Any Hiking Enthusiasts (Not Hitchhikers ;) )

[Kranswurm]

I bought my son a Vaude backpack and that is really good.Not sure who the agents are now.Maybe Drifters

[DJR]

....................And on the subject of booze, I always decant whisky to take along. Nothing beats lying in your sleeping bag and checking out the stars and the Milky Way and the universe fortified by a sip or two of the golden stuff.

My (parly) Scottish genes prevent me from going anywhere without whiskey.

[Kranswurm]

My (parly) Scottish genes prevent me from going anywhere without whiskey.

In summer its Snake Bite........tequila and game with a slice of lemon

[HappyMartin]

The bad news with hiking is that it can hurt quite a lot. Hours of walking and climbing and descending can cause quite a lot of leg fatigue. In my experience cycling doesn't help a great deal. The result is when ever I'm doing a lot of hiking I end up running for fitness.

 

I don't like running. It's painful and boring. Not a good combination I think. Still it's all that helps so I do it. Even a little bit of running does more to improve the hiking experience than any piece of kit you can buy.

[Skylark]

DUESOUTH ONLINE 20% off Hiking stuff

 

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[Ed-Zulu]

Reviving and old thread:

 

My eldest is now 13, finishing grade 7 in few weeks and it's time to take him up the mountain for a weekend.

 

Is there perhaps someone in the Central Berg area I can contact to arrange a group hike with, for the two of us which will include gear rental etc?

 

Thanks in advance

Ed

[Stretch]

 

 

Reviving and old thread:

 

My eldest is now 13, finishing grade 7 in few weeks and it's time to take him up the mountain for a weekend.

 

Is there perhaps someone in the Central Berg area I can contact to arrange a group hike with, for the two of us which will include gear rental etc?

 

Thanks in advance

Ed

Drakensberghiker... With Ian shooter... But you pay a bit for the service. He knows the Berg backwards... But it's not my cup of tea because it's a group of people.. But maybe something you might be interested in

[Ed-Zulu]

Drakensberghiker... With Ian shooter... But you pay a bit for the service. He knows the Berg backwards... But it's not my cup of tea because it's a group of people.. But maybe something you might be interested in

Thanks Stretch, will make contact with him

[Stretch]

Thanks Stretch, will make contact with him

Jealous... The one thing I really miss. We have some great mountains here.. But there is nothing like the Berg.. And being able to spend 3 or 4 days there. Started hiking in the berg when I was about 10.. And did my first escarpment hike at about 12..... and never looked back

[Ed-Zulu]

Jealous... The one thing I really miss. We have some great mountains here.. But there is nothing like the Berg.. And being able to spend 3 or 4 days there. Started hiking in the berg when I was about 10.. And did my first escarpment hike at about 12..... and never looked back

I hiked a fair bit in the Berg and South Africa in general between 1994 - 2000.

 

Life got in the way, but I made a decision to get back into. With my eldest at the right age for this I'm going to kick start the adventure. Sent Ian a mail already and will send pictures of the trip once we return.

 

thanks again

[Ed-Zulu]

Me again, I notice that one can now buy hiking meals in dehydrated form?

 

Are they any good as I trusted heavily on noodles and tuna back in the day with a staple of Pro-Vita's and biltong. Seeing that the world has moved on I would like to ditch the tuna and noodles, but would appreciate some feedback on these dehydrated meals.

 

Noticed two prominent brands being advertised;

-Nomnom

-Back country meals

 

Thanks again 

[Kranswurm]

NomNom is great but heavy.It is wet food and not dehydrates

Back Country freeze dries are brilliant but expensive

I'm still a Toppers Smash and Pasta fan

Edited November 15, 2019 by Kranswurm

[Ed-Zulu]

NomNom is great but heavy.It is wet food and not dehydrates

Back Country freeze dries are brilliant but expensive

I'm still a Toppers Smash and Pasta fan

The Back Country meals are pricey indeed.

 

I'll stick to what I know this time, work some smash/pasta in, the lad is 13 so I'll need to pack serious carbs for the large worm living in his stomach.

[Kranswurm]

The Back Country meals are pricey indeed.

 

I'll stick to what I know this time, work some smash/pasta in, the lad is 13 so I'll need to pack serious carbs for the large worm living in his stomach.

Soya like toppers,Knorr etc comes in nice flavours and I take some Tomato Paste in a tube and an onion or two and a chillie to improve the sauce.You can have it with rice,smash or pasta.

I dont know if you still get those tubes that are like toothpaste tubes .I have half a dozen.I put peanut butter,honey,chutney,Olive Oil in and fantastic for hiking

[Kranswurm]

I dont know if it will help but I have catered for up to 12 people on a hike and stick to the following

 

Tea Machine

Tea

Coffee

Sugar

Powdered Milk

 

Breakfast

Oatso Easy

Honey

 

Lunch

Provita

Cheese wedges

Tuna Sachets

Mixed Dried Fruit

Peanut Butter(in tube)

Jam(in tube)

Game

 

Dinner

Day 1 Braai and Pap if Fire allowed

Day 2 Sea Food Rice(Tin mussels,oysters,shrimps,peas)

Day 3 Pasta and Toppers

Date 4 Rice and Toppers

Day 5 Smash and Toppers

 

Snacks 

Billies

Fruit Sparkles

Dark Chocolate

Game

[Ed-Zulu]

Hike report;

 

So hiked up Sentinel (chain ladder route from Witsieshoek) with my son who starts high school, this past weekend. Started around 11:00 from the car park.

 

It was misty, cold and the weather showed no signs of getting better for the remainder of the day. We made it to the chain ladders at about 13:30, we stopped for many photo's and lots of chats with fellow hikers.

 

The safer of the two ladders, the more centered (with rings for each rung) is not in use any more, I could not see why. The scary ladder on the left (Free State side ) is the only up and down ladder to the middle landing. So a huge traffic jam was experienced at this point. So we waited for the leaving hikers and fell in behind a group of 10 day hikers on the way up.

 

This proved to be one of the coldest waits in a while, the sniping wind coming through was super unpleasant for us "subtropicals". We eventually made it up both ladders to the rock kern around 15:30. The mist was thick and impaired our movements quite a bit by the time we reached the Tugela river.

 

I needed a cup of coffee so sat at the river and boiled some water. Whilst sipping on coffee and hot chocolate, the fog rolled in stopping us from proceeding to the falls safely, so we made camp about 20m up from the river, in earshot of the river in a nice grassy patch with a tiny rock wall close by.

 

Typical of the season it started rumbling by 18:30 and from 19:00 to 01:00 it rained heavily, with thick mist/fog continuing. At around 01:00 just before the rain stopped, the temperature dropped steeply, although both of us were warmly dressed and in our -5 sleeping bags, I started to get seriously cold feet and legs. My son was cozy all the time and only complained about the lack of sleep due to the heavy rain. At just past 01:00 the temperature dropped again leaving me a bit worried as i had no additional layers to put on, but the youngster was fine so pa "byt toe maar vas"!

 

As the rain stopped an icy wind started blowing but the temperature must've then settled down around just above freezing. The tent withstood the weather like a champ and we remained dry throughout. Dozing off i woke up around 03:00 with the full moon light waking me, still windy but clear.

 

At 04:30 we woke again, started breaking camp and by 04:50 with first light in the east made our way to the falls.

 

At the falls there were a group of 6 already snapping away at the spectacular site of the Amphitheater, Dragons Tooth and the falls.

 

 

 

We stayed and watched the sun rise over Dragons Tooth, my son was in awe of the scenery, I was a bit teary eyed seeing his joy and amazement and also proud about how he handled the tough night night in isolation without a peep.

 

 

 

Neither of us were hungry at this stage and the day was an absolute beaut! We listened to the falls, saw the changing light play on and over the rocks. My son is a budding photographer so he was in his element taking SD cards full of pictures with the best conditions ever.

 

We eventually had to start making tracks for home and started our hike back.

 

We filled our water bladders with fresh unadulterated water from the Tugela for the hike down. Going down the chain ladders around 06:00, those buggers were extremely cold making the climb down less than pleasant. Once both down we caught our breath and J wanted to now see how fast we could descend to the car park. So the race was on to see what time we could clock safely down with a few photo stops.

 

We made it from the foot of the chain ladders to the car park at Witsieshoek in 65 minutes flat. It's approximately 8km's.

 

A great hike which definitely changed the outlook of my teenage son forever. We made some meaningful memories together and he is a converted hiker. So much so that we planned out next overnight hike for the Easter weekend.

 

Some gear that I purchased and worked really well for those interested;

 

Tent - OzTrail Nomad 2 (withstood heavy winds, rain of biblical proportions) we slept two up, with mattresses and bags at the head end and plenty wiggle room.

Naturehike split folding stove - very efficient, practical and light

Shoes - El-cheepo K-way Blackburn boots (I won't try anything in winter with these though)

 

That's it, happy hiking everyone!

 

Happy New year