Overnight Berg hikes with kids

Digz wrote:

Looks cool, did you sleep in this cave?

Didn't sleep in grindstone - though it looked really comfortable and inviting and the water drip Magan mentioned was a steady flow. Took about 2 hours up and 1 hour down. Its a lovely setting and an easy trip, although quite sustained uphill if you take the direct path in.

We did sleep over at Lower Injisuthi for a couple of nights. That was a 3 hr walk in, but with a bit of time spent crossing full rivers. That too is a lovely setting.

The advantage of this part of Injisuthi is that there are no readily walkable passes through to Lesotho which feed into the valleys of Lower Inj and Grindstone caves, so one can be much more relaxed about smugglers and security. In other places I would imagine that kids would pick up the sense of vigilence evident in the adults.

If you are able to get down to the southern berg, there are a plethora of caves. The easiest would be from Garden Castle station where in a distance of 3km, over very gentle ground, you can access Pillar and Annex cave as well as in the next valley you can access Sleeping Beauty Cave. Out of all these, I would go with the Annex as it is off the beaten track about 500m past Pillar Cave and has the most amazing pool just above a 2m w/f. This pool when there is a good flow is like a small jacuzzi and can't be beaten.

There should be no smuggler activity in either of these valleys which makes it very safe.

The other options as mentioned would be Grindstone Caves, though it is quite far from the river and also a bit of climb to backwards and forwards from the river. But if you go down to the river and stick around there for the day it is a huge amount of fun in the rock water slides.

Hey Digz

Welcome. I would agree with all on the caves option. ST's post re: The Annex, beyond pillar cave is a brilliant option for an easy walk in. Lower Injasuti cave is also awesome, but a bit of a tricky to access the river reqularly.
There are some fantastic caves in the Cobham reserve area as well, and the rivers and tarns are brilliant.
It is probably better to stay in the lower berg for now, as there is more fun to be had, and little hardship to be endured.
Once the bug has bit, they are going to be dragging you to the top.
Well done on limiting the virtual reality PS2 action, and giving them a taste of the real thing.

I would have attached a thumbs up smiley {here} but they appear to have all knocked off at 22h30.

Thanks everyone for your good advice. It's really exciting. I have never been to some of these areas and not been to the berg for almost 15 years (sigh), are these recommendations well marked or would one need to take along a good map etc? I have got maps and a 2010 edition of David Bristow's book.

@Digz

We share your excitment.

1. always take a good map.

2. don't believe everything you read.

ENJOY.

but the good side to the Berg, compared to the W Cape is that there are paths and you won't be digging fynbos out of your shins for 3 weeks after the hike is over. Hats off to themeda triandra.....

Funny thing is...it was while living in CPT that I did the Mont-aux-sources to Cathedral traverse, now I've been in JHB for almost 3 years and the closest I've got to the berg is this forum. But by end of Feb that will have all changed i hope