GT2014/15 - Don't Follow the Lights
18 Jan 2015 22:12 #62643
by ghaznavid
Replied by ghaznavid on topic GT2014/15 - Don't Follow the Lights
Day 10 – Water, water everywhere (Phinong to Sandleni Cave – 25km)
Michael was up bright and early. Our tent was the first one to be packed away on a beautiful sunny morning. While I waited for the others to finish getting ready, Michael was off to Sani. Andrew and summed up directions quite well the day before – walk straight, if you hit a road, turn left, if you hit a cliff, turn right.
About 40 minutes after Michael had set off, the rest of us set off. The Phinong ridge is bigger than it looks, but still one of the easiest ridges on a GT. One can easily bypass it by walking around it, but I had wanted to walk over it, and so we did.
We soon found ourselves on the saddle, Sani clearly visible in the valley below. We were above a narrow steep gully that looked a lot like a conventional Berg pass. We made our way down it, contouring out of it near the bottom. The Tsani Flats looked like a massive swamp, so we picked what looked like the easiest line, avoiding kraals of course.
We found ourselves on the banks of the Tsani River after a while. It was very full and would not be easy to cross. Eventually we de-shoed and crossed barefoot.
As we neared the lodge, we realised that Michael was only about 100m ahead of us. We walked into the lodge just behind him. We sat down for the buffet breakfast. It had only taken about 1h45 from the Phinong valley to Sani, which I think is pretty decent.
After 2 hours, eating a large breakfast, phoning family, discarding about 1kg of rubbish and picking up 2.5kg of food for the last 3 days, we were off. Michael wanted to stay on to get a bit more work done, so we told him how to get to Sandleni Cave, told him that if he gets stuck we will have signal at 4PM by standing near the escarpment edge, and left him with my copy of map 6.
On the way out from Sani, we slogged up to bag the khulu “Sani”. With that peak I had now bagged a khulu at all of the EKZN reserves. Coming into the hike I was still missing Monks Cowl, Vergelegen and Cobham (according to the map, only Sani and North Hodgesons actually fall within the reserve). Botlolong, Mohlesi and now Sani had remedied this problem, although Free State and Eastern Cape are both Berg areas that remain un-khulu-bagged by me.
Sani is quite a slog. We had left our packs with Sarah, and were worried as we saw some locals hanging around her. They left her in peace and all seemed to be good. We summited the peak with a bit of rain and lightning around.
We saw 2 hikers (well, day trippers from Sani in shorts and T-shirts without packs) – these were the first non-locals we had seen outside of a Sani Lodge since we passed the hut above Tugela Falls. They were making their way up North Hodgesons, but considering the clear thunderstorm that was moving in, I don’t know how wise this was.
On the way up the Hodgeson’s ridge we were hit by a rather substantial thunderstorm. Not really where you want to be in a storm like this, but not much one can do.
We decided to give North Hodgeson’s a miss in favour of the south peak. With the storm about we did not want to climb both. The Hodgeson’s ridge is one of the Berg’s toughest ridges IMO. I have been over it a few times, and in both directions, and it is a real slog. Just below the saddle by the south peak we could see a rather substantial amount of livestock, with some locals hanging about. Andrew sat with the packs while Tony, Sarah and I went up. If you follow the south slope you see a large cairn, just before this cairn there is a clear trail that leads to a very short easy scramble near the top. The view from the top is amazing, although the trail up is a bit exposed.
The view from the summit is quite something, but due to the strong winds and the thunderstorm that had just hit as we reached the top (we were hit by a series of short thunderstorms over the space of about 3 hours), we got off the top quite quickly. As we reached the packs, Andrew shot up and bagged the summit as well.
The Pitseneng Valley was rather wet. It is definitely one of the wetter valleys on the escarpment. For those who have never been there – this valley is unique, there are cliffs on either side, probably due to the size of the drainage basin. It feels very different to most escarpment valleys.
We took the normal line into the valley, but the river was too full to take a more efficient line through the basin. The number of occupied kraals was also a concern. To think I had been here 3 months earlier only to find a few stagnant pools, now the river was too deep and wide to cross with shoes on.
We decided to bail on the river route in favour of following the escarpment edge. We crossed the river without shoes (the floor of the river was very slippery), and made our way up the slopes on the other side – taking one of the many gaps in the cliff line.
We had some pretty decent views from the escarpment edge, although progress was slow in yet another marsh. By the time we reached the Stones Buttress, we were in thick mist and once again took a hybrid of guessing our line and confirming it with the GPS. This was the weather we had expected for the GT, and we were prepared for this.
As we neared the top of the Sandleni Ridge the mist began to clear. Tony saw Michael, so Sarah and myself waited with the packs while the two of them went off to find him. After about 30 minutes the full team of 5 was back together.
We made our way over the top of the Sandleni Ridge only to see a sight I had never seen before – an escarpment valley that was practically a massive tarn. This valley may belong to No Man, but as much as Eowyn may want to slay the Witch King, I was worried that our passage through this valley may be rather slow. Don’t follow the lights…
We made our way down towards the Sandleni River. It had begun to rain, and the water falling off the cliffs above the approach to the cave compounded this. The river was very full, and the tufts of grass we had to jump to were generally not very stable. Somehow we made it to the cave without any major slips. Andrew went off to inspect the 2 tunnels, but both were wet. We decided to pitch tents in the cave.
