To avoid getting into the traffic of Cape Town I planned my hike up Devils Peak to start from the east and Lance dropped me of at the Fire Station in Newland Forrest just before 10:00 in the morning. This being the day after my India Venster hike I expected some soreness in my legs, early on during the hike I know I was right in that regard – this was going to be a slow day 😉
Looking at the map ahe
ad of the hike my choice to follow the “Rim trail” up to the Newlands Gorge turned out to be an interesting one. The trail started out as a beautiful small path that soon got fainter and then even fainter, at times it was almost invisible and it became clear that it was used mainly by game, not hikers. Lots of fun, though, to climb over and crawl under obstacles and I did not at all mind the hour it took me to reach the contour path.
The climb up the gorge was steady and, due to my tired muscles, pretty slow without any difficulties. Reaching the saddle I could easily detect the rest of the trail towards to top of Devils peak and continued in a steady pace until I reached the summit.
Sky was clearer than previous days and the view over Cape Town just breathtaking!
The wind from N/W was pretty hard and I hope You can live with the sound on the video:
Going down I had to abandon my original plan of following the
knife edge, that path was simply indiscernible, and
instead I descended down to the Upper 
Traverse path following this around the northern edge of the mountain aiming to get down to Kings Blockhouse.
Parts of the trail offering a lot of fun, steep descents 😀
The contour path took me once again back to Kirstenbosch garden where I got picked up by Lance for the ride back to the house.
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Heading for the Café at the upper station for a nice double Cortado I made a new friend from Perth, Australia and got company for the rest of the hike. We took the trail leading south to the Woodhead reservoir, crossed the dam and turned east heading for Kirstenbosch Garden through Skeleton gorge.
The decent through Skeleton Gorge soon follows a creek carrying no water this time of the year yet should be impossible to pass during rain fall. Leading through beautiful shady forrest and offering fun climbing parts and even a few ladders it´s a treat after the scourging sun on the top af the mountain. A short walk after reaching the bottom of the gorge lies the botanical garden of Kirstenbosch, unfortunately I didn´t have time to explore the garden itself, got that saved for another day!
the hike became more of a climb in some sections!
de, aiming to follow Smuts Track up to the peak of Table Mountain.
mber 1st, managed to get the tent dry between showers in the morning and had everything packed and ready. Spent some time in the cabin chatting with other hikers and sorting my stuff for the next few days of the hike.
stones and blocks were damp and slippery. The gradient is partly rather steep and standing on the peak of the pass I felt the total of about 1100m (3300ft) elevation in my legs – awesome feeling to get up there, though, and totally worth the effort!
y, you just have to embrace it – rest day ?
e tent.
want to do an interview, naturally I feel opposed to persuade them, though.