Following Footprints Part Eight

Day 8, the sun rises on the plateau, as beautiful and awe inspiring as the last night's sunset. The only difference is that this sunrise brings with it sadness - the 8 days are nearly over. As much as you cry and hurt , promise yourself you'll never do it again or you dream about cheese burgers and ice cold beer,  that last morning has an empty feeling. A feeling of "what now?". But still, you get on with what needs doing, you put on your boots and pack you bag for the last time and head off home.

The first part of the morning is spent walking over the Never Ending Hills, and so cleverly named too! Each rolling hill brings the promise of the descent, but is only followed by another hill.

Eventually we were on our way down and at a rapid pace too, literally falling out of the sky. A slippery slope of loose rocks which force you to watch your every step until you find yourself in yet another kloof (ravine) and then walking, falling, jumping and boulder hoping to the end.

 The last kloof has the most beautiful waterfalls and inviting pools and if you're brave enough (the water is very cold) you can enjoy a "relaxing" swim. I didn't but Aldred, Werner, Norm and Corneels did.

The hike is over when you get back to Hikers Haven (actually it should be called Hikers Hell), and then all that's left is to enjoy the cold beers and start planning the next trip.

On the drive out of the park we managed to see a small herd of Kudu, what a special goodbye.

Thank you for all those who followed the footprints for the last 8 days. I hope you enjoyed the hike and have been inspired to get your boots on and make some footprints of your own.

Following Footprints Part Seven

Day 7, where did the time go? It seemed like yesterday we were rushing to pack the car, set the house alarm and drive off along the N7 to Springbok! I'm delaying starting this post as I try to get the right words to explain just how big day 7 was -  a hiker's dream and nightmare all in one.

We were told at the start of the hike that there would be no water at Kapokvlakte (day 7's night shelter), which meant that we had to take enough water with us for day 7, which includes all the water needed for the evening cooking, coffee, teeth brushing etc. and for day 8. I packed an extra 7 litres of water in my bag and set off on the most difficult and technical climb of the whole hike.

We headed over a flat plain for about 30 minutes and then turned towards a huge kloof (ravine). The boulders get bigger and bigger the higher you climb, until you can go no further without the help of the chains. These chains are extremely difficult, as the climb is straight up a waterfall and the rocks are wet and covered in moss. We climbed half way up the waterfall and then had our bags hauled up with ropes. A huge thank you to Werner and Aldred for pulling up our bags, I could not have managed without Superman and Boomslang!

Here is the view from the top of the chains, you can see Aldred and Werner below, sitting 10m up from halfway spot pulling up the bags.

After the chains, the climb is steep but manageable. The final "little" climb before you reach Bakenkop, the highest point of the trail, is very testing but we managed to make it by lunch time. I was so tired by the time we stopped for lunch, I was ready to quit (not my best moment)! The view from World's View is 600m above the Tsondap River valley and is absolutely awesome ( I am sorry to use the same adjectives over and over, but I just don't have enough words to explain the beauty). You can see from below why it is called World's View.

The second half of the day is over a plateau until you reach the shelter, it's a flat and "easy" walk. Some people combine day 7 and 8 (yes, there are people crazier than us) but I could not imagine rushing through such a beautiful landscape. I enjoyed the sunset that evening and the last night's fire, so why rush through it?
We saw lots of springbok grazing.

Here was our home for the night at Kapokvlakte.

  The last night's fire was a small affair (due to the fire hazard), but the boys enjoyed their bush TV after a long day's hike!

Following Footprints Part Six

I said that day 5 was the least spectacular of the 8 days but the morning of day 6 was one of the most spectacular.

  Seeing the sun rise against the majestic Naukulft Mountains was a privilege which I know many will never get to experience. The range of colours and the immensity of the whole area was humbling.

The morning starts with a huge climb up (200m) to "Die Valle" (The Falls) and while it was dry, there were still some pools of ice cold water (no swimming - too cold). There were some chains to "help" with the steepest parts at the top, but it was a very technical climb which requires a lot of concentration and hard work. You have to find your own pace and "path". When you see the little mountain buck or even the baboons running up the side of a hill or mountain it looks so easy, but humans are not built for hills and especially not with a 15kg bag attached to their backs.

                       Here is the view from the top, those trees below were where we started the morning.

  Once you reach the top of Die Valle, you follow the side of the mountain and then along another river bed.

  I am still amazed at how the trees attach themselves to the cliffs and rocks in the hope of withstanding the river when it comes down in full force.

  
The second part of the day is spent descending into another valley to the Tufa shelter. The path made it "easier" than some of the descents which we had done, but it was still tough going, my feet were really burning. Today was our longest hiking day, 7 hours, and I for me it was the most tiring.

The well point was in the river and nothing more than a trickle of water. I did manage to have a wash in the river, but as the water is no more than 1-2cm deep, it was more like a stone washing.

The Tufa shelter was our home for the night and would be the last place we would be able to collect water for the remainder of our hike. It was also going to be the launching pad for the most dreaded day of climbing.

Following Footprints Part Five

I woke up 2 hours early this morning, lay in "bed" for an hour and then tried to quietly get my day started. Turns out I wasn't that quiet and managed to wake everyone and irritate all my fellow hikers. Looking back, I am very sorry for disturbing them, I just couldn't lie still and wait another hour for the sun to rise. It felt like the first day of school for me - the last 4 days were going to be the most punishing and I wanted get to started.

Eventually everyone got up, without holding back the insults on how irritating I was for waking them up (blush blush). We packed our bags and said our goodbyes, six happy hikers!

