A short walk with some fantastic

views.

The hike to the Tokai lookout hut, is a great shorter hike, if you are limited for time, or are introducing someone to the pleasures of hiking. Walking at a reasonable speed, you can be back at your car, in less than 2 hours.

Park your car at the top car park beside the dam, in Silvermine North. (you need a wild card or to pay R15 entry fee at the gate) The take the path, signed to elephants eye cave. Initially a small shaded path, you join with a jeep track after50m. Continue on a small incline for about a kilometer. At a T junction you take a left turn, up a much steeper hill for 20m, then take the small path to the left. Although steep, this path cuts out a large switchback on the jeep track.  Once you rejoin the jeep track, you are already at a height of 550m. Stop here and admire the view over False Bay, and the Muizenberg Mountains for a while.

The jeep track

Once on your way again take the first path to the right. . This path leads you on a relatively flat route, around Steenberg Ridge and above Tokai Forest. During the winter you cross many small streams and it is slippery in a couple of areas, so take care. After a further 500m, you take the left turn at a trail head and begin a small final climb to the hut.

Hiking up Devils Peak

Devils Peak is the large Peak to the left of Table Mountain if you look at it from Cape Town. Although 1000m high, so only 85m lower than Maclears Beacon it is often an ignored area for walking, which is a pity as it has some of the best hiking on the Table Mountain Chain.

The easiest way to the top is from Tafelberg Rd, via the Saddle Path. To get there you drive past the parking area of Platteklip gorge and park at the next path that leads up the mountain. This is a well contoured path that leads first to the contour path, and then on up onto the saddle which is at 650m. You should reach the saddle after about 40 mins walking.

The Saddle Path

 It is here that the real climb begins.  It is worth stopping to admire the view on the way up. On the one side, you can look through the saddle to False Bay, whilst on the other side you have a picture postcard view of the Platteklip Gorge route up Table Mountain, as well as the cable car and Lions Head.

Looking over the saddle to False Bay

An easy scramble route on Table

Mountain

The Constantia Corner route up Table Mountain, is a mild scramble, which takes you to The De Villiers Dam. From there you can either continue your walk further onto the Back Table, or return to your car down the concrete road.

Park your car at Constantia Nek, and start up the concrete road from the bottom. After you pass the gates which mark the start of the Table Mountain National Park, take the first path that leads up the steep slope to your left. This path is steep and quite heavily eroded in places. It rejoins the concrete road after about 15 minutes hard climb. Once you rejoin the road you have the choice to follow the road around a hairpin bend, or go straight ahead. To get to Constantia corner you go straight ahead. The road ends but a small path leads from the end of the road up to your right. Follw this path. After around 200m the path splits. Take the right fork. This path leads you to the base of the cliffs which you follow around so you are now looking over Hout Bay and Orange Kloof.  After another 500m, look for a cairn on your right. This indicates where you should turn upwards. Here the path is steep and leads onto a shoulder. Follow the clear path to your left, which leads up onto Constantia Corner ridge. The path now leads you North for about 2km, to the De Villiers Dam. The route is well marked and includes a couple of easy scrambles. There are 2 distinct milestones on this route. The first is a gap between 2 large rocks, where a large overhang offers a good place for a tea break. (watch out for the blister bush here)

Roderick examining the overhang

The other milestone is the camel rock, one of the oddly weathered rocks on Table Mountain.

The oddly shaped Camel rock

On reaching the De Villiers dam take the path to the right which rejoins the concrete road.

At De Villers Dam, before rejoining the concrete road

A 2 day hike on Table Mountain

with accomodation on the

mountain

Last Wednesday evening I had a real treat. I hiked from Silvermine to the bottom of Platteklip Gorge over 2 days, with the night spent in the Overseers cottage on top of the mountain.

There are a number of routes you can follow to get to the cottage. But I chose to walk from the dam in Silvermine North, around the Hout Bay side of the Constantiaberg, via the lookout point and Blackburn Ravine. This way we enjoyed the floral splendour of Silvermine as well as the fantastic views over Chapmans peak. We then hiked past the manganese mines and over the Vlakkenberg to Constantia Nek. From here, having already been hiking for 5 hours, we had a last one hour climb to the cottage. It was a tough day, but well worth it!!

The view over Hout Bay is magnificent

We arrived at the cottage to be welcomed by our back up team. They had arrived earlier with the luggage and food. After a warm shower we settled down with a glass of wine and snacks. This followed by a braai finished off a perfect day. The Overseers cottage is well equipped with comfortable beds so we then spent a comfortable night before heading off again the following morning.

We were up early to see the sunrise

After an early start to catch the sunrise, and a full breakfast, we again shouldered our day packs and set off on day 2. Again there are a number of routes to Platteklip Gorge. I chose to follow the East side of the mountain until we reached Nursery Ravine. We then turned left and followed the Nursery through to the central part of the mountain, where we visited the waterworks museum. From here I took my favourate path through the aquaduct. (if you have never taken this path, do yourself a favour. It follows a small beautiful gorge that feeds the dams.)