Now for those who have never been in Sandleni Cave in summer – picture a deep dark hole that one may be able to swim in. Now turn it by 90 degrees and walk into it. Andrew quickly allocated the 3 spaces we would use for sleeping. Michael set to flattening our area while the rest of us dug small trenches into the ground to drain standing water. Tony set up a channel on the side with the main water drip (water was literally squirting out of the rock in places, you could fill a 1 litre waterbottle under the main drip in around 1 minute). I dug a series of trenches which didn’t look promising at first, but after 10 minutes we had a rather substantial flow of water moving out of the cave.
Within an hour the area right by the entrance where I would be setting up tent was entirely dry, aside from a regular drip straight onto the spot where the middle of the tent would be. Andrew’s spot didn’t look too great, but it looked better than it did an hour earlier. Tony’s spot at the back looked pretty good.
Every half an hour or so I rebuilt the drainage channels that had silted up. While most of the cave was still not usable, it was definitely much drier than it had been. Perhaps in a few days it would be entirely usable. This is actually a really good cave, it has a roof that is high enough to not hit your roof against, but not so high as to allow unwanted weather in. It is very large and deep, and is sheltered to the front by the Sandleni Buttress. It also has an outstanding view. In winter it would be a top class cave.
Day 11 – Not a Good Sign (Sandleni Cave to Mzimude Cave – 26km)
We woke up to find that our Home Improvement Caveman Edition had worked. We were cold, but sitting on the escarpment in the sun while the others finished packing up did the trick.
Our drainage channels were still moving lots of water out of the cave, although not as much as they had been the night before.
We began walking through the Sandleni Valley – there were tarns everywhere. Various waterfalls were found. It was a beautiful sunny day.
There are many lines one can take up No Man’s Peak. I like the higher line of following the ridge off the summit from early on. Near where the ridge hits the main No Man’s ridge, you switch to the inland side of the ridge and aim for the saddle through the ridge. Near the saddle we dropped our packs and bagged the khulu.
We stopped for a break halfway between No Mans Peak and and Mzimkulu Pass. This is one of my favourite view points in the Berg. The layout is rather similar to the many cutbacks one would find at Mnweni.
We soon found ourselves making our way past plenty of livestock, and some locals, on the way up the Verkyker ridge. Not much to say about this ridge.
Sarah waited with the packs while Andrew ran up and the rest of us walked up. I now had 46. I warned the guys about the issues behind Mashai Pass, so we stopped for lunch up here, while Andrew ran off to bag Mlambonja, Matebeng and Walker. We would meet in the saddle by Mashai Peak.
We got through most of the valley behind Rhino Peak without even seeing locals. We took a high line around Mlambonja Peak to cut off some distance. We stopped for another break just before beginning the slog up the Leqooa Ridge. I had done this ridge many times before, and never found it to be difficult – but it had always been the first ridge I had done in a day.
As we stopped on the river below, a local came and asked Michael to allow him to use his solar phone charger. Michael said no, but this individual didn’t leave us alone.
As we started to slog up the Leqooa Ridge I realised that something was wrong. I really didn’t feel ok. With lots of breaks I did get up the ridge (as the mist began to roll in), I really didn’t feel good. We found Andrew in the saddle. He had already bagged Mashai, so myself, Michael and Tony went up to bag the khulu. This was my first time on the khulu.
We began the long walk down the ridge and through the Mzimude Valley. Not much to say about this section, but it is usually very scenic. Mist was sporadic as it normally is when it first rolls in. As I had predicted, I lead the team to the wrong gully first, but after having found the wrong gully once before, I knew we needed to make our way further south, and soon we were making our way to Mzimude Cave. The river on the pass was flowing enough that we didn’t have to go far to get water. The cave had a small drip at the back, but the 5 of us easily managed to fit into the cave.
Despite not feeling well, I knew that if I didn’t go for the 50 khulus I would regret it. So myself, Andrew and Michael climbed Mzimude in on and off mist. That was no 48, so Isicutula and Walker would make it 50 tomorrow. This was a relief.
Myself and Tony had hypothesised a khulu called “Mzimude Pass Peak”. We had both individually thought one may exist, but I was yet to determine which summit and to check the 1km distance. So, armed with a GPS co-ordinate of the top of Mzimude, we climbed the peak that is highest in the valley. We built a summit cairn on top and got the summit shot. More than 1km from Mzimude, but we needed to check Walkers Peak – that we could only do tomorrow.
Day 12 – Only 6km to go (Mzimude Cave to Tarn Cave – 22km)
We started yet another day in glorious weather. In some ways this was a happy day – we were approaching the end of an epic hike and we would get our 50th khulu today. In other ways it was sad – the adventure was almost over.
I was feeling better this morning, but I knew this would be a long day. If I wasn’t feeling well I could bail at Thamathu Pass – this meant I wanted to stay far from the pass and get past it quickly. To get the Tarn Cave finish to a GT would require doing an entire GT from scratch if I didn’t take this chance.
We began the day by bagging Walker. Andrew ran ahead to bag Thamathu as well (the Lesotho peak next to Walker that is). We all met up on the summit of Walker. I was definitely not the fastest guy in the team though. I definitely wasn’t at 100%. My GPS said 1.2km from Mzimude Pass Peak – that meant that MPP was a khulu and Walker was our 50th.
From there we made our way back down and bagged the khulu Isicutula. That summit is an easy one, and put myself and Michael on 51. I knew it was our last khulu for the trip – no way we would get Thaba Ngwangwe or Knuckles on this trip.
Andrew decided to find a way up Andre’s Knob, and he did manage to do it. I will let him put up the full story of his trip, but I did get a summit shot from more than 1km away.