The forth day starts with a very steep climb,

 and then follows an undulating trail, until you get to a valley which you walk along for the rest of the day.

 It is the least spectacular day of the whole trail, except for the euphorbias and quiver-trees. 

 We also managed to see a few buck in the distance, but they wouldn't stand still for a photo shoot.

 

The official guide still speaks of filling your water bottles at Fonteinpomp - that is no longer an option, so you still have to carry enough water for the whole day.

We camped that night at De Valle Shelter. 

The biggest event of the day was Keith tasting some of team KZN's soya mince and declaring it "quite edible". I am not sure if it was the exhaustion talking, but he has agreed that it certainly makes sense to have it as a hiking meal. 

You have to make sure you fill your water bottles for the next day when you get to camp, before you "shower", because the water had mysteriously disappeared (the tank was empty) by the next morning. We had however managed to collect enough water the night before so we were not short.  

Day 6 is going to be a spectacular day, so be sure to keep "following footprints" next week.

Following Footprints Part Four

The fourth morning comes after an uncomfortable sleep. There really is no truth to the rumour that a yoga mat is all you need for comfort, especially when you're sleeping on a gravel floor. By this stage I have a huge welt (the skin was about to break) on my hip from my bag and bruise on the side of my buttock from trying to sleep on my side.

But life goes on, and complaining certainly doesn't get you sympathy when others have feet that look like they have been through a meat mincer. Lori's feet were not getting any better - and even all the blister experts (which all hikers are) could do nothing to ease her pain. What didn't help was that we had a hard 17kms of hiking along the Tsams River gorge, and a steep hill detour around a waterfall to get to Tsams Ost shelter.

Walking in a river bed is very hard, at times you have to climb over boulders (which exhaust you) or walk over very sharp rocks (which make your feet burn like fire). It takes a lot of concentration and twisting ankles are the order of the day. You might wonder how I can walk for 7 hours and have relatively few photographs? Simple - I was in survival mode and not part of a National Geographical team, with no Sherpas and seconds to help.

We started the day walking along the river bed. As I have explained this is hard, but manageable. We passed some spectacular trees and a dead Zebra. We also spotted the baobab-like phantom trees, possibly named because their white bark looks ghostly in the moonlight.

  

We had to take a detour from the river, which was extremely hard. It was a steep hill mountain and then a very tricky descent, down a shale path (and I use the word path very loosely). Every step you took, you would slide 2 further and not always feet down - which you would think makes going quicker, but no. Every time you slide, you have to stop yourself from going straight down, head first, bag following, pushing you harder towards you goal - with only thorn trees and boulders to "help" slow you down. Here is the picture of the "hill" which which descended, don't be deceived by what looks like grass - it's not, they are little thorn bushes (sorry about the lighting).

We stopped at the bottom of the hill to have lunch and view the waterfall, the reason we could not have continued down the river gorge.

The worst was over, we now only had to follow the river for another 1½ hours and we would be at the shelter.
We were about 45 minutes from the camp when we were met by Norm and Lucy, who were very surprised to see us so early. It was a relief to see that they had arrived safe and were doing well.
We continued to walk and after 20 minutes we spotted two angels on the road in front of us - Werner (Verry) and Raymond, and would you believe? Werner was actually carrying a backpack filled with cold beer!

We had a wonderful evening round the fire that night, all 11 of us were re-united again. We all had our war stories to tell and blisters and wounds to compare.

Lori treated her blisters as best she could, but things just weren't going to get better fast enough. Jenny could not hike any further with her injured knee (and blisters) and Lucy who also had some blister problems, but  mostly concern for her sister stopped her from continuing. Raymond was defiantly not interested in multi-day  hiking, he was enjoying the day hikes at the base camp. Werner's (Verry) boots had broke, and even a trip to the tyre repair shop in Solitaire wasn't enough to convince him that his "good looking" boots were going to hold up against the terrain we still had to cover.

So, there I was the only girl left, for the second year running! I didn't mind, hiking with guys is lots of fun and they really tell funny jokes. The only problem was, now I had no girls to talk to and once again got the reputation of "talking too much". Men just don't talk, they like to sit or walk in silence and that was just too hard for me.

We had a great meal of biltong stew with lentils and smash and some of left over wraps from the KZN team - huge treat.

Following Footprints Part Three

After an adrenaline pumping day 2 followed by a cold shower, a great meal and a good night's sleep we were all ready to head off on day 3 with bang!

We passed the Quiver Tree forest. The tree gets it's name from the fact that the Bushmen used this tree to make their quivers with the bark.

The first part of day 3 was back-tracking up the Ubusis Kloof we had descended the day before.The chains were less daunting going upthan down and it was wasn't long before we had reached "Bergbos" the half way mark for the day.

I need to show you the unfriendly side of hiking in Naukluft - the trees. Everyday you walk through and past thorn trees, firstly the Camel Thorn Tree - which has huge thorns, but are "relatively" harmless if you notice them in time and turn your backpack to them to catch their wrath.

And then the Hak 'n Steek (Hook and Stab Tree), where the thorns are shaped like fish hooks, and if they grab you, you have to stop - or else they will grab a piece of skin right or whatever else they grab right off.

We had only 12kms to cover today. After climbing the chains, we only had to cover a "fairly" flat plateau to the shelter at Alderhorst.

The amazing (I'm running out of adjectives already) trees which are found in the river beds really caught my attention. In the rainy season, the river flows with so much force that huge tress are pulled right out and sent tumbling down the river. Some survive and grow enormous, winding their roots into every possible safe hold they can manage - but in the end the river will always win, even if it takes many many years.

Another phenomena are the sociable weavