Monk's Cowl hikes - 2 days

Hi everyone,

I checked the maps the other day & was wondering what would be a nice weekend hike to do in the Monk's Cowl area? Sort of like a "up Mweni & down Rockeries pass" type of hike

I was considering to go up with Grays pass & down with Ship's Prow, but the latter seems to be a rather difficult pass?

Any other suggestions?

Thanx J

Again, this is not a weekend trip, Unless your a machine Gray's pass is not *difficult but the trek to Keith's bush camp is often understated.

*fitness levels on these forums are generally insane

4 Days would be a good amount of time if you stay in JHB and factor in Travel.

Just a comment on Gray's Pass: Nathan Thompson mentioned a potential rockfall in the "Debriefing" report of his recent record attempt on www.drakensberg.ning.com

It's in the discussion section on the left panel.

I think it was his first time doing Gray's so he may have been off-route. Any other news on this?

Thanx for the replies!

HMMmmm... Haven't done the any hike further than Cathedral Peak area, so I'm interested in doing as many passe to the south this year as I'm planning to do a GT some time next year.

Reason for my asking about passes is if you need to "suddenly get out of the berg & there's no heli to pick you up.

I'll still what pops up in the Giant's section & then I'll make up my mind.

@ Intrepid: Is the boulder bed 5km! Wow that's gonna pull some serious amps! I thought it would be more like 3km.

Will do the hike there if I have more time in the future i guess.

@ Zen: I'm no machine. HAHA-just a regular berg lover. I do a bit of cycling like 3 x 19km's a week to keep fit, but I know I should push it way up for GT time.

Anyone else riding MTB? or road bike?

@ Stijn: I couldn't access that site. Will probably join & have a look. Thanx for the link.

J

@ JacquesBuys : I cycle a bit, mtb when I can, roads easier (more convenient )though. Just been wondering about Berg fitness? Apart from hiking in the Berg, what does everyone else do to keep Berg fit? I'm fairly active; cycling, gym, surfing etc but always get a surprise when I put a pack on my back in the Berg. My grandparents used to walk around (the garden, block where ever) with loaded packs in preparation. I'm considering it myself now.

Hey Errol, strange enough I was sore after this little berg trip. Must be the way I walked down from the pass or something. I have a fairly new (actually brand new) Scarpa Mantas (only 80km on them) & they hurt my little toes badly. Had blisters (about the size of 20c) from behind the joint up to the nail! Maybe it's due to the thick inners I've got inside them to support my low foot arch, that makes for a smaller toebox. Definitely gonna use the original Scarpa inners from now on...

As I said I do road training with my mtb with mtb tyres on for extra friction, but was wondering the very same thing about fitness training of our felllow comrades of the berg. Maybe we should start a thread on fitness?

J

No matter what I do (number of socks, different shoes etc) I usually end up with blisters on the underside of my little toes, now I tape them up before a start. Although that didn't help this last time, flawed toe design maybe. Someone suggested rubbing my feet with meths to toughen them...

Regarding fitness, I'd be very interested to hear what sort of training people do, and I'm sure others would be too.

Hi everyone

I've just joined this forum, been browsing it since Monday and got a lot of useful info, thanks to all the members. We are a group of 12 that are doing the Otter Trail in April 2012. We want to do a 2-day hike in the Drakenberg in January 2012 as part of our training and as a test run. I've read that Monks Cowl is a good place to start and have found two trails so far, 1) Mhlwazini Valley Trail A severe 9 hrs hike (24 kms) From the Monks Cowl Camp Site the route ascends the sphinx, and contours around the top of the Hlatikulu Forest. From there is heads down into the Mhlwazini Valley and along the river. 2) Contour Path- Monk's Cowl to Injasuti A moderate 9 hrs hike (21 kms) This hike is the longest, hardest and least used of three possible routes between Monk's Cowl and Injasuti Camp. Also, which other 2-day hikes in the Berg would you guys reccommend? We want to hike +- 5hrs/day and overnight in a cave. Any help will be really appreciated.

Thanks
Nadeem

Hi there

This is most certainly one fantastic website!

In terms of your second option, I am interested that you say there are 3 possible options between Monks Cowl and Injisuthi.I have just hiked from Injisuthi, up Van Heining's Pass, all the way along Shada Ridge, to the Vlei, to Blind man's corner and then down to Monks Cowl. I'm not sure if that was the the route you were considering though in reverse of course.

We easily did it as a day hike, say 8 hours which includes lots of rests and photos. If you do go for this hike, then maybe you want to hike to wonder valley cave (which is more of an overhang), sleep over there (and explore the pools down by the river) and then continue onto Injisuthi the next day.

Having said all that, this hike from Injisuthi to Monks Cowl is definitely one of my favorite day hikes in the Injisuthi area.