DATE: 13 – 16 JUNE 2009
TYPE: BACK PACKING – WITH SUMMIT
AREA: PHUTHADITJABA (WITSIESHOEK)
This was a re-visited hike!! We did this one in September last year and had all that glorious snow, so thought that unless we get snow again, this time round was probably going to be quite a let down – anything but!
This is such a lovely hike, awesome scenery and views, but the summit on day 2 is an absolute must, and somehow it truly needs to be marketed much more.
We were blown away with doing the summit on day 2, which was not done when we did this hike in September. Not all the hikers did the summit, and those of us that did found it quite a strenuous climb. There was snow at the top but the most amazing thing was all the icicles we found up at the top. Once we crested the summit, the freezing wind was quite a force to be reckoned with. We were all under the impression that we would be returning via the same route, but found that you actually walk on the top for quite a fair bit, and here you can see for miles around, awesome views, and then scramble down a very steep section, most of the time in Lesotho (according to the GPS!)
Returning to the start on day 3 we did not take the “escape route” which leaves the river bed very early on, and opted to carry on and follow the river as far as we could. We battled to find the exit as a lot of debris had been caught in many places due to the large amounts of water that must have come down the river, and the way out was badly blocked. No problem to us however, we all scrambled over and wound our way very steeply up to a very breathtaking contour walk.
A very short distance form the end we were met by a youngster who offered to guide us in, and one of our hikers opted to have her back pack carried as well.
In conclusion a totally awesome hike, by no means a walk in the park, one needs to be relatively fit especially for the summit. There were quite a few places where the condition of the trial needs to be addressed, and a fair number of markers were missing as well.