The Aquaduct path follows a small gorge

 This route leads back to join Smuts track on the Eastern side of the mountain. We carried on along this path to Maclears Beacon, and then on to the Table top. We chose to hike down Platteklip rather than cheat and take the cable car.  At the bottom we were met by our faithfull back up team, bearing magnum ice cream and ice tea……. A perfect 2 days.

http://www.ridgwayramblers.co.za/index.php/hiking-options/spend-the-night-on-table-mountain/

Table Mountains waterfalls

along the contour path

One of the nicest shorter hikes on Table Mountain, follows the contour path above Kirstenbosch gardens. It takes around 2 hours, and takes you past 3 beautiful waterfalls. Just after, or even during the rain, these waterfalls can be quite big, and the path difficult to follow without getting your feet wet. However, if you are not afraid of a bit of a paddle,  then this is a great walk.

To get there park at Kirstenbosch’s Rycroft (top gate) Gate. Go through the gate and head straight towards the mountain. The path goes pretty much straight up. After about 20 minutes you meet the contour path. Turn right here. Almost immediately you cross the first waterfall. For much of the year this stream is dry, but during winter it can become a raging torrent. Although quite narrow, it is not always possible to jump accross, so you may have to get your feet wet here! Having crossed the stream, continue along the path. Your next obstacle is the river that runs down Nursey Ravine. This is a fairly broad river, and usually quite easy to cross by jumping from rock to rock. (I do not count this river as a waterfall, as upstream of the path, it is not particularly steep.)

The contour path

Once accross, again, keep following the contour path. Next you come to Skeleton Gorge. Go past Smuts Track, that leads up the mountain and follow the path around the corner. Here is dips down to meet the river. This is one of the most beautiful waterfalls on Table Mountain. A sheer cliff of several metres high, falls straight onto the path. Lined with moss, and with the indigenous forest above it, this spot is beautiful at any time of year. The path leads directly under the waterfall. However, here the river is quite wide, and the path quite broad, so although you may get your feet wet, you don’t feel in danger of being swept away.

The waterfall at Skeleton Gorge

The next and final waterfall is at window gorge. This is the steepest and when in spate has caused me to turn around on a couple of occasions. However, if you  make it past here, take the next right turn off the contour path, and back into Kirstenbosch gardens.

A magnificent waterfall hike

 on Table Mountain

One of the most spectacular hikes on Table Mountain is the Suikerbossie circuit. This route begins and ends at Suikerbossie restaurant. (between Hout Bay and Llandudno) As much of the route up the mountain follows the steep and often wet Myburgh waterfall ravine, this is a route best not followed in the winter, or by those not equipped with good footwear.

Take the turn off the main road signposted to the restaurant, and park before you take the sharp turn to the left. The path is to the left of the pillars that lead into the Ryterplaats estate. Follw the path as it leads past the restaurant and through some pine trees. Once above the pines, the path takes a right turn and follows the contour for around 3 km. This is a wonderful path, above the tree line with towering cliffs above you. The path dips and passes through Myburghs Kloof. Do not turn up the mountain here, but continue to the next thickly wooded ravine. (it should take you around an hour to reach here)

The path leads you up the left side of the ravine through magnificent indigenous forest. After around 15 minutes you come to a waterfall. You clambour up the side of the waterfall following a vague path. There are foot and hand holds, but be carefull as the route can be slippy here. Once at the top the path is even fainter, but you just keep following the river. The trees here are even better, and the sides of the waterfall are lined with dripping moss. In February this is one of the best places for spotting the red disa. But is beautiful at any time of the year. The river bed becomes narrower and narrower and leads to another waterfall. The best route up is directly up the waterfall.

The route follows the narrow river gorge

Once at the top you pick up a path on the left bank of the stream that leads to the top of the ravine and moves gradually away from the river. Once at the top the path levels out and leads you across the mountain, to where it joins the main path which leads accross the 12 apostles to Hout Bay. Turn left onto this path, and follow it past Judas Peak and begins to descend gradually. Once you begin to descend look out for a sharp right turn which will take you to the top of Llandudno ravine. This is a steep descent, over some loose ground. Slowly and carefully is best. At the bottom you get on an amazing contour path, at a height of 400m. Stay on this path, it leads directly back to Suikerbossie Restuarant via a small rock scramble.

The waterfall when flowing

One of my favourite walks in Cape Town, which has some of the most spectacular views from anywhere on the Table Mountain Chain, begins in Silvermine East and takes you to the top of both Muizenberg Peak and St James Peak. One of the nice things about this walk is that you actually begin to walk at around 300m, and the highest point you reach is the top of Muizenberg Peak at 507m. So, although not an easy walk, it doesn’t have any huge steep climbs, such as are found on many other walks on Table Mountain.

