Epic Day Hikes
31 May 2011 13:16 - 31 May 2011 13:21 #3020
by intrepid
Take nothing but litter, leave nothing but a cleaner Drakensberg.
Replied by intrepid on topic Re: Epic Day Hikes
Stijn, the same thing came to mind when reading the "Up Corner & Down Leslies in 3 days" thread: that must be an interesting challenge for a day hike!
Certainly these extended day hikes is something I'm getting into a little more these days. Not necessarily on the epic scale, but to sometimes do passes without a full pack at the expense of longer distance, is less wear and tear on my body. And you see more. On a recent trip to Garden Castle where we camped at the campsite, a friend and I went up Rhino Pass, climbed the Rhino summit and descended Mashai Pass as a day hike: 24km, 11h50m. This is certainly an enjoyable day loop that need not be too epic. The next day we went up Bollard Pass and down Wilsons Pass: 18km, 12 hours. On average a little more challenging navigation, hence the same time for a shorter distance.
Stijn already mentioned a classic for this kind of thing: Mnweni-Rockeries loop. And to echo ST2, the Giants Castle massif presents great combinations involving Giants Pass, Eastern Gully and Elandshoek Pass. Add the Bannerman-Langalibalele loop.
Cathedral Peak, Giants Castle, Garden Castle and Bushman's Neck all have numerous passes with quick access which makes them good areas for this kind of thing. And the good contour path of the first two areas presents even more possibilities.
The Cowl Pass loop could be a good day hike. Then there is Ships Prow South Fork, climb Champagne Castle and descend via Gray's...ouch!
The Bell Traverse, Cleft Peak, Organ Pipes circuit was done as a day hike already by Angelo de Nicola and Monica Britz in about 13 hours.
I've also heard of a 24 hours Devils Tooth climb done from Joburg.
@Stijn: any more details on the 3 hours Column ascent? Sounds insane...is that even humanly possible?
I did a day hike once using Tarn Cave as a base: up Knuckles Pass North, climbed the middle Knuckle, down the other side of the pass (its one of the few passes with 2 distinct sides), via the Lesotho valleys to Saddle Neck Pass which we descended, then bundu-bashed across to Bushman's Cave at contour path level, then ascended Ngwangwane Pass, on to the base of the Knuckles, then traversing across the base of them ("Knuckles Traverse Pass" - much longer than it looks!), back to Sehlabathebe side and back to the cave. It was 31.6km. We were actually aiming to ascend Isicatula Pass, climb Walker's Peak and descend Walker's Pass to get back to Bushman's Cave (instead of Saddle Neck), but we thankfully realised we would have run horribly out of time.
The great Central Range of Lesotho also presents good, long, day traverses. The best one is the hike between Bokong and Ts'ehlanyane, descending Holomo Pass at the end (35km total).
Certainly this kind of hiking has it's place for those that enjoy it. It is a different kind of enjoyment and satisfaction.
Certainly these extended day hikes is something I'm getting into a little more these days. Not necessarily on the epic scale, but to sometimes do passes without a full pack at the expense of longer distance, is less wear and tear on my body. And you see more. On a recent trip to Garden Castle where we camped at the campsite, a friend and I went up Rhino Pass, climbed the Rhino summit and descended Mashai Pass as a day hike: 24km, 11h50m. This is certainly an enjoyable day loop that need not be too epic. The next day we went up Bollard Pass and down Wilsons Pass: 18km, 12 hours. On average a little more challenging navigation, hence the same time for a shorter distance.
Stijn already mentioned a classic for this kind of thing: Mnweni-Rockeries loop. And to echo ST2, the Giants Castle massif presents great combinations involving Giants Pass, Eastern Gully and Elandshoek Pass. Add the Bannerman-Langalibalele loop.
Cathedral Peak, Giants Castle, Garden Castle and Bushman's Neck all have numerous passes with quick access which makes them good areas for this kind of thing. And the good contour path of the first two areas presents even more possibilities.
The Cowl Pass loop could be a good day hike. Then there is Ships Prow South Fork, climb Champagne Castle and descend via Gray's...ouch!
The Bell Traverse, Cleft Peak, Organ Pipes circuit was done as a day hike already by Angelo de Nicola and Monica Britz in about 13 hours.
I've also heard of a 24 hours Devils Tooth climb done from Joburg.
@Stijn: any more details on the 3 hours Column ascent? Sounds insane...is that even humanly possible?
