Camping near the top of Cathedral Peak

hi
going for a short hike in a few weeks time .keen to camp near the top of cathedral peak.
where would be a good spot.or not a good spot
pictures with arrows are great
thanks

Being on a ridge and not "directly attached" actual escarpment there is little catchment areas for streams so remember that water can be a big issue if there has not been enough rain (but this is far less of a problem in summer than at the end of a dry winter). More than one party have had to change plans due to a lack of water so be prepared

Between Orange Peel Gap and the actual climb there are a few spots, many are exposed and none are near water. Cathedral Peak is probably easiest to do as a day hike where you start at the car park, summit it and return in a day. Wouldn't want to lug a tent up there, and local traffic is high enough that stashing packs is really risky.

There is a spot on the walkin near a waterfall where some people camp, but this is only about an hour from the start. There is also a cave near this spot.

Photos with the location of where you would usually pitch a tent are at www.berg.co.za

" local traffic is high enough that stashing packs is really risky"
Ghaz - can you say more? Where are these people heading to?

mnt_tiska wrote: Where are these people heading to?

Fair question

Should actually just share a link to the thread that discusses this point. My guess would be that they aren't doing the full BT, otherwise they probably would have asked about Bell Cave.

Photo of the camping spot I was referring to:

ghaznavid wrote:

mnt_tiska wrote: Where are these people heading to?

Fair question

Ghaz - just to be clear - I was wondering about the local traffic (not hikers). Where do they go to on that route? Through to Mnweni? On to Lesotho?

I am going off what has been written on this forum and mentioned in other places - I don't know the answer, but I know Bell Cave comes with a "beware of theft" warning.

Off berg.co.za regarding Bell Cave:

WARNING! Smugglers and stock thieves are active in this area! The author has personally seen pistol-packing Zulus pursuing Basutho cattle thieves near Bell Cave. In 2004 a group of backpackers was robbed at gun point of all their possessions except for the clothes they were sleeping in. Unfortunately these kinds of incidents impact negatively on the tourism potential of the area, but little seems to be done by the authorities to curb the problem.

ghaznavid wrote: I am going off what has been written on this forum and mentioned in other places - I don't know the answer, but I know Bell Cave comes with a "beware of theft" warning.

Off berg.co.za regarding Bell Cave:

WARNING! Smugglers and stock thieves are active in this area! The author has personally seen pistol-packing Zulus pursuing Basutho cattle thieves near Bell Cave. In 2004 a group of backpackers was robbed at gun point of all their possessions except for the clothes they were sleeping in. Unfortunately these kinds of incidents impact negatively on the tourism potential of the area, but little seems to be done by the authorities to curb the problem.

Thanks Ghaz. That's the source I was thinking of too. I have no evidence to doubt the incident but I don't properly understand where local traffic would go on that route and why they would choose it. Clearly if a route is convenient for one reason or another (e.g. not well travelled, difficult to detect people on it, reasonably easy ground) then it will attract smugglers and the like. But the route up to Cathedral and along the Bell Traverse has never struck me as that kind of place. And as I said before on VE, getting a cow down to Bell Cave from Cathedral Peak deserves a medal rather than jail! In short, I still see that bit of the Berg as reasonably secure and haven't heard anything apart from that berg.co.za extract to the contrary....

I do also find it a bit odd. Any way - wouldn't want to take the risk unless it is necessary. I.e. Cathedral Peak can be done in a day by most people who are competent to do it in 2.

That being said, when I did Giants Castle with Viking earlier this year, we stashed our packs behind some rocks about 300m from the top of the pass. When we got back there were a few locals about 100m on the opposite side of the pass. They didn't spot the packs so we were fine, but still - you kind of get a bit worried when you see a group of people relatively close to where you stashed your packs.