Fantastic rocky peaks along the Jonkershoek Watershed with the Berg Valley
Link to detailed route page and map click on route title. Please note the first link is the trail to my camping area and the second to the pass at the Jonkershoek Watershed .[route-snippet id=”1129″ featured=”image”][route-snippet id=”1127″ featured=”image”]An ambition for the year met. Mike said it was an early Xmas pressie for me and even sung Jingle Bells (in front of a Cape Leopard camera) at our lunch spot for me. However, I am ahead of myself.
A hike that has enticed both of us is the path linking the Berg River area to Jonkershoek. but without 2 cars it is logistically difficult for an A to B hike and for security reasons we did not want to leave a car overnight at the entrance to the Berg River area. This challenge was solved when one of our neighbours, Fred, kindly offered to drop us off and pick us up the next day from the entrance to the Franschhoek Conservation Area.
We were lucky as the day before our hike it rained and cooled everything down. We set off at 8.30am reached the area that we were planning on overnighting at by 1145. It was good to see the efforts being put into alien tree removal since we were last here to try and help with the dire water crisis. Work is being prioritised in the water catchment areas. Apparently an average tree uses 25 litres of water a day, so 3 trees removed provides water for one person. It soon mounts up in an extreme drought situation.
Had a quick break and then decided to continue up to the pass with the Jonkershoek Watershead. The first section was lovely hiking and we found a shady spot in a Kloof for lunch (trying to keep out of the way of the ‘leopard camera’ that had been put there to capture sightings of said creature[s]). After about an hour we got to the river crossing from which the trail became very overgrown, especially just after the river, and difficult to traverse. There were at least 3 occasions when I said to Mike that I was not enjoying myself at all! Did he want to turn back? And more of the same ilk. He managed to persuade me into keeping on going and I got my head into gear. It was definitely an achievement (and challenge) to get to the pass and we both savoured the experience, plus some rusks! The way down was better as it was much easier to push against the vegetation going downhill rather than uphill! This was until we met the very overgrown dense vegetation area on the side of the steep slope leading back down to the river. We missed our way here and ended up downstream of our crossing. Fortunately we were able to boulder-hop up the river to get back onto the maintained path.
Got back to our camp area by 5pm, the river was bathed in late afternoon sunshine so we made the most if it by having a cooling dip and then a warm air dry! As it doesn’t get dark until past 8.00pm we had plenty of time to set up our bivvy kit, have some tea and a fantastic beef stir fry before tucking up to watch the stars come out one by one. A very comfortable night.
Relaxed start the next day as we had decided on nothing more ambitious than a swim in our favourite river pool on the way out and a glass of wine with Fred in the shady porch of the Glenwood wine Estate in our way back home.
In summary this is a trail that could do with a bit of pruning back (esp. last section up to the pass). Maybe something that we will put some effort into next year, as we both agreed that it was a wonderful hike to do and the valley we hiked up was really special. The area we camped at was outstanding and we are both really chuffed that we have done this hike.
Poscript: Mike’s head torch was wrapped in the head of his sleeping bag and when I hung it out to air before we packed up our kit, unbeknown to me, it fell out. Discovered when we got home it was ‘missing in action’ so we went back a couple of days later and much to our delight we found it, none the worse for wear. As we are going on another camping trip just after Xmas glad not to have to buy a replacement.
