Organ Pipes Pass- Mlambonja Pass Loop Trip Report

Thank you for the info guys!!

How long will it take roughly heading back to Didima from our campsite (between Cleft & Castle Buttress) via The Camel route / Tryme Hill?
Should we prepare for a long day out?

LouisvW,

Nope, not a long day out. Going up we started just after 7am and topped out just before 1pm with enough breaks inbetween and a comfortable pace, so going down should be quicker.

Took us between 4 and 5 hours to get back to Didima in July last year, and that was dragging a bunch of teenagers down the mountain too.
There is little to no water the whole way down and the Camel and the ridge below, so make sure you fill up on the escarpment before descending.

JonWells wrote: Just after 9pm, we turned on our headlamps, and hit the trail towards our goal for night one, the old buildings near the base of Thuthumi Ridge. When I say hit the trail, of course I mean, stumble through dense, head high grass, trying to find a path leading to the road up Mike’s Pass. This short cut looked so simple on Google Earth, but as I I have learned many times, Google Earth can be deceiving!

Eventually we reached the road and followed it until the footpath veers to the left up the steep ridge to avoid the lengthy 3km hairpin bend that the road follows. We were surprised to immediately be faced with a fairly high vertical rock wall to be climbed. After checking that we hadn’t perhaps made a navigational mistake, I scrambled up to the top, found the path, and called the others up. A fairly simple climb in the end, just rather unexpected!

From here it was a pretty stiff uphill slog until we eventually rejoined the road at the top. An easy few last kilometres under bright moonlight saw us reach the old buildings at around 11.30pm where we settled in for the night.

Hi guys

A few questions for a light hike we are planning for next weekend:

- Does the old staff accommodation at the top of Mike's Pass provide enough shelter to leave our tents behind? We're in Roland's Cave the next night, so it would be great to go without a tent.

- Is there a reliable water source close to the old staff accommodation? Or should we carry in and fill up at the top of the Didima Gorge the next day?

- Is there hiker's parking at the bottom of Mike's Pass, or would you rather recommend parking at Didima and attempting the short-cut "path" you used (I presume it's the path heading directly across to the Mike'e Pass road from the dam at Didima)? We'll also be doing this in the dark.

Thanks for the quick and helpful replies guys! One of the best things about this forum... 3 separate replies about a fairly obscure route within 30 minutes. Mind = blown!