We began to make our way down Isicutula Pass. We used the gully to get through the top 2 cliffs and then traversed out to the left and zig-zagged avoiding the cliffs. I had a good chuckle upon reaching the river in the valley below – we were at 2750m, about 50m higher than when we crossed the Thlanyako River. I had not realised how high this pass bottoms out!
We bundu-bashed a bit before finding the local highway around Thaba Ngwangwe. Michael decided to follow the river below. Based on the amount of barking, I am quite happy without route choice!
We eventually decided to drop down to a lower trail as we rounded the south corner of the peak. We held the trail that leads towards Thamathu Pass for a while before eventually breaking off to the south to follow the river behind Goat’s Cave Peak. We saw some more locals. Interestingly these guys used whips to threaten their dogs – so when we tried to chase dogs away with rocks it didn’t work, but my trekking poles did.
We stopped for a break on the river – plenty of animals around, so no usable water in the area. It rained a bit during our break, but by this point in a GT you generally don’t have much to report.
There had been lots of talk of distances as-the-crow-flies, my GPS track wasn’t always entirely the route we planned on taking, hence this point. On this day however, we had a big chunk that I had no track for – the stretch between where we left the trail to Thamathu Pass and the top of Knuckles Traverse Pass. This resulted in my GPS saying that we had 6km left for quite a while. The running joke from now till the end of the hike was that we only had 6km left – irrespective of the actual distance remaining.
We finished slogging up the valley and soon found the trails that mark the start of Knuckles Traverse Pass. I am not going to do a detailed account of the pass – but I can summarise it as follows:
- We stopped a lot for breaks
- We gained and lost plenty of altitude
- The mist came and went on this scenic route
- It rained a bit
- We all enjoyed some fruit cake that Tony had been carrying
- The pass is longer than it seems
- This route is worthwhile for anyone who hasn’t done it before
- The trail goes from amazingly clear to non-existent every 20m
As we hit the fence for Sehlabathebe National Park we agreed to not cross the fence line out of respect for the national park that we did not have authorisation to enter. Last time I found Tarn Cave was in thick mist and I can now see how inefficient our line was! It began to rain as we got close, and was pouring when we walked into the cave. The sleeping areas were more than adequately dry.
Day 13 – Homeward Bound (Tarn Cave to finish – 12km)
I woke up this morning in an odd frame of mind. In some ways I was very happy – one of my longest standing mountain goals was about to be completed. When I was 12 and my brother had just climbed Cathedral Peak I said that one day I would walk across the Drakensberg and climb all the peaks at once. Naturally at the time I had no clue what I was saying – so to actually see this goal through to completion was something very special for me.
I also knew that this hike would be marking the start of the end of an era for me. I have set myself many goals in the Drakensberg, and this put me very close to my goal of 100 khulus, I would soon have my goal of doing a GT in both directions and of doing the extended finish. There are many things I hope to achieve in my life, and I don’t want hiking in the Berg to be the only thing I ever do – it would be like reading the same book again and again. I didn’t know the exact number at the time, but I was now on 73 khulus. I need to bag the 7 that I haven’t done in the top 30, and I need to bag some in the Free State (as well as plenty of random ones I haven’t got to that I want to do – Sentinel etc). I hope to get 50 high-Berg passes, so I am still 12 short on that one. While I am by no means at my goals just yet – it was at this moment that it hit me, the fact that I was close and could quite plausibly be there by the end of 2015.
As long as I live in KZN I will probably be in the Berg fairly often, but my focus will slowly switch from exploration to development. I am hoping to get some form of a schools program going in KZN to encourage teens to get into hiking. But this is another topic for another day – anyway, I digress.
We were moving around sunrise. I got a team shot from the cave, but the lighting was all wrong. We got another shot above the cave which was a bit clearer.
To the best of my knowledge it would be conventional to finish an extended GT via Tarn Cave Pass – but seeing as Bushman’s Nek Pass is the most southern pass within the EKZN boundaries, I had made a call early on that we would finish via this pass.
The map shows a strong trail from Tarn Cave to the pass – but unfortunately this is not the case. We continued our bundu-bashing from the day before, remembering how fortunate one is to hike on the 3000m escarpment as we pushed through the long grass of 2500m.
We eventually reached the end of the fence that marks Lesotho’s only national park. We found a strong highway shortly thereafter.
The walk from Tarn Cave to Bushman’s Nek Pass is actually very long. The trail is a deep donga with parallel dongas everywhere. The beautiful clear morning did not entirely make up for the eyesore that is this over-eroded field.
After what seemed much further than I had expected, the trail took a turn to the left. We had reached Bushman’s Nek Pass. We found this trail to be rather windy and very badly eroded. You also get your pick of trails to use. Ironically enough we chose a trail that differed from the GPS track for the pass I had found online. Thus my GPS showed that we were walking away from our target (the next GPS spot) and it did actually show 6km remaining for a while.
We soon reached the bottom of the pass. Our pace was good, despite taking a good 8 breaks between the cave and the base of the pass.
I had been worried about the river at the base of the pass, but we got across this easily.
There isn’t much I can say about the walkout from Bushman’s Nek Pass. It was beautifully clear, sunny, blah, blah, blah. None of us really cared about this – the end was around the corner and we wanted to get there. A hot shower and clean clothes were waiting.
Part of the trail had collapsed and it seemed that the trail now crosses the river for a while. We followed the old trail and were able to make it work. As it nears the end it lead straight through a large pool of water – this gave us our last off-trail bundu-bashing of the trip.