I did a day hike once using Tarn Cave as a base: up Knuckles Pass North, climbed the middle Knuckle, down the other side of the pass (its one of the few passes with 2 distinct sides), via the Lesotho valleys to Saddle Neck Pass which we descended, then bundu-bashed across to Bushman's Cave at contour path level, then ascended Ngwangwane Pass, on to the base of the Knuckles, then traversing across the base of them ("Knuckles Traverse Pass" - much longer than it looks!), back to Sehlabathebe side and back to the cave. It was 31.6km. We were actually aiming to ascend Isicatula Pass, climb Walker's Peak and descend Walker's Pass to get back to Bushman's Cave (instead of Saddle Neck), but we thankfully realised we would have run horribly out of time.
The great Central Range of Lesotho also presents good, long, day traverses. The best one is the hike between Bokong and Ts'ehlanyane, descending Holomo Pass at the end (35km total).
Certainly this kind of hiking has it's place for those that enjoy it. It is a different kind of enjoyment and satisfaction.
Take nothing but litter, leave nothing but a cleaner Drakensberg.
Last edit: 31 May 2011 13:21 by intrepid.
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31 May 2011 13:41 #3021
by ghaznavid
Replied by ghaznavid on topic Re: Epic Day Hikes
My plan for somewhere between October and December is an epic day hike up Rhino Pass and down Mashai Pass but with also conquering some other Khulus (probably Rhino, Mlambonja, Random and if time permits, Matebeng), maybe even some Kgolos (if time and weather permits, there's a ton of unnamed Kgolos in the area). My plan is to do it on the day of full moon (when the moon will be up as close to sun-set as possible), and to be on Mashai Pass by sun set, finishing the hike by moon light! This was inspired by my first hike in the berg which was up Mashai pass, we camped at the base of the pass and when I got up during the night I noticed that it was full moon, Rhino looked incredible under moonlight! We would naturally need to have a tent in the car (or sleep in Swiman Hut) since we will reach the car park after the gates are closed for the night...
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31 May 2011 13:42 #3022
by Stijn
I saw it mentioned on a thread at ClimbZA - apparently it's written in the summit logbook. So for more details, I suggest you get your climbing shoes and trad rack packed and get cracking!
That Southern Berg mission of yours sounds truly epic. Makes me tired just reading it...
In terms of distance, the most I've covered in the Berg in a day of hiking was the last day of our then-record-breaking grand traverse in 2008. From our campsite at the river just South of Thabana Ntlenyana to Bushman's Nek via Thamathu Pass... 58km in 15h23m. Not something I would call fun though. Much more pleasant to pick 2 passes and combine them!
Replied by Stijn on topic Re: Epic Day Hikes
intrepid wrote: @Stijn: any more details on the 3 hours Column ascent? Sounds insane...is that even humanly possible?
I saw it mentioned on a thread at ClimbZA - apparently it's written in the summit logbook. So for more details, I suggest you get your climbing shoes and trad rack packed and get cracking!
That Southern Berg mission of yours sounds truly epic. Makes me tired just reading it...
In terms of distance, the most I've covered in the Berg in a day of hiking was the last day of our then-record-breaking grand traverse in 2008. From our campsite at the river just South of Thabana Ntlenyana to Bushman's Nek via Thamathu Pass... 58km in 15h23m. Not something I would call fun though. Much more pleasant to pick 2 passes and combine them!
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31 May 2011 14:04 #3024
by tiska
Replied by tiska on topic Re: Epic Day Hikes
I also remember reading in the summit 'book' on Mponjwane that someone (I think it was Mike C) had left the Police post in Mnweni and climbed Mponjwane by early afternoon with a view to being back in Joburg that day. Me, I'd take a night in Mponj Cave anytime over Joburg.
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31 May 2011 14:14 #3026
by intrepid
Take nothing but litter, leave nothing but a cleaner Drakensberg.
Replied by intrepid on topic Re: Epic Day Hikes
Insane! And Tony Dick and Roger Fuggle climbing it from the cave in 35 minutes....mnt_tiska wrote: I also remember reading in the summit 'book' on Mponjwane that someone (I think it was Mike C) had left the Police post in Mnweni and climbed Mponjwane by early afternoon with a view to being back in Joburg that day. Me, I'd take a night in Mponj Cave anytime over Joburg.
Take nothing but litter, leave nothing but a cleaner Drakensberg.
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06 Jun 2011 20:41 - 06 Jun 2011 20:43 #3049
by ghaznavid
Replied by ghaznavid on topic Re: Epic Day Hikes
My plan on Saturday was to conquer Mlambonja and Random Peak at Garden Castle in the form of a day hike. After almost everyone pulling out of the hike and our group dropping down to 2 people, we were forced to drive to Underberg in my WW-II tank (a 2 litre Ford station waggon with the fuel consumption of a military jet and the top speed of an aged snail). Due to this it took us 3 hours to drive the 185km distance (the frost on the road near the hotel didn't help either)...
