Epic Day Hikes

PS. Not Corner pass related, but one area we have left tents and stuff before without supervision was at the bottom of Leslie's pass. One of the more desolate areas in the Berg. I still don't think this pass is used by the 'trains', although recent reports are not 100% sure anymore.

this thread has been dead for a while - so a brief summary of today (perhaps I shouldn't be posting at 11:13PM when I have been up since 3:30AM, but anyway)...

This morning, myself and Hobbit set out from the Giants Castle car park - ascended North Jarding Pass, bagged Bond, Erksine and Potterill (as well as the fake Erskine marked on the map but with barely 5m prominence from the real Erskine). We also checked out the prospective summit of 007 Pass (which looks somewhere between promising and dangerous - more to follow). Back down Langies - always good to do something different , and back to the car by 7:30PM.

It wasn't the longest distance I have done in a day, and it only equaled my record for most khulus in a day (3rd time I've done 3 in a day) - but doing a pass I knew very little about, mostly in the mist, and finishing late - it felt rather epic...

Ps. first time I've done more than 1 khulu in a day on a day hike. We had planned to do 4, but Mount Durnford was off the cards when we only hit the escarpment at 2PM after starting the hike at 6:45AM - but at least Hobbit now knows better than to use energy drinks

* I did 3 khulus in a day last year when I did Mzimude, Mashai and Bollard - but I haven't counted this due to the fact that I had done Mashai before.

Go team khulu-bagger

Team khulu bagger has been missing a vital member for a while now - we must go an conquer something again soon I'm thinking Cathedral Peak.

My mate, Kevin, and I just entered Mnweni Marathon Reckon it should classify as an "Epic Day Hike"!

Dillon wrote: My mate, Kevin, and I just entered Mnweni Marathon Reckon it should classify as an "Epic Day Hike"!

On a similar note, is Mount Everest really a mountain

Jokes aside, good luck, all the best and I hope to see some form of a writeup afterwards

Hello

Everybody talks about these epic 10+ hour day hikes with only a water bottle etc.
Is there a decent one day hike with a light backpack, a bit more difficult than the chain ladders (done it 3 times, so I don't want to do it again).
Just name the pass and the peak and I will search for it on the downloads.

Please don't do a 10 hour day hike with just a water bottle, we like the Dragon's Wrath thread on this site to be inactive for extended periods of time

There are plenty of these day hikes that one can to with a 6kg pack (food, water, wet gear, emergency bivy gear and first aid).

Langalibalele Pass at Giant's Castle makes for lots of possibility. I have looped it with South Hlubi Pass, North Jarding Pass, Bond Pass and Thumb Pass as day hikes.

I rate 2 Jarding Passes could also be looped as a day hike (although account for a lot of extra time in getting over Durnford if you use North Jarding as one of them).

6 passes top out in the Langies valley, and I rate that any of the 6 can be looped (although I wouldn't recommend looping Bond and Thumb Pass)

Langies can also be looped with Bannerman in a day if you are fit.

Other popular difficult day hikes:
- Rhino via Mashai Pass (or Rhino Pass if you are very fit)
- Cathedral Peak
- Thaba Ngwangwe at Bushman's Nek

Thanks, I think I will try Cathedral Peak over a weekend (2 days) sometime. A lot of people says it is very beautiful, and not that hard. So 2 days would be just enough to relax a bit...

Cathedral Peak is one of my favourites. Highly recommended and one of the best views you will get anywhere in the Drakensberg.

As for relaxing over 2 days:
- it is obviously great to get out for the whole weekend and to spend the time in the hills
- but, in terms of effort: for almost any undertaking, 2 days means twice as much effort as a day trip. Humping all that gear about makes for hard work