We crossed the final 3 rivers and soon found ourselves standing (barefoot for some of us – I didn’t feel like putting my shoes back on) on concrete. I did tag the fence first, so I would like to claim that I did briefly hold the most khulus on a GT record – Andrew hadn’t finished his GT yet
We got a group shot with the border fence before making our way to Andrew’s car. The EKZN guy at Bushman’s Nek asked what the story was for leaving the car there for 2 weeks – I mentioned that we told the guy who was on duty when we had left it there, but the message hadn’t been passed on. Anyway – all was good.
We shot across to Silverstreams, bought some icecreams, paid the R20 to use their showers and then proceeded to clean up properly for the first time in weeks.
We had done it – a 13 day khulu bagging GT with an extended finish. What an adventure it was!
In conclusion
It has been asked in the past as to whether a south to north GT is harder than a north to south. Having now done both I have to say that it doesn’t actually matter which way round you do it – the reason I say this is simple: any half competent and reasonably fit individual can actually do a GT. I proved this when I did a GT in 2012, very inexperienced and not nearly fit enough, but I managed to do it. What makes a GT tough is being able to walk past Organ Pipes, Langies, Sani etc. without taking a sharp turn in favour of real food, a hot shower and a warm bed. Some escarpment ridges are definitely easier from one side – e.g. Durnford is much easier from the south and Long Wall is much easier from the north. The first day in a north to south is definitely much easier, and that does make a difference – but IMO, overall, a person who can finish a GT in one direction can probably do it in both directions, and while insufficient fitness will make a GT much harder, it is the will to keep going that gets you through a GT.
This concept of the will to keep going may sound strange to those who haven’t done a GT – after all, “does the author of this report not actually enjoy hiking?” The simple answer is that everything in life comes with a cost – to spend 2 weeks away from the comforts of modern life, no idea what is going on in the outside world, sleeping in a small tent, eating less than amazing food and contending with various other challenges (on this occasion, most notably weather) is tough. When almost everything you have with you is wet, you are cold and have barely even seen your surroundings for a few days in a row – the temptation to call it a day is great. I will never forget what someone once said to me when I was gearing up for my first GT – I was told that even the most experienced hikers will want to quit at some stage during a GT, the difference those who succeed and those who don’t is that success comes when you are willing to push through. Admittedly I actually didn’t hit a point where I wanted to quit on this GT, unlike the end of day 5 on the last GT, but I could feel that the thoughts were coming at certain stages, such as on the Yodeler’s Ridge, but quitting here wouldn’t have solved anything, which made it easier to put the thought out of my mind.
I actually wrote the above summary the day after finishing the GT. And having been very sick for 4 days after the finish, and still not being back to 100% in terms of energy and various other factors, I have to say that I do not regret having done this trip. After a week the sores on my lips peeled off and are no longer an issue. The scab on my hand from when I fell on the Ntonjelana Ridge is now gone. In a few weeks I will be back to health (hopefully seeing as I am doing Kili in March).
For some reason Tolkien has been very topical and highly quoted in my recent hike reports. Perhaps having read The Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle Earth, Silmarillion and various other Tolkien books in the last year is the reason. The one thing I enjoy about Tolkien books is that the world the adventurer returns to is never the same world that they left, Frodo finds the Shire to be run by Saruman and Wormtongue while Bilbo finds all his things for sale. While it is true that the world may change while you are away, I think the truth is that the adventurer changes more while away than the world they left behind.
Statistics
Total distance: 291km
Total altitude gained: 12.6km
Total khulus: 51 to Michael and I, 63 to Andrew
Total photos taken: 1757
Special thanks
A lot of people are involved in making a GT happen, and while it is not possible to list everyone, special thanks is extended to the following individuals and organisations:
1) Byron for helping with transporting us through to Sentinel car park, especially in light of the car problems experienced.
2) Tony Marshall for providing us with a detailed GPS track for the route, this was especially helpful in the mist.
3) Sani Pass Tours for taking our Sani resupply up for us.
4) Sani Mountain Lodge for holding our resupply packs.
5) Silverstreams for allowing us to use their showers at the end of the GT (if you want to use their facilities, don’t forget to get permission and pay the R20 p.p. at the trading store first).
6) Hi-Tec for providing me with my camp shoes and raincoat. The raincoat was especially good.
7) Andrew and Michael, as well as Sarah and Tony – the GT would never had happened without you guys!
Michael was up bright and early. Our tent was the first one to be packed away on a beautiful sunny morning. While I waited for the others to finish getting ready, Michael was off to Sani. Andrew and summed up directions quite well the day before – walk straight, if you hit a road, turn left, if you hit a cliff, turn right.
About 40 minutes after Michael had set off, the rest of us set off. The Phinong ridge is bigger than it looks, but still one of the easiest ridges on a GT. One can easily bypass it by walking around it, but I had wanted to walk over it, and so we did.
We soon found ourselves on the saddle, Sani clearly visible in the valley below. We were above a narrow steep gully that looked a lot like a conventional Berg pass. We made our way down it, contouring out of it near the bottom. The Tsani Flats looked like a massive swamp, so we picked what looked like the easiest line, avoiding kraals of course.
We found ourselves on the banks of the Tsani River after a while. It was very full and would not be easy to cross. Eventually we de-shoed and crossed barefoot.
As we neared the lodge, we realised that Michael was only about 100m ahead of us. We walked into the lodge just behind him. We sat down for the buffet breakfast. It had only taken about 1h45 from the Phinong valley to Sani, which I think is pretty decent.
