walked back up. Having promised Graham Beneke that I would take water to them at Frog gully I filled up my Drom bag and walked back there. Unfortunately, no-one was around so I returned to camp. In the meantime I decided it would be pretty cool to walk up to the Nooitgedacht towers late in the afternoon and return to the campsite at night, thereby doing some night solo walking as well as night navigation. So at 15:30 I left Cedarberg campsite with water, food, map, compass, GPS and camera. Walking to the other side of Cedarberg gorge I scared up a few klipspringers and walked right through the middle of a baboon troop. I slowly aimed off to the east and gained height slowly towards the summit ridge but on the way started developing some cramps in my hamstrings. Taking stretch breaks alleviated the pain a little but the cramps never went away completely. Slowly the Nooitgedacht towers grew bigger and eventually, just after the Red gully path, I came across a dirt road that obviously ran to the towers. This made walking a bit more comfortable but the cramps still forced me to stop now and again to eat and drink. Finally arriving at the towers I summitted the trig beacon at 17:30. I walked back and summitted another trig beacon (289) not very far from Nooitgedacht, perched on top of an old Boerefort shelter. The light started to fade fast now and because I wanted to say hi to Rob and his client at Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, I quickened my pace. Judging the apparent position of the campsite from the map I entered a thumb-suck coordinate into the GPS. As the light finally disappeared completely I was a bit nervous as I couldn’t really see anything beyond the flashlight (heavy cloud obscured the full moon) and I had no idea how accurate my GPS position was. I struggled through some really awful bracken and fern in the throat of Tonquani gorge and then walked on the GPS as best I could. Rounding a rocky outcrop, not really knowing where exactly I had to go to, I spotted a rock feature silhouetted against the dark sky that looked promising. Walking to it I soon realized that it was in fact Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee. Needless to say, I was extremely happy that the coordinate I entered was absolutely spot-on – less than 20m out! Rob and his client were busy with dinner and I joined them for a while, chatting. I left them at 19:30, planning to descend to Tonquani gorge via Boulder and then back up Cedarberg gorge to the campsite. Following Rob’s general directions I stumbled onto the Boulder kloof shoulder and descended rapidly. Knowing now that I can’t really go wrong anymore and that I only had to be careful of falling, I made good progress. Going up into Cedarberg gorge my legs cramped again and I took a break in the pitch dark, listening to all the nocturnal creatures about. Going up Cedarberg in the dark turned out to be a bit easier than I expected and before long, I came upon the spot where I collected water earlier that afternoon, at the bottom of the descent from the Cedarberg campsite. Quickly walking to the top I saw the big campfire the group made. They were happily singing along to a guitar but I was too tired to join them. Having taken an hour and ten minutes from Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee I was happy with the day’s walk but now needed food and rest. I had two boiled eggs, almost a litre of Clifton and then went to bed. Unfortunately mozzies bugged me until past midnight and when the sun rose the next morning I could’ve done with a few more hours sleep.

Day 2 (8 October): I lazed around the campsite, having breakfast while other people started packing up. I chatted to Graham about what he wanted me to do that day and he asked me initially to bottom belay the abseil setup. However, to avoid damage of the rope by fast abseiling, the abseil was later canned and I decided to act as belayer on the Frog gully side of the Tyrolean. Taking some gear, food and water with me, I left just after 9am. Graham went to the other side. It was a very lazy morning and Graham and I played on the Tyrolean for a while, waiting for the first team to arrive. The first team only came past at around 11:45. Various people showed up during the day to see what was going on and I enjoyed the banter. At around 3pm the last group came through. After this we packed up, walked back to camp, then to MSP, had a debrief of the whole weekend before I left MSP at around 6pm.