Jax standing on the peak, directly above our rest stop on the Lower Loop, which we had tried to scramble up to. Great to find a ‘nice’ way up instead!
Link to detailed route page and map click on route title to access the map. [route-snippet id=”711″ featured=”image”]
Spring Flowers
We have hiked this trail several times, including once up on our mountain bikes – that involved some pushing over the rocks on the switchbacks (before the road was improved) and was much harder work than hiking.
If you only have a couple of hours to spare this is a good place for a hike as you gain elevation quickly and easily on the jeep track reaching a lower plateau criss-crossed by dirt tracks. We tend to do the loop shown as it is nice to have some tea and treats at the far point of the hike where there are plenty rocky outcrops to perch on.
We spent quite a lot of time on this trail looking for ways to get up onto the ridge above by bundu bashing our way through the fynbos / scrambling up dry river courses. However, none of these were satisfactory, I tended to come away from the ‘walks’ with multiple scratches, very dirty and a continual fear of disturbing snakes. Happy to have found a better route up which is described in the Vaalkop Post link to post.
Now, I treat this as a relaxing short hike on our doorstep which has lovely views when you get up to the lower plateau, after the switchbacks. This is also more peaceful than you would expect being so close to R301 below. An added bonus is getting a birds eye view of the development going on at Val de Vie.