The view of Noordhoek from Muizenberg Peak

To get the starting point and car park, you need to drive to the top of Ou Kaapse Weg. Here you turn into Silvermine on the left (if travelling towards Noordhoek) There is a large parking area here, with a R5 parking fee. From the parking area, follow the jeep track for +/- 1km, until you come to a junction. Take the left fork and continue along the jeep track for another km. Here at another junction you continue straight on for another km. Here the jeep track takes a sharp turn to the right and becomes more path like. Look for a smaller path leading off to the left. A small plaque on a rock indicates this as the path to Muizenberg Peak. Although the jeep track has been climbing steadily since you started, this next 500m is the steepest section of the walk. The path leads onto a shoulder, and you take a path to the right which leads you onto the mountains ridge. Here you follow the ridge for 500m, with wonderfull views on both sides. On your left you have False Bay, and the entire Southern suburbs, whislt on your right you can see almost the entire Silvermine Valley with Noordhoek in the distance.

Overlooking False Bay, from Muizenberg Peak

The next section of your walk takes you back down the mountain where you come to another junction. Left will take you down a steep path to Boyes drive, whilst right will take you back onto the jeep track and the way you came. Rather go straight ahead on a clear path, and take the first clear path to the left. This leads you straight to the top of St James Peak. From here you look almost directly down onto surfers corner in Muizenberg. Finally continue to follow the path back onto a jeep track. At the jeep track turn right and at the next junction left. You are now back on the jeep track where you began.

The contour path hike above

Chapmans Peak

The contour path which runs from East Fort, just outside Hout Bay, to Chapmans Peak itself, offers some of the best views in Cape Town and one of the nicest walks on the Table Mountain Chain.

 There is a small climb of around 300m to begin with, but is otherwise generally pretty flat. So this is a good hike if you are not feeling like slogging the whole way up the mountain.

A waterfall coming off Table Mountain

Park your car at the East Fort parking area just outside Hout Bay. From here follow the small path up to East Fort. Take a moment to admire the ancient buildings before continuing uphill on another small path. This path joins a jeep track after about 100m. Turn left and follow the jeep track as it zigzags up hill for another 200m. This is the steepest bit of the walk, so take it slowly and enjoy the views. Once the path has flattenned out, do not take the switchback path that heads still further up the mountain, but continue along the contour towards Noordhoek. The first stretch of the contour path has a steep fall to your right, and many waterfalls cascading from your left (in the winter), so in combination with the views over Hout Bay and Chapmans Peak is truly magnificent. After about half an hour, you come to a junction. This is Blackburn Ravine. A left turn up the hill, will take you to Silvermine. Rather turn right and follow the path 100m down to where the contour path continues on a lower level.  (if you do not rejoin the contour path at the next waterfall but continue down the ravine, you will find yourself back on the jeep track and back at your car) 

The path down Blackburn Ravine

The contour path continues for another hour or so towards Chapmans Peak. The cliffs of Silvermine on the left hand side tower above you, also with some scenic waterfalls, but not right onto the path as on the higher section.

Numerous waterfalls flow over the contour path

 Just before Chapmans Peak you reach a 4 way junction. Left leads once again up and over into Silvermine. Straight on leads to the top of Chapmans Peak. Right leads down onto Chapmans Peak drive, and behind you, is of course, the contour path.

The four way junction

The path down to the road is steep, but clear and well maintained. Once on the road, turn left and walk to your car.

Tranquility Cracks-one of Table

Mountains best kept secrets!

Tranquility Cracks is the name given to one of my favourite places on Table Mountain. From above  it looks like thick  fynbos. But once you’ve squeezed through the initial crack in the rocks, you encounter a labyrinth of corridors between rocks filled with indigenous yellowwood trees. Once inside the cracks, you encounter an area that is pristine and tranquil. A favourite on a windy day, as you are totally sheltered here, and able to enjoy a peaceful break.  

Inside Tranquility Cracks

To find them the best route is up Corridor Ravine. This is one of the many routes that leads off the Pipe Track. You follow the Pipe Track past Kasteelspoort, Woody Ravine and Slangholie Ravine. The path up Corridor Ravine is not marked by a sign, so look for a path going left up the next ravine past Slangholie. (If you miss it, you will end up going up Oudekraal Ravine instead. No problem, just a longer walk) The route up Corridor Ravine is steep and quite slow going. However with lots of stops to admire the view you should be at the top within an hour. Once at the top, turn left and follow the path up an incline. Once the path levels out, after about a 5 minute walk, look for a path to the left. It is small but quite clear. This path will take you directly to the cracks.

The top of Corridor Ravine

For your return journey you can either return via corridor, or continue along the 12 apostles path and take one of the other routes down.

Try a hike on Table Mountain-its

fun!

The World cup in Cape Town has been absolutely fantastic. Its been fantastic in the whole of South Africa, but I have only seen it from a Capetonian perspective. One of the best thing is all the visitors to our city, who would never have come here had they not been a soccer fan. Many of the people I have met, had no expectations or plans. (except for watching the soccer!) So it was extra special to be able to introduce them to the wonders of Table Mountain.

Here are some of them enjoying a walk on Table Mountain.

scrambling up India Venster

Celebrating reaching the top of Platteklip Gorge

The Eland path at the top of Table Mountain

At the highest point of Table Mountain