After 2 hours, eating a large breakfast, phoning family, discarding about 1kg of rubbish and picking up 2.5kg of food for the last 3 days, we were off. Michael wanted to stay on to get a bit more work done, so we told him how to get to Sandleni Cave, told him that if he gets stuck we will have signal at 4PM by standing near the escarpment edge, and left him with my copy of map 6.
On the way out from Sani, we slogged up to bag the khulu “Sani”. With that peak I had now bagged a khulu at all of the EKZN reserves. Coming into the hike I was still missing Monks Cowl, Vergelegen and Cobham (according to the map, only Sani and North Hodgesons actually fall within the reserve). Botlolong, Mohlesi and now Sani had remedied this problem, although Free State and Eastern Cape are both Berg areas that remain un-khulu-bagged by me.
Sani is quite a slog. We had left our packs with Sarah, and were worried as we saw some locals hanging around her. They left her in peace and all seemed to be good. We summited the peak with a bit of rain and lightning around.
We saw 2 hikers (well, day trippers from Sani in shorts and T-shirts without packs) – these were the first non-locals we had seen outside of a Sani Lodge since we passed the hut above Tugela Falls. They were making their way up North Hodgesons, but considering the clear thunderstorm that was moving in, I don’t know how wise this was.
On the way up the Hodgeson’s ridge we were hit by a rather substantial thunderstorm. Not really where you want to be in a storm like this, but not much one can do.
We decided to give North Hodgeson’s a miss in favour of the south peak. With the storm about we did not want to climb both. The Hodgeson’s ridge is one of the Berg’s toughest ridges IMO. I have been over it a few times, and in both directions, and it is a real slog. Just below the saddle by the south peak we could see a rather substantial amount of livestock, with some locals hanging about. Andrew sat with the packs while Tony, Sarah and I went up. If you follow the south slope you see a large cairn, just before this cairn there is a clear trail that leads to a very short easy scramble near the top. The view from the top is amazing, although the trail up is a bit exposed.
The view from the summit is quite something, but due to the strong winds and the thunderstorm that had just hit as we reached the top (we were hit by a series of short thunderstorms over the space of about 3 hours), we got off the top quite quickly. As we reached the packs, Andrew shot up and bagged the summit as well.
The Pitseneng Valley was rather wet. It is definitely one of the wetter valleys on the escarpment. For those who have never been there – this valley is unique, there are cliffs on either side, probably due to the size of the drainage basin. It feels very different to most escarpment valleys.
We took the normal line into the valley, but the river was too full to take a more efficient line through the basin. The number of occupied kraals was also a concern. To think I had been here 3 months earlier only to find a few stagnant pools, now the river was too deep and wide to cross with shoes on.
We decided to bail on the river route in favour of following the escarpment edge. We crossed the river without shoes (the floor of the river was very slippery), and made our way up the slopes on the other side – taking one of the many gaps in the cliff line.
We had some pretty decent views from the escarpment edge, although progress was slow in yet another marsh. By the time we reached the Stones Buttress, we were in thick mist and once again took a hybrid of guessing our line and confirming it with the GPS. This was the weather we had expected for the GT, and we were prepared for this.
As we neared the top of the Sandleni Ridge the mist began to clear. Tony saw Michael, so Sarah and myself waited with the packs while the two of them went off to find him. After about 30 minutes the full team of 5 was back together.
We made our way over the top of the Sandleni Ridge only to see a sight I had never seen before – an escarpment valley that was practically a massive tarn. This valley may belong to No Man, but as much as Eowyn may want to slay the Witch King, I was worried that our passage through this valley may be rather slow. Don’t follow the lights…
We made our way down towards the Sandleni River. It had begun to rain, and the water falling off the cliffs above the approach to the cave compounded this. The river was very full, and the tufts of grass we had to jump to were generally not very stable. Somehow we made it to the cave without any major slips. Andrew went off to inspect the 2 tunnels, but both were wet. We decided to pitch tents in the cave.
Now for those who have never been in Sandleni Cave in summer – picture a deep dark hole that one may be able to swim in. Now turn it by 90 degrees and walk into it. Andrew quickly allocated the 3 spaces we would use for sleeping. Michael set to flattening our area while the rest of us dug small trenches into the ground to drain standing water. Tony set up a channel on the side with the main water drip (water was literally squirting out of the rock in places, you could fill a 1 litre waterbottle under the main drip in around 1 minute). I dug a series of trenches which didn’t look promising at first, but after 10 minutes we had a rather substantial flow of water moving out of the cave.
Within an hour the area right by the entrance where I would be setting up tent was entirely dry, aside from a regular drip straight onto the spot where the middle of the tent would be. Andrew’s spot didn’t look too great, but it looked better than it did an hour earlier. Tony’s spot at the back looked pretty good.
Every half an hour or so I rebuilt the drainage channels that had silted up. While most of the cave was still not usable, it was definitely much drier than it had been. Perhaps in a few days it would be entirely usable. This is actually a really good cave, it has a roof that is high enough to not hit your roof against, but not so high as to allow unwanted weather in. It is very large and deep, and is sheltered to the front by the Sandleni Buttress. It also has an outstanding view. In winter it would be a top class cave.
Day 11 – Not a Good Sign (Sandleni Cave to Mzimude Cave – 26km)
We woke up to find that our Home Improvement Caveman Edition had worked. We were cold, but sitting on the escarpment in the sun while the others finished packing up did the trick.
Our drainage channels were still moving lots of water out of the cave, although not as much as they had been the night before.
