Great Hikes in 2004

Ian Webb, Cape Town, South Africa

A list of my hikes in 2004

2004

• 17 & 18 December: Two mellow day hikes at De Hoop Nature Reserve. The Heron loop (4 hours of the Vlei trail), during which we saw a really beautiful puffadder. Then a coastal walk along part of the Whale Trail. Both hikes very worthwhile.
• 2-3 November: 2-day kayaking trail in the Abel Tasman National Park, New Zealand. Awesome! Beware the Mad Mile but otherwise utterly amazing.
• 27 October: Oh my word! The Tongariro crossing in New Zealand. What an incredible hike, with snow, volcanoes, sulphur vents, crater lakes, hot springs and awesome panoramas. We had planned to do the full Northern Circuit ut the weather didn't cooperate. Instead we spent an extra day at Mangatepopo Hut, visiting the Grand Chateau, Tamaraki Falls / Gollum's pool. Next morning the skies had cleared so we did the crossing. Awesome.
• 10 April: Two Oceans Half-marathon: my 4th half marathon as a walker (competing with about 8000 runners, some of whom I beat). Quite tough because of the 2h35 cutof, but I made it with 1 minute to spare. Some rain along the way and heavy mud on the UCT field at the finish.
• 20-22 March: A long weekend at Krom River in the Cederberg. A gentle Scouts-and-parents hike up to Disa Pool and an outing to Maalgat, while another group of Scouts climbed Sneeuberg.
• 13-14 March: Boland Trail Nuweberg circuit: 11km Nuweberg to Shamrock Lodge / Landdroskop, then back a longer 17km route, or 20km if you're dumb like us and miss a turnoff and end up walking back through miles and miles of fairly uneventful pine forest. Other than that, and some very loud co-residents of the Shamrock Lodge hut, a very pleasant hike with the proteas in bloom.
• 22 February: 10km fun walk at the Cape Town Marathon. Time of 1h08, which I was pretty happy with.
• 13 February: A recce for a new hike in the Langeberg mountains as guests of the Bushmanspad farm (and a word from our sponsors: if you're looking for 4-star luxury guest cottages in the Bonnievale area, Bushmanspad is the place to go). The route we took went from the cottages up onto a plateau half way up the Langeberg, passed above the Doringkloof, and came down towards the farm dam. A very pleasant view and nice fynbos, but quite strenuous as there was no path. We mapped the route in detail so hopefully a path will eventually be constructed, and it will become an easier route of about 4 hours, or longer if you take a trip to the top of the Langeberg overlooking the Montagu valley.
• 7 February: Kalk Bay caves. We approached from the Silvermine side instead of from Boyes Drive above Kalk Bay. We squeezed through Robin Hood as far as the junction, where we found a burning candle, so we weren't the only visitor that morning. We also explored Oread Halls and found the entrance to Clovelly Cave but didn't explore it. Annoyingly, we missed Boomslang Cave because we were on the wrong level.
• 31 January: 'Downhill Disa Dawdle' starting at the top cable station via Echo Valley to the dams (a little early in the season, but we saw quite a few disas). On a ridge near Wynberg Cave, my father-in-law took a tumble and cut his head quite badly (5 stitches). After the first aid, we were very lucky to meet a group of Metro vehicles on their way down from a training exercise, and they gave a lift to the patient and some others, for which we are most grateful.
• 4 January: Table Mountain 101 - from Cecilia up Skeleton Gorge, to the huts and a view of Camps Bay down Kasteelspoort. Back down Nursery Ravine. Starting at Cecilia saves the Kirstenbosch entrance fee.

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