As we drove into the reserve we noticed that there is still snow on the summit of Walker's Peak, as expected all other snow had already melted.
We planned to reach Pillar Cave by 8:00, we had even aranged with the lady at the front desk for us to put the money for the hiking permits under the door and she was going to leave the hiking permits under the mountain register. Sadly we only left the carpark at 8:00, so we where behind schedule from the start.
The person I was hiking with was using new hiking boots and was only wearing 1 pair of socks, this caused further delays. On reaching pillar cave at 9:30, I knew that the odds of reaching the peaks where diminishing. As we approached Pillar Cave, an eland ran right past us, we saw an additional eland sitting in the cave, as we approached the cave it moved off (we took the turnoff to the cave by accident, but considering we got to see 2 eland there I am happy we made this mistake!)
I was very happy to take the path on the left hand side of the river on the route ascending the pass, the last time I was on this pass my brother was leading the hike and he took us up a horrible path on the other bank (probably an eland path), the path we previously used didn't have nearly as impressive views and was much more difficult.
Usually by the time I have been walking for 2 hours I am down to a single layer of clothes, but with the entire Mashai Pass being in the shade until 2PM, and most waterfalls being very iced up, we where both forced to put our jackets and gloves back on.
On the lower reaches of the pass we saw 7 more eland, all on the right hand bank of the river dirrectly under Rhino Peak.
Once we had reached the base of the cliff line we realised that we where going to run out of time and water (the route my brother took me on when I did this route with him crossed the river constantly, so I wasn't very worried about carrying more than 2 litres of water), the person I was hiking with was starting to complain about the difficulty (clearly my assumption that a person who bowls around 4 overs of medium pace weekly for a PMB cricket club would be fit enough to hike 20km in a day was wrong, probably due to it being the off season). At this point we had to turn back.
On the way down we passed a Polish man who was hiking on his own, he told us he had left the hotel at 11:45 and was climbing Rhino (he was about 1km past Pillar Cave and it was 1:15), insane what some people will try! (Admittedly we where slightly worried by the fact that we did not see him again on the hike and we only reached the car park at 5:00PM, hopefully he got back safely as he was only carrying a day pack)...
At 3:30 the sun set behind the Rhino, at this point we had only just passed Pillar Cave Annex (where we stopped for 10 minutes to put our feet in the water, after 5 seconds my feet where numb, and we descided that that was a rather stupid idea).
At 4PM there was still ice on the ground (even though this had been a fairly warm day and the path had predominantly been in the sun for some of the day). I have to admit that I really enjoyed walking on frozen sand in the morning, something I had previously never done before, I found it to be very "crunchy" to walk on!
Some people would say that this day hike was unsuccessful, but both of us really enjoyed the hike, I got some awesome photos and my previous analysis of Mashai Pass as "poorly designed when compared to passes like Langalibalele and Bannerman" has been changed to "its a fairly long pass, but very scenic and consistently uphill" (I consider a pass being consistently uphill to be a good thing, I hate climbing 50m and then descending 30m whe I could have contoured and gradually gained 20m), so I would say it was a successful hike...
As we drove into the reserve we noticed that there is still snow on the summit of Walker's Peak, as expected all other snow had already melted.
We planned to reach Pillar Cave by 8:00, we had even aranged with the lady at the front desk for us to put the money for the hiking permits under the door and she was going to leave the hiking permits under the mountain register. Sadly we only left the carpark at 8:00, so we where behind schedule from the start.
The person I was hiking with was using new hiking boots and was only wearing 1 pair of socks, this caused further delays. On reaching pillar cave at 9:30, I knew that the odds of reaching the peaks where diminishing. As we approached Pillar Cave, an eland ran right past us, we saw an additional eland sitting in the cave, as we approached the cave it moved off (we took the turnoff to the cave by accident, but considering we got to see 2 eland there I am happy we made this mistake!)
I was very happy to take the path on the left hand side of the river on the route ascending the pass, the last time I was on this pass my brother was leading the hike and he took us up a horrible path on the other bank (probably an eland path), the path we previously used didn't have nearly as impressive views and was much more difficult.
Usually by the time I have been walking for 2 hours I am down to a single layer of clothes, but with the entire Mashai Pass being in the shade until 2PM, and most waterfalls being very iced up, we where both forced to put our jackets and gloves back on.