We began walking through the Sandleni Valley – there were tarns everywhere. Various waterfalls were found. It was a beautiful sunny day.
There are many lines one can take up No Man’s Peak. I like the higher line of following the ridge off the summit from early on. Near where the ridge hits the main No Man’s ridge, you switch to the inland side of the ridge and aim for the saddle through the ridge. Near the saddle we dropped our packs and bagged the khulu.
We stopped for a break halfway between No Mans Peak and and Mzimkulu Pass. This is one of my favourite view points in the Berg. The layout is rather similar to the many cutbacks one would find at Mnweni.
We soon found ourselves making our way past plenty of livestock, and some locals, on the way up the Verkyker ridge. Not much to say about this ridge.
Sarah waited with the packs while Andrew ran up and the rest of us walked up. I now had 46. I warned the guys about the issues behind Mashai Pass, so we stopped for lunch up here, while Andrew ran off to bag Mlambonja, Matebeng and Walker. We would meet in the saddle by Mashai Peak.
We got through most of the valley behind Rhino Peak without even seeing locals. We took a high line around Mlambonja Peak to cut off some distance. We stopped for another break just before beginning the slog up the Leqooa Ridge. I had done this ridge many times before, and never found it to be difficult – but it had always been the first ridge I had done in a day.
As we stopped on the river below, a local came and asked Michael to allow him to use his solar phone charger. Michael said no, but this individual didn’t leave us alone.
As we started to slog up the Leqooa Ridge I realised that something was wrong. I really didn’t feel ok. With lots of breaks I did get up the ridge (as the mist began to roll in), I really didn’t feel good. We found Andrew in the saddle. He had already bagged Mashai, so myself, Michael and Tony went up to bag the khulu. This was my first time on the khulu.
We began the long walk down the ridge and through the Mzimude Valley. Not much to say about this section, but it is usually very scenic. Mist was sporadic as it normally is when it first rolls in. As I had predicted, I lead the team to the wrong gully first, but after having found the wrong gully once before, I knew we needed to make our way further south, and soon we were making our way to Mzimude Cave. The river on the pass was flowing enough that we didn’t have to go far to get water. The cave had a small drip at the back, but the 5 of us easily managed to fit into the cave.
Despite not feeling well, I knew that if I didn’t go for the 50 khulus I would regret it. So myself, Andrew and Michael climbed Mzimude in on and off mist. That was no 48, so Isicutula and Walker would make it 50 tomorrow. This was a relief.
Myself and Tony had hypothesised a khulu called “Mzimude Pass Peak”. We had both individually thought one may exist, but I was yet to determine which summit and to check the 1km distance. So, armed with a GPS co-ordinate of the top of Mzimude, we climbed the peak that is highest in the valley. We built a summit cairn on top and got the summit shot. More than 1km from Mzimude, but we needed to check Walkers Peak – that we could only do tomorrow.
Day 12 – Only 6km to go (Mzimude Cave to Tarn Cave – 22km)
We started yet another day in glorious weather. In some ways this was a happy day – we were approaching the end of an epic hike and we would get our 50th khulu today. In other ways it was sad – the adventure was almost over.
I was feeling better this morning, but I knew this would be a long day. If I wasn’t feeling well I could bail at Thamathu Pass – this meant I wanted to stay far from the pass and get past it quickly. To get the Tarn Cave finish to a GT would require doing an entire GT from scratch if I didn’t take this chance.
We began the day by bagging Walker. Andrew ran ahead to bag Thamathu as well (the Lesotho peak next to Walker that is). We all met up on the summit of Walker. I was definitely not the fastest guy in the team though. I definitely wasn’t at 100%. My GPS said 1.2km from Mzimude Pass Peak – that meant that MPP was a khulu and Walker was our 50th.
From there we made our way back down and bagged the khulu Isicutula. That summit is an easy one, and put myself and Michael on 51. I knew it was our last khulu for the trip – no way we would get Thaba Ngwangwe or Knuckles on this trip.
Andrew decided to find a way up Andre’s Knob, and he did manage to do it. I will let him put up the full story of his trip, but I did get a summit shot from more than 1km away.
We began to make our way down Isicutula Pass. We used the gully to get through the top 2 cliffs and then traversed out to the left and zig-zagged avoiding the cliffs. I had a good chuckle upon reaching the river in the valley below – we were at 2750m, about 50m higher than when we crossed the Thlanyako River. I had not realised how high this pass bottoms out!
We bundu-bashed a bit before finding the local highway around Thaba Ngwangwe. Michael decided to follow the river below. Based on the amount of barking, I am quite happy without route choice!
We eventually decided to drop down to a lower trail as we rounded the south corner of the peak. We held the trail that leads towards Thamathu Pass for a while before eventually breaking off to the south to follow the river behind Goat’s Cave Peak. We saw some more locals. Interestingly these guys used whips to threaten their dogs – so when we tried to chase dogs away with rocks it didn’t work, but my trekking poles did.
We stopped for a break on the river – plenty of animals around, so no usable water in the area. It rained a bit during our break, but by this point in a GT you generally don’t have much to report.
There had been lots of talk of distances as-the-crow-flies, my GPS track wasn’t always entirely the route we planned on taking, hence this point. On this day however, we had a big chunk that I had no track for – the stretch between where we left the trail to Thamathu Pass and the top of Knuckles Traverse Pass. This resulted in my GPS saying that we had 6km left for quite a while. The running joke from now till the end of the hike was that we only had 6km left – irrespective of the actual distance remaining.
We finished slogging up the valley and soon found the trails that mark the start of Knuckles Traverse Pass. I am not going to do a detailed account of the pass – but I can summarise it as follows:
- We stopped a lot for breaks
- We gained and lost plenty of altitude
- The mist came and went on this scenic route
- It rained a bit
- We all enjoyed some fruit cake that Tony had been carrying
- The pass is longer than it seems
- This route is worthwhile for anyone who hasn’t done it before
- The trail goes from amazingly clear to non-existent every 20m
As we hit the fence for Sehlabathebe National Park we agreed to not cross the fence line out of respect for the national park that we did not have authorisation to enter. Last time I found Tarn Cave was in thick mist and I can now see how inefficient our line was! It began to rain as we got close, and was pouring when we walked into the cave. The sleeping areas were more than adequately dry.
Day 13 – Homeward Bound (Tarn Cave to finish – 12km)
I woke up this morning in an odd frame of mind. In some ways I was very happy – one of my longest standing mountain goals was about to be completed. When I was 12 and my brother had just climbed Cathedral Peak I said that one day I would walk across the Drakensberg and climb all the peaks at once. Naturally at the time I had no clue what I was saying – so to actually see this goal through to completion was something very special for me.
I also knew that this hike would be marking the start of the end of an era for me. I have set myself many goals in the Drakensberg, and this put me very close to my goal of 100 khulus, I would soon have my goal of doing a GT in both directions and of doing the extended finish. There are many things I hope to achieve in my life, and I don’t want hiking in the Berg to be the only thing I ever do – it would be like reading the same book again and again. I didn’t know the exact number at the time, but I was now on 73 khulus. I need to bag the 7 that I haven’t done in the top 30, and I need to bag some in the Free State (as well as plenty of random ones I haven’t got to that I want to do – Sentinel etc). I hope to get 50 high-Berg passes, so I am still 12 short on that one. While I am by no means at my goals just yet – it was at this moment that it hit me, the fact that I was close and could quite plausibly be there by the end of 2015.
As long as I live in KZN I will probably be in the Berg fairly often, but my focus will slowly switch from exploration to development. I am hoping to get some form of a schools program going in KZN to encourage teens to get into hiking. But this is another topic for another day – anyway, I digress.
We were moving around sunrise. I got a team shot from the cave, but the lighting was all wrong. We got another shot above the cave which was a bit clearer.
To the best of my knowledge it would be conventional to finish an extended GT via Tarn Cave Pass – but seeing as Bushman’s Nek Pass is the most southern pass within the EKZN boundaries, I had made a call early on that we would finish via this pass.
The map shows a strong trail from Tarn Cave to the pass – but unfortunately this is not the case. We continued our bundu-bashing from the day before, remembering how fortunate one is to hike on the 3000m escarpment as we pushed through the long grass of 2500m.
We eventually reached the end of the fence that marks Lesotho’s only national park. We found a strong highway shortly thereafter.
The walk from Tarn Cave to Bushman’s Nek Pass is actually very long. The trail is a deep donga with parallel dongas everywhere. The beautiful clear morning did not entirely make up for the eyesore that is this over-eroded field.
After what seemed much further than I had expected, the trail took a turn to the left. We had reached Bushman’s Nek Pass. We found this trail to be rather windy and very badly eroded. You also get your pick of trails to use. Ironically enough we chose a trail that differed from the GPS track for the pass I had found online. Thus my GPS showed that we were walking away from our target (the next GPS spot) and it did actually show 6km remaining for a while.
We soon reached the bottom of the pass. Our pace was good, despite taking a good 8 breaks between the cave and the base of the pass.
I had been worried about the river at the base of the pass, but we got across this easily.
There isn’t much I can say about the walkout from Bushman’s Nek Pass. It was beautifully clear, sunny, blah, blah, blah. None of us really cared about this – the end was around the corner and we wanted to get there. A hot shower and clean clothes were waiting.
Part of the trail had collapsed and it seemed that the trail now crosses the river for a while. We followed the old trail and were able to make it work. As it nears the end it lead straight through a large pool of water – this gave us our last off-trail bundu-bashing of the trip.
We crossed the final 3 rivers and soon found ourselves standing (barefoot for some of us – I didn’t feel like putting my shoes back on) on concrete. I did tag the fence first, so I would like to claim that I did briefly hold the most khulus on a GT record – Andrew hadn’t finished his GT yet
We got a group shot with the border fence before making our way to Andrew’s car. The EKZN guy at Bushman’s Nek asked what the story was for leaving the car there for 2 weeks – I mentioned that we told the guy who was on duty when we had left it there, but the message hadn’t been passed on. Anyway – all was good.
We shot across to Silverstreams, bought some icecreams, paid the R20 to use their showers and then proceeded to clean up properly for the first time in weeks.
We had done it – a 13 day khulu bagging GT with an extended finish. What an adventure it was!
In conclusion
It has been asked in the past as to whether a south to north GT is harder than a north to south. Having now done both I have to say that it doesn’t actually matter which way round you do it – the reason I say this is simple: any half competent and reasonably fit individual can actually do a GT. I proved this when I did a GT in 2012, very inexperienced and not nearly fit enough, but I managed to do it. What makes a GT tough is being able to walk past Organ Pipes, Langies, Sani etc. without taking a sharp turn in favour of real food, a hot shower and a warm bed. Some escarpment ridges are definitely easier from one side – e.g. Durnford is much easier from the south and Long Wall is much easier from the north. The first day in a north to south is definitely much easier, and that does make a difference – but IMO, overall, a person who can finish a GT in one direction can probably do it in both directions, and while insufficient fitness will make a GT much harder, it is the will to keep going that gets you through a GT.
