favourite Hike?

I am keen to know what your favourite hike is and why it's your favourite? I presume not everyone enjoys the same thing so I'm looking to broaden my horizons (maybe)...

Hmmm... good topic! I'll have to break mine down into categories

The Berg

In the Berg, it's a very tough choice, but I'd have to go with the 6-day route I did in the Southern Berg with my good friend Andrew Hagen back in Jan 2006:
- Day 1: Bushman's Nek to Tarn Cave
- Day 2: Summit the Devil's Knuckles via Knuckles Pass (South) and down Bushman's Pass to Bushman's Cave
- Day 3: Along the non-existent contour path and up Mzimude Pass (South) to Mzimude Cave
- Day 4: North along the escarpment to the summit of The Rhino and down Mzimkhulu Pass to Fun Cave
- Day 5: Down the Mzimkhulu Pipeline, out onto the Garden Castle Road and up the valley to Sleeping Beauty Cave
- Day 6: Back to Bushman's Nek via the Giant's Cup Trail

I think the reason I enjoyed it so much was the variety in landscapes, passes, rock features, kloofing, caves, etc. It was quite a novelty for me having gotten used to what the Northern Berg had to offer. I also enjoyed the exploration we got to do in the little berg due to the non-existent paths in places.

A close second would be the 4-day route up Cockade Pass and down Thuthumi Pass and the Didima Gorge...


Other hikes in SA

I have to punt my other favourite wilderness area in South Africa - the Hex River Mountains near Worcester/Ceres. The complete Hex Traverse is a wild hike along the length of the range from Matroosberg to Fonteintjiesberg. No paths, plenty of bundu-bashing, spectacular views, rugged mountain terrain and a real sense of adventure. It took us 4 days, only covering about 10-12km per day but having to hike from dawn to dusk to cover that distance.


Photo by Andrew Hagen


Photo by Andrew Hagen


International

From my (limited) international hiking/mountaineering experience, I would go with the Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt in Switzerland via 11 different glaciers. We did things a little differently to the herds that get dragged along by mountain guides - we took our time, did many side trips up the alpine peaks all around us and camped wild as much as possible (including one night of camping on the glacier itself). Including the week we spent in the Saas Valley and a few days in the Bernese Oberland, this trip was probably the best 5 weeks of my life! We've been back to Switzerland since, but you don't get that same sense of adventure as when you're slumming around on a student budget and throwing yourself in the deep end with all the alpine stuff!





Edit: Funnily enough, I just realized that all of the above 3 trips happened in 2006 - great year for me with many awesome memories

Thank for those superb pics Stijn.

My favourite hike, which I would love to do again in years to come, is as follows:
- Easy day 1: Injisuthi camp to Centenary hut, party of 4-6 with two porters. Porters only carry their own stuff, their presence is not for comfort of baggage, but for day 2.
- Day 2: leave big packs, tents, etc all with the porters at Centenary hut, take your lightweight daypack (hydration bag with minor packing is best here), head up Corner pass Northern approach, very early. Hopefully get up Corner in about 4-5 hours (with no weight on the back this is quite possible), bag Corner, Trojan wall highpoint, Injisuthi dome and Mafadi, maybe even Lithabolong (bit of a stretch to bag all these, better be fit). Return same way via Corner. This is a very long day but to me very rewarding. Hopefully, if the porters are worth their salt, a big dinner is awaiting upon return (which will be around 8pm). This is by all accounts an epic one-day'er.
- Day 3. Sleep in a bit late, take the contour path and head for Lower Injisuthi Cave. Fool around in the triplets basin until sundown.
- Day 4. Back to Injisuthi camp.
(The (tougher) alternative to day 4 would be to ascend the scaly ridge on the other side of the river and go look for my camera that I lost there a couple of years ago. ).

That's it.

@Stijn: That 6 day loop in the southern Berg is one I've wanted to do for a while - looks really cool, especially with the Giant's Cup ending for great variety. Also Hex River Mountains are on my to do list

I'd go with GT for me, no question. I need to do more hiking outside of KZN though - my best outside of SA would probably be walking up Acropolis Hill in Athens, partially due to the lack of competition...