On the lower reaches of the pass we saw 7 more eland, all on the right hand bank of the river dirrectly under Rhino Peak.
Once we had reached the base of the cliff line we realised that we where going to run out of time and water (the route my brother took me on when I did this route with him crossed the river constantly, so I wasn't very worried about carrying more than 2 litres of water), the person I was hiking with was starting to complain about the difficulty (clearly my assumption that a person who bowls around 4 overs of medium pace weekly for a PMB cricket club would be fit enough to hike 20km in a day was wrong, probably due to it being the off season). At this point we had to turn back.
On the way down we passed a Polish man who was hiking on his own, he told us he had left the hotel at 11:45 and was climbing Rhino (he was about 1km past Pillar Cave and it was 1:15), insane what some people will try! (Admittedly we where slightly worried by the fact that we did not see him again on the hike and we only reached the car park at 5:00PM, hopefully he got back safely as he was only carrying a day pack)...
At 3:30 the sun set behind the Rhino, at this point we had only just passed Pillar Cave Annex (where we stopped for 10 minutes to put our feet in the water, after 5 seconds my feet where numb, and we descided that that was a rather stupid idea).
At 4PM there was still ice on the ground (even though this had been a fairly warm day and the path had predominantly been in the sun for some of the day). I have to admit that I really enjoyed walking on frozen sand in the morning, something I had previously never done before, I found it to be very "crunchy" to walk on!
Some people would say that this day hike was unsuccessful, but both of us really enjoyed the hike, I got some awesome photos and my previous analysis of Mashai Pass as "poorly designed when compared to passes like Langalibalele and Bannerman" has been changed to "its a fairly long pass, but very scenic and consistently uphill" (I consider a pass being consistently uphill to be a good thing, I hate climbing 50m and then descending 30m whe I could have contoured and gradually gained 20m), so I would say it was a successful hike...
Last edit: 06 Jun 2011 20:43 by ghaznavid.
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13 Jun 2011 12:22 #3133
by intrepid
Take nothing but litter, leave nothing but a cleaner Drakensberg.
Replied by intrepid on topic Re: Epic Day Hikes
Thanks for the write-up ghaznavid. You've hit the nail on the head there. Fact is some goals take several attempts before we get them right and we've gotta appreciate the process of getting there, and the uniqueness of every trip. Particularly in climbing peaks...it just doesn't always go smoothly...have had many repeated attempts on my own on various peaks. The key is to enjoy the journey, it's a lesson for me.ghaznavid wrote: Some people would say that this day hike was unsuccessful, but both of us really enjoyed the hike
Take nothing but litter, leave nothing but a cleaner Drakensberg.
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15 Jun 2011 08:34 #3143
by ClimbyKel
Replied by ClimbyKel on topic Re: Epic Day Hikes
I like the title of this thread "Epic day hikes". If you are wondering if you've ever done an "epic" day hike, trust me...those of you who have done so - you know it! Add your stories here. It's a great read. One of my epic day hikes was with Intrepid. The hike was Albert Edward, on Vancouver Island, in Canada. The highlights of this hike included trudging thru thick snow for the entire day, beaufiful scenery of frozen lakes and pine trees dressed in snow cover, lovely mountain views, bear prints, saving some time and having some fun by racing back down some of the mountain slopes on our packs (feet first, packs under back, and lots of speed!!!) We made it to the top, and to the bottom again all in one day. But it was epic....18 hours, 37 snow covered kilometers, and 1 tired-out little Canadian in tow. What a fantastic memory! Long-lasting fond memories of this, one of many hikes, with Intrepid. Thanks for the epic hikes Chris, it's one of the many joys of being married to my mountain man! The adventures are never few or far between.
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15 Jun 2011 08:37 #3144
by ClimbyKel
Replied by ClimbyKel on topic Re: Epic Day Hikes
PS - did I forget to mention the part where we realized we'd been tracked by a wolf for much of the day. Chris prints, Kelly prints, and Mr. wolf prints. 
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15 Jun 2011 08:48 #3145
by ghaznavid
Replied by ghaznavid on topic Re: Epic Day Hikes
One advantage of really long days in Canada I guess...
Being followed by a wolf, thats pretty cool! Sitting in front of my computer I think to myself about how I would love to see a leopard in the Berg, I wonder if that would be my view on the day I bump into one in reality!
Being followed by a wolf, thats pretty cool! Sitting in front of my computer I think to myself about how I would love to see a leopard in the Berg, I wonder if that would be my view on the day I bump into one in reality!
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