This concept of the will to keep going may sound strange to those who haven’t done a GT – after all, “does the author of this report not actually enjoy hiking?” The simple answer is that everything in life comes with a cost – to spend 2 weeks away from the comforts of modern life, no idea what is going on in the outside world, sleeping in a small tent, eating less than amazing food and contending with various other challenges (on this occasion, most notably weather) is tough. When almost everything you have with you is wet, you are cold and have barely even seen your surroundings for a few days in a row – the temptation to call it a day is great. I will never forget what someone once said to me when I was gearing up for my first GT – I was told that even the most experienced hikers will want to quit at some stage during a GT, the difference those who succeed and those who don’t is that success comes when you are willing to push through. Admittedly I actually didn’t hit a point where I wanted to quit on this GT, unlike the end of day 5 on the last GT, but I could feel that the thoughts were coming at certain stages, such as on the Yodeler’s Ridge, but quitting here wouldn’t have solved anything, which made it easier to put the thought out of my mind.
I actually wrote the above summary the day after finishing the GT. And having been very sick for 4 days after the finish, and still not being back to 100% in terms of energy and various other factors, I have to say that I do not regret having done this trip. After a week the sores on my lips peeled off and are no longer an issue. The scab on my hand from when I fell on the Ntonjelana Ridge is now gone. In a few weeks I will be back to health (hopefully seeing as I am doing Kili in March).
For some reason Tolkien has been very topical and highly quoted in my recent hike reports. Perhaps having read The Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle Earth, Silmarillion and various other Tolkien books in the last year is the reason. The one thing I enjoy about Tolkien books is that the world the adventurer returns to is never the same world that they left, Frodo finds the Shire to be run by Saruman and Wormtongue while Bilbo finds all his things for sale. While it is true that the world may change while you are away, I think the truth is that the adventurer changes more while away than the world they left behind.
Statistics
Total distance: 291km
Total altitude gained: 12.6km
Total khulus: 51 to Michael and I, 63 to Andrew
Total photos taken: 1757
Special thanks
A lot of people are involved in making a GT happen, and while it is not possible to list everyone, special thanks is extended to the following individuals and organisations:
1) Byron for helping with transporting us through to Sentinel car park, especially in light of the car problems experienced.
2) Tony Marshall for providing us with a detailed GPS track for the route, this was especially helpful in the mist.
3) Sani Pass Tours for taking our Sani resupply up for us.
4) Sani Mountain Lodge for holding our resupply packs.
5) Silverstreams for allowing us to use their showers at the end of the GT (if you want to use their facilities, don’t forget to get permission and pay the R20 p.p. at the trading store first).
6) Hi-Tec for providing me with my camp shoes and raincoat. The raincoat was especially good.
7) Andrew and Michael, as well as Sarah and Tony – the GT would never had happened without you guys!
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18 Jan 2015 22:16 - 18 Jan 2015 22:17 #62644
by ghaznavid
You are under no obligation to read the report, although I am not entirely sure if anyone is actually reading it. Admittedly I have barely even proof read it myself
The pictures tell most of the story anyway...
Last batch of photos will follow in the next few days - excuse the overly detailed 22 page long report. I did keep it a bit shorter than the last one though - in terms of pages per day that is.
Replied by ghaznavid on topic GT2014/15 - Don't Follow the Lights
AndrewP wrote: I love the deviation of the topic. All the talk about distances and fractals is a whole lot more interesting than another hike report
You are under no obligation to read the report, although I am not entirely sure if anyone is actually reading it. Admittedly I have barely even proof read it myself
The pictures tell most of the story anyway...
Last batch of photos will follow in the next few days - excuse the overly detailed 22 page long report. I did keep it a bit shorter than the last one though - in terms of pages per day that is.
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20 Jan 2015 12:04 - 20 Jan 2015 12:11 #62656
by tonymarshall
Replied by tonymarshall on topic GT2014/15 - Don't Follow the Lights
Sounds familiar, in 2012 it was Popple Peak, and I got so irritated with constantly hearing of the three failed previous attempts, that I was determined to make sure Jonathan got to the top of Popple on that GT, even if it meant putting him over my shoulder and stumbling up with him 
Anyway, he made it up on his own and I was waiting on top to congratulate him and take a photo, and since it was roughly at the middle of the GT, we at least were spared the last few days of hearing about Popple, whereas you no doubt had the full 13 days of Andre's Knob.
Anyway, he made it up on his own and I was waiting on top to congratulate him and take a photo, and since it was roughly at the middle of the GT, we at least were spared the last few days of hearing about Popple, whereas you no doubt had the full 13 days of Andre's Knob.
AndrewP wrote:
Andre's Knob:
Jonathan had been talking about this all day, every day. Okay, not all the the time - sometimes he paused to quote Gollum leading the hobbits through the dead marshes.
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20 Jan 2015 12:49 #62658
by ghaznavid
Sounds like my ploy has worked on both occasions
Replied by ghaznavid on topic GT2014/15 - Don't Follow the Lights
tonymarshall wrote: Sounds familiar, in 2012 it was Popple Peak, and I got so irritated with constantly hearing of the three failed previous attempts, that I was determined to make sure Jonathan got to the top of Popple on that GT, even if it meant putting him over my shoulder and stumbling up with him
Sounds like my ploy has worked on both occasions
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