Hiking Table Mountain

 

Three and a half years ago I took the cable car up Table Mountain. I starred at the side of the striking landmark and told myself I would come back and climb it one day. To my surprise, the day I would achieve this goal is August 10^th, 2014.

I left my cottage at 9:30 and made my way through the gardens and towards the Skeleton Gorge trailhead. There are numerous routes up the mountain, but Skeleton Gorge is supposed to be one of the toughest. Picture a natural stairmaster, then imagine it steeper. There really aren’t any switchbacks here. Instead, you are greeted with this.

Then this,

 

Then eventually you get to ladders and roots to trek straight up the gorge!

 

The moisture combined with the steepness of the path makes this trail so perilous. This water is coming from all directions of the slope, including the rocks which make the trail and its steps. No wonder why there are consistent reports of hikers being air-lifted out of the area after slipping and falling on the rocks below.

It’s cool under the canopy and ferns grow all over the place, including on rock crevices.

 

 

Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to view any Disas, the native African orchid.

I came to a point where I lost the path, so I decided to make my own. I crawled out of the dense forest to the sunny Cliffside where I had a gorgeous view of Kirstenbosch. Here I saw all sorts of flowers and grasses and shrubs which were entirely different from what I witnessed merely 10 feet away. It seemed as if someone else had been up there before and left small signs of their own passage. To be honest, walking up there was a slip away from disaster, especially since I was alone.

 

 

 

After hitting a few points where I could have easily fallen, I chose to head back inside the canopy. But first I had to photograph some of the vegetation!

 

 

 

 

This here is Phylica pubescens, part of the Rhamnaceae family.

 

These soft shrubs, commonly known as featherheads, are typical in the South African fynbos and displayed all over the garden. They have dark green foliage with a bright white/cream rosette of feathery leaves at the tip of each branch. The feathery leaves are actually bracts where little flowers nestle and await their bee/fly/beetle pollinator. These tips shine almost too bright for photographs when the sun is out. What's really cool about this plant is the seeds. Ants are specifically attracted to the seeds and like to collect them. This helps in seed dispersal and why you will commonly see plants growing near ant nests.

I started booking it up slope where I met my new friend Jake. Jake is an English teacher in Cambodia who is originially from Wisconsin. He is in South Africa for a week while on his way back home. Together, we tackled the last bit of Skeleton Gorge and made it to the observation point where we could see all of the Cape Flats. Here, I decided to have lunch.

Originally, I thought reaching this tip was the end of the road. Turns out, the top of Skeleton Gorge is just the first part! After a few minutes, Jake and I continued heading up. Up until we hit the highest peak of the plateau, Maclear’s Beacon. From here, we can see across the top of Table Mountain. It was beautiful.

Unfortunately, I could only take a limited amount of pictures because my camera’s battery was running low. But the top of the mountain was like a bog. This range gets a lot of rainwater in the winter which sits or runs down streams until the sun and plants soak it all up. What you get is a lot of restios and some other fantastic plants in and amongst them. A lot of plants I really don’t know. Most of the fynbos vegetation occurs on the slopes of the mountains. There you will find the King Proteas, Ericas, Buchus, Restios, bulbs, and more. But I did manage to find some more of my Drosera friends in some moss on top!

 

 

 

 

 

As we made our way along the boardwalk, Jake and I ran into a few more new friends of ours! Tana and Pheobe are from Kenya and are currently performing art students at University of Cape Town (UCT). Together, the four of us finished our trek over to the cable car station talking about African politics and lifestyle. From my understanding, if you’re white, South Africa is the only place you want to go these days. All the other African nations are starting to repel white farmers and businessmen. But even in South Africa, apartheid is still a trending topic emphasizing the need for affirmative action, or reverse racism if you ask me. If you are white and male, finding a job these days in South Africa is nearly impossible.

 

 

 

To no surprise, the Cable Car was currently under their annual renovations when we arrived. Poor Jake thought it was going to be a quick hike and went up the mountain with no water or food; low and behold he can’t even purchase anything at the stores on top.

On the bright side, we were able to see the Hyraxes, or Dassies. Today, they decided to come out and play around for us. Last time I was on top of Table Mountain, Grandma and I didn’t get to see these creatures. Fun fact about Dassies, they are endemic to the cliffsides of Table Mountain and are the closest relative to elephants. Would you ever guess these things are even related to elephants? Unfortunately, shortly after the turn of the century, their numbers took a plunge and are less active around their favorite spots by the cable cars. Biologists think this is due to the absence of the Verreaux’s Eagle in the area. It is quite sad to witness such a change in an area’s fauna due to minute changes and possible impacts imposed by man.

 

Look at this guy.

 

 

Fatties

 

 

This was the grumpy grandpa of the lot.

 

 

And here are a couple of birds we saw. Jack and Julie.

 

 

 

 

Jake and I left the girls and started heading down the front side of Table Mountain. The Platteklip Gorge is the most common route up to the top of Table Mountain. There were lots of foreigners travelling up this side of the mountain. It’s steep, but at least this side uses switchbacks compared to the vertical path of Skeleton Gorge.

 

The vegetation over here was different than the leeward slopes near kirstenbosch. This side of the mountain receives a lot of sun, like our southern slopes in California. The southern slopes here receive less intense sun allowing the water to stay in the soil longer. Adding to that, the air masses come from the north heading south east. As the masses peak over the mountain, they drop water on a downward slope that directs all its resources towards Kirstenbosch. You will see a lot more trees, large shrubs, and undergrowth on the south facing slope.
 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

By 3:30, Jake and I reached the ground station of the cable cars. I called Ryan for a pickup and we went to the Bollywood café for an Indian dinner. I don’t know what happened to Jake. I remember he was planning on catching the red bus back into town, but due to the mountain being closed, the Table Mountain bus stop was momentarily off the route. 

 

As I waited for Ryan to pick me up, I had a comical moment while waiting at the bus benches. Across from me is a small group of Asians here in Cape Town for a two year missionary training program. They are there with their instructor, all under 20 years of age. As we sit there, we watch this big charter bus pull up and out comes a large group of black Botswanan women. I am assuming they are on a special trip for woman’s day. They all get out and start taking pictures at the vintage cable car next to us. A few of them spot us at the benches and casually make their way over to us. They make extremely small talk, then pop a squat next to us and start posing for pictures! Seriously! This one lady walks up to me and says, “Hi, great day out. Yeah?” Then next thing you know, she’s laying on me and her friend is taking a picture and telling us how to pose. Then she walks away. I felt bad for these Asians across for me because these women loved them. I think every person on that bus got a picture with the Asians. It just totally blew my mind. They’re going to get home and someone’s going to ask, “Oh, you met some Asian folks.” and their response is going to probably be “No. We just took pictures with them!” I thought it was hilarious.