View from the top of Perdekop
Link to detailed route page click on route title [route-snippet id=”168″ featured=”image”]We have done this hike a few times(in both directions) over the last few years, it is a good test of fitness and at the end of 2016 when I was trying to decide if I would be fit enough for a backcountry ski tour with some friends after an Achilles heel injury I set myself this as a target before I would commit myself.
Since then I have got a lot fitter and in the back half of 2017 we did the trail with an extension to climb Wemmershoek Peak. That was a long day as we did about 26km and about 1,800m of ascent (if my GPS is to be believed!). Thankfully the Mt Rochelle trails are in good condition.
One of the reasons we have kept coming back to this trail is that there is an outstanding section along the top of the cliffs that run down to the Wemmershoek Dam. We are exceptionally lucky to be able to access this area via well maintained trails. So although the hike is hard and it is a full days effort it is worth doing for the views along the way as well as from the summit itself.
In 2012 Mike and his brother Andy had a holiday in South Africa and this was one of the hikes that they went on. At that time the Theesewaterkloof Dam was full, and the low cloud in the valley with the mountains rising above it made for an atmospheric hike. I think that doing this hike was one of the high points in Andy’s holiday here, although his knees might have begged to differ!
