Lion's Head - Cape Town Nov 2007

A quick walk up Lion's Head after working in Cape Town for the day

Hebron hiking trail Nov 2007

After work on Friday, I drove to Pam’s place in Primrose. I picked Pam up and we got onto the N12 towards Witbank. We arrived at Hebron around 18:30 and I realized I’ve been there before. Chatting to all the others who were already there, I heard the hike used to be called Strikdas.

Day 1 (10 Nov): We woke up shortly after sunrise and were on our way by 07:30. The area was as wet as I remember it from the previous hike but the grass was not as long so our boots stayed dry. We made fast progress through a small black wattle forest, over a bit of grassland and then descended to a small stream which led up through some cascades to a farm dam where Shirley and I spotted Little grebes and Yellow-billed ducks. We carried on to the road which led to a access road up through another wattle forest and eventually reached the overnight hut. The owner’s wife was there along with three of her dogs. A fourth, Nika, had walked all the way with us and stayed behind when we left. We had a quick bite to eat in the shade of some pine trees before moving on. Madelein, Irma and Elise decided to take the shorter route back to the basecamp while we did the Ribbok trail. Through the short grass on the mountain it was difficult to spot the markers and it took a while before we were on the path again, climbing to a small patch of stunted trees at the top of the ridge where Eddie, Shirley, Pam and I sat for lunch. The wind was blowing strongly since the morning and it was nice and cool in the hot sun. After lunch we continued up the ridge but I started to pick up the pace and soon was far ahead of the others. My feet were a little sore and I could see my arms and legs were getting burned so I wanted to get out of the sun. Eventually getting back on the Hebron trail which led back to basecamp, it wasn’t long before I overtook Madelein, Irma and Elise. At 14:30 I was back at camp and had a nice shower. Unfortunately my arms and legs got burned properly and I knew it was going to hurt for a while. The others eventually also showed up and we rested and chatted the rest of the afternoon. After dinner I showed pictures and movies of the past year’s hiking and all of them loved it – they seemed to be inspired by it and wanted me to take them up to the Drakensberg early 2008. We went to bed at 21:30.

Day 2 (11 Nov): After breakfast we helped Eddy look for his car keys – he thought he may have lost it on the trail. We gave up and went for a short hike – the Waterval route in reverse. Down at the dam we spotted the ducks and grebes again, as well as a Grey heron and two Spur-winged geese. Past the cascades and through the grassland and wattle forest – soon we were back at camp, had a shower and were ready to go. I helped Eddy to get the car started without the keys but when he later got ready to pack, he discovered the keys in his jeans’ back pocket. Then we were gone and had lunch at the Wimpy in Carolina before driving home.