Mine are probably the Otter, Kilimanjaro, castle gorge in the magaliesberg (wilderness hiking and camping an hour away from Joburg )

I also really enjoyed the summit trail at kgaswane Mountain reserve.
My favourite day hike venue is klipriviersberg NR, within metropolitan Joburg but feels like the middle of nowhere.
I must also add the backpack and wilderness trips I've done in Kruger and pilanesberg.

Feck!!! This is like Xmas! I like it all. It certainly gives me a shopping list.

I am planning to do the Haute route next year as that's been on my to do list forever but all the Berg hikes sound amazing too. There's still something special about about the Berg and it's soft lines and rivers in every valley.

As I'm from Cape Town originally I also can't dispute what Stijn says about the Cape mountains. As I said, I'm a sucker for it all. I need to find a way to prioritise...

ASL wrote: I am planning to do the Haute route next year as that's been on my to do list forever...

Great stuff! Drop me a line when you're planning your trip - there are many variations to the Haute route, some of which stick to the meadows and valleys and others which stay in the high mountains as much as possible. Depending on your time available, I'd say the latter is the way to go!

The glaciers can become a bit of a slog though, and that's why it's nice to break up the trip with a few side-trips up the peaks. On the Haute route itself, we did Aiguille du Tour, Pigne d'Arolla, Mont Brule, Aiguille du Bertol and Tete Blanche, most of which were no harder than PD+, except for the Aiguille du Bertol, which is a bolted climb (about grade 16) directly off the balcony of the Cabane du Bertol - spectacular!

Some of the major route variations we took to the classic glacier Haute route were:
- the Glacier du Saleina instead of the descent to Champex Lac (highly recommended and remote)
- the Brenay Glacier instead of the Otemma Glacier (not recommended - we had to clamber up an icefall which was the hairiest section of the trip)
- Col l'Eveque and the Arolla Glacier instead of the descent to Arolla (also recommended as you spend more time up high)

@joshilewis

castle gorge in the magaliesberg

Yeah, I also really like that one! Definately there in my top 10 day hikes! Awesome pools for jumping into as well

ok, I'm getting into a frenzy here! Thanks so much that insight. I definitely need to get input from you on the best options for the Haute route. Did you use a guide for example?

I'm thinking of finishing off with a climb on Mt Blanc because my previous attempt got stopped 300m below the summit by a storm. can't wait!

@ASL, being on a student budget and having a thirst for adventure, we didn't use a guide. However it was the first time we had done any kind of alpine mountaineering so we eased ourselves into it.

A friend gave us a crash course in crevasse rescue on the rugby fields at UCT, we borrowed ice-axes and crampons from the MCSA (probably last used in the 70s) and then we started the trip with a 3-day round trip up to Aiguille du Tour via a very easy glacier where we gained confidence in moving as a roped-3. Using a guide would probably have given us the necessary skills much faster, but we had the time and it was such a great experience just figuring it all out for ourselves!

By the time the trip was over, we had learnt first-hand:
- why alpine starts are necessary if you don't like wading through waist deep snow
- why packing snow on the snow flaps of your tent does not allow for said alpine start at 4am the next morning
- carrying 30kg for 5 weeks in the alps makes you STRONG!
- despite thinking you are STRONG, Swiss grannies will come jogging past you on a regular basis
- being the middle-man in a roped-3 is only marginally better than sticking needles into your eyeballs
- French guides do not take kindly to you taking up too much space on an alpine ridge while they are trying to drag their clients up
- Coiling rope around little bollards and pinnacles is all the pro you need (on grade PD+ ridges at least)
- Blue camping mats do not provide sufficient insulation when sleeping on a glacier
- Pasta, sweetcorn and concentrated tomato paste is not too appetizing after 2 weeks on the trot...

I could go on, but you get the picture...