Finally! I have climbed Table Mountain. We have been planning on doing it for weeks but we finally accomplished it today. It was just Jeff, Matt, Katie and I but it was good with a small group - we would never have accomplished it with everybody.
There are many paths to take to get up there. You can also take the cable cars up the mountain but we really wanted to climb it. We took the path from Kirstenbosch botanical gardens. The route was essentially Smuts Track to Skeleton Gorge. It was gorgeous but man was it strenuous. The city did a great job at keeping the trails up and because it is so steep, it is mostly thousands upon thousands of stairs/steps made out of wood. Sometimes, the stones acted as the steps. Also, there is one point, after you climb up several ladders that are built into the rock, that the path is completely gone because of a rock slide. So we had to maneuver ourselves up the rocks, up big boulders, ladders and more rocks to get to the very top. My knees aree killing me now. I took tons of pictures at the top but all I can say is that the pictures do not do the view justice at all. It was gorgeous. You could see all of Cape Town, the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean. Plus, it is surprising how much fauna is at the top of Table Mountain. There were gorgeous flowers and that is where we saw the Proteaus, the country flower. Hopefully I will be going up there again soon. I do not think I could hike that route again (and no Amanda I will not take you on that route because it is too strenuous and the ladders would freak you out. They freaked me out) and it took us 3 hours to get to the top. Once at the top and once we had lunch (which is was a major thing...I was starving), my knees were hurting so bad that Jeff, Katie and I took the cable car back down, hailed a taxi and went home while Matt hiked down. He wanted to do it by himself but I still feel bad. He is still not back yet and it is 7:13, we got back at 4:30 and we left the house this morning at 9:30. That mountain and the mountain range is gorgeous though. I cannot wait to do it again and I cannot wait to show Amanda. I am so excited for her to come down, even though it is 3 months away. But I am also insanely jealous that she is going to Belgium and Paris next week. Oh well - I am living in a place where I can see table mountain out my bedroom window. Once again...it is gorgeous here - everybody should come!
I have added more photos to my photobucket site. Oh and for anybody that wants to send me packages, you can. the delivery man, if you or somebody is not there, will leave a note and you then have to pick up the package at the post office. They will not leave the package on the doorstep. So in case anybody wants to send me something (watch out it may be expensive but I could really use some ring dings), my address is 10 Loch Rd, Rondebosch Cape Town 7700, South Africa.
Love and miss you all!
3 comments:
You rock! Great job. I knew you took after me. :) Not hiking back down was a very smart move. Believe it or not, hiking down is much much harder on your knees than hiking up. Don will be so excited to know that you want to come hiking with us when you come back! haha Next thing you know, you'll be mountain biking with us. Don't forget to visit those gardens and take lots of close ups of all the flowers :)
I take offense to the fact that everytime you do something, you say - I won't take you there AManda!
Amanda do not take offense! I have not pointed out all of the things that I want to take you to - that greatly outnumbers the things I won't take you to. The things that I won't take you to is because you will freak out from heights. honestly, would you not freak out if you had to climb up a ladder that was built into the rock face? But Amanda - I love you and have soo much cool stuff planned for us!
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