Sunday, February 10, 2008

“I didn’t know we were climbing up a f****** river!”

Today I climbed up a river.

Up a mountain, on a trail that was hardly a trail at all. It was supposed to be a nice day-hike, but it turned out to be a sopping wet, hand over hand struggle up a trail that gushed water and mud. By the end, we were climbing much more so than hiking. As we scrambled over slippery wet rocks, we wondered how we had gotten ourselves into this. Well, let me tell you.

(For reference, here is a shot of Botmanskop, the leftmost peak of the Jonkershoek Range. I took this on my hike up Mt. Stellenbosch last week.)


It was a hike organized by the International Office of the University to go up Botmanskop. I had heard it was a good hike with great views, so I decided to go. Seeing that the weather was overcast today only further convinced me that it was a good day for a hike since the temperature was 15 degrees cooler than it had been recently. As I was packing my things this morning for the hike, the thought occurred to me, “Should I bring my rain jacket? Nah! It probably won’t even rain today. I can see some blue sky through the clouds anyways. And even if it does get rainy, I would rather get a little wet than get all sweaty in this humid weather with my jacket on.” Ohhhh how I would later regret that decision…

We set off this morning, and this time I thought I was well prepared. At least much more so than last time. I had lots of water, sunscreen, and food for lunch, so I was gonna be all set, right?

Even though it started to drizzle about an hour into our hike, right as we were reaching the base of the mountain, I didn’t think much of it since I don’t mind the rain. In fact, it was welcomed as it made for much cooler hiking up the steep slope. As the weather started to get a little more “moist” (I’m only throwing that word in because I know how much people love the way it sounds), I thought it would be smart to put my camera and cell phone in the plastic bag I had brought along in my backpack. See? All prepared like the Boy Scout-dropout I am.

We got a little higher, though, and started going through the clouds. It’s a pretty exhilarating experience to find oneself in the middle of a cloud that is passing through, around, and over you. At a little break point, we had some nice views of the area around Stellenbosch that the rain (which had started to let up) was nice enough to let me photograph.

Pressing onward and upward, at this point a couple hours into the hike, none of the fifty people with us wanted to turn back. Eventually though, as we passed through and exited the forest of eucalyptus trees, we found ourselves on a steep and narrow trail that looked totally engulfed in the “fynbos.” For those of you who don’t know what fynbos is, it means “fine bush” in Afrikaans, and is basically the low-lying shrubbery and bush that is common (and unique) to the Cape region. It is dry, prickly, thorn-covered, occasionally poisonous, and generally unpleasant to be in. And THAT is what we had to go through now.

It was also at this point that the leader of the hike informed us that there was this certain plant that we should be especially careful not to touch, as it had spines that if they got in your skin, would cause swelling and itchy irritation for a week. The only problem was that he was so vague explaining which plant it was (and I was so far back in the line of people) that I had no idea what he was talking about. Probably not a good thing to be confused about, but he just kept going, so I thought whatever.

So as we hiked up this steep, prickly trail, the rain continued to fall and increase in intensity. As we neared the summit, which was a huge outcropping of exposed rock, the venture quickly turned from a “hike” to more of a “climb.” And as I climbed hand over hand up the staircase of jagged, wet rocks, I thought, “Hmm, this is probably not safe. But that is what makes it fun, after all.” The last thirty minutes of our 3 ½ hour ascent to the top was pretty agonizing, but the thought of getting to the summit kept us going. The relief of finally getting there, though, was short-lived.














The summit of Botmanskop is pretty spectacular, or at least it would have been had it not been completely shrouded in fog and mist. Basically, we were all thinking “Boy, this view would be incredible if we could actually see anything.” The visibility was about nil (except for the five seconds during which I took the above photos). To add to that, the rain soon turned from a gentle mist to a torrential downpour. The heavens had opened up and were literally drenching us to our bones. The wind, rain, and fog made the experience less than enjoyable (especially after hiking up a mountain for hours), and our one-hour break at the summit had to be cut short because soon lightning and thunder entered the scene and increased the danger level even more. So as the group stood on this exposed rock, at the summit of a mountain, in the rain and fog, with the roll of thunder in the distance, someone still had the sense of humor to say, “Don’t stand next to the tall people.” Everyone immediately stepped back from me. Gee, that was a good feeling, to know that I am pretty much a human lightning rod at the top of this mountain. Wunderbar.





The decision to go down was quickly made, and we started our decent after only a short rest. The way down, however, did not lend us the same “ease” that we had had on the way up. The trail, which before had simply been wet, was now transformed into a gushing river of mud and rainwater that flowed down the mountain and over the rocks creating waterfalls and muddy slopes galore. “This probably wasn’t a good idea, in hindsight” said the hike leader, laughing to himself. And as miserable and tired as everyone was deep down, a sense of humor still was present, at least on the surface. Suddenly, someone shouted, “Sh*#, I didn’t know I’d be climbing up a f****** river!” To which everyone responded with uproarious laughter. Maybe it was because the exhaustion and sheer ridiculousness of the circumstances had made everyone delirious, but the whole way down, people were cracking jokes and at least trying to find amusement in what was, in all senses, a pretty awful situation.

BUT, I must say I did have a lot of fun. And it is definitely these kinds of experiences that one fondly remembers years later. So all in all, I wouldn’t say it was a bad day for anyone. Except maybe for the guy who, as we were hiking down the fynbos part of the trail, decided to just run because “it would be easier and quicker,” and to everyone’s enjoyment (except his own, most likely) could not stop his momentum and ended up flying head first into a huge pile of thorny, prickly, and painful-looking bushes. And as we found out as we helped him get out, it was this bush that our guide had previously warned us not to touch. So much for that. That dude is NOT gonna have a pleasant week ahead of him, that’s for sure.

Well, I hoped you enjoyed the story. It’s probably much more enjoyable to hear about than to experience firsthand, but even if I had been told beforehand what was going to happen (although I would have brought the rain jacket) I wouldn’t have opted out. That’s life, and you gotta live with what it throws at you. And that is my cliché moral for today.





4 comments:

CDW said...

The part about the guy crashing into the bush sounds like a scene from a bad children's movie. You must have made that up.

Anastasia said...

Well, Carl, I must say that you have given quite a good laugh yet again! I'm glad that you're still alive, though...wouldn't have wanted you to fall to your death climbing on those rocks or get struck by lightning! (Everyone moving away from you - "the human lightning rod" - was the funniest part!) Alright...back to history reading for me - definitely not as exciting as your adventure.

petit carl said...

Yeah, I know that particular part of the story sounds a little far-fetched, but I am most definitely not making it up. It was freaking hilarious and all too real. Sorry my friend...

p.s. who are you, calus?

surrealswirls said...

hilarious adventure! thanks for sending me a link to your blog, cousin!

Love, Olivia