5 day GT – "a walk in the park" (Ghaz & Andrew's GT)

Great write-up. Sounds like an execellent trip. Would it be possible to download your gps-track somewhere ? I'd like to have a closer look at it for our next trip overthere. The more possible places where you can crash for the night the better.

Hello Jan

The track we used contains a lot of detail that has literally taken me years to work out the optimal route. Hopefully one day, I will use it to go really fast. So, I would prefer to not get it out into general circulation.

Regardless of that, I do not believe the track is really going to help you find a place to sleep though. As a general rule of thumb, the speed version of the grand traverse route does not go near any caves, so you need to make a detour to get to one.

I would suggest starting out by downloading the GPS co-ords for as many caves as you can (many are listed on this site). Then, when you work out your daily distances to travel, you can try find a nearby cave to your expected day end. But, also expect to go slower than planned on some days so try have a backup plan lined up, such as a tent. You might for instance be forced to abandon the intended trip over the next ridge due to a thunderstorm.

Sounds quite logical to me, don't apologise. I've been collecting a few different options so far, and I experienced that you never realy have enough information. And that it can be quite hard to find a small dark cave, in the big berg at a moonless night.(even with gps) I will be back there in Feb '16 so I'm studiing the different options.

Should be no need for Andrew's track anyway if you are not trying to set a speed record (ie 99% of us). Simply go the Downlaods section of this site, and click on "Drakensberg Grade Traverse", you will find a few tracks for the GT you can use.

Also, under the Downloads section, click on "Drakensbeg Caves", which will give you a wide under of Caves to choose in you combine it with the DGT track.

Congrats guys.

@Ghaz - thats a brilliant achievement, I know how driven and dedicated you are. Glad I assisted in some capacity - my bust wrist is better, so getting back to hiking, see you on a "training" hike soon