Doesn't Carl Do Anything Other Than Hike?

The answer to the above question would obviously be no. After going on my third, and by far most enjoyable/exhausting hike, I thought it merited at least a brief post. So, this one will try to feature more wonderful pictures for you all to look at.

Well, on Sunday I decided to go back up Mt. Stellenbosch with three other friends; only this time, we would try to go up all the way to the top. So after gathering at Seven Eleven (yes, they have those here only it is more like a small grocery store) to pick up some food and water, we set out at 8:00 am from campus. We wandered around for a bit and eventually found the right trail head. It wasn't at all hot yet, so leaving early seemed to have worked out well for us.

Once on the actual trail up the mountain, the most grueling stretch of rocky incline lay before us, at the top of which was the ridge that we had decided to make our stopping point last time. It was obviously not "easy going," but I think the combination of the cool morning weather, and mental preparation made the climb up to "The Lion King Ridge" a little easier to handle.

"Look, Simba. Everything the light touches is our kingdom."

From that point, the trail transformed into a much more winding, and gently rising route through fynbos (shrubbery) and over large boulders. Although it was a long way up to the top, and it was getting quite hot as the day approached noon, this was by far some of the most enjoyable hike I’ve been on yet. We were jumping from boulder to boulder, leaping over crevices, skirting along cliffs, and generally feeling like hardcore mountain men (slash woman). Eventually the trail completely disappeared and you just have to keep going up any way you can. This allows for one to be creative and innovative in choosing how to surmount obstacles such as rock outcroppings, cliff faces and the like.

Here is a shot of a crevice that we jumped over. If our attempt had not been successful, we would have become quite intimate with the thorn bush thirty feet below us.

We got to the top, completely exhausted, and had nothing but spectacular views and thin air all around us. After eating lunch, which consisted of smashed sandwiches and granola energy bars, we took some pictures and then started the dreaded descent.

You see, what had been so enjoyable to go up, was not so much fun going down. It is much easier to scramble up rocks versus sliding down them. Also, as there was not much of a trail, we did wander a little too far off course and found ourselves in some especially thick and prickly fynbos. It was slow going through that, and not so much fun.


Anyways, long story short (only not really that short), we got down off the mountain and headed home, coming in at about 6:00 pm. So obviously, after a 10 hour endeavor, we were pretty much pooped. Dirty, sweaty, dehydrated, sunburned (despite four applications of sunscreen), cut up, and hungry, we settled down in Metanoia, ordered some pizza and put on some Arrested Development. It was a nice ending to a pretty tiring day. I also noticed that we got so high, my empty water bottles that I had closed when we were on top of the mountain had compressed and were being crushed by the change in air pressure once I was down. I don’t know about you, but I found that pretty cool. There is a lot of word play I could do right now with the phrase “getting high,” but I won’t. So let me just tell you that today, one day after this formidable undertaking, my legs are just about as dead/sore as can get. But it was SO worth it.

Ok, well that does it for my latest hiking adventure. I promise it will be the last hiking-related post for at least a month. I’ll try and find something else to write about that has equally fun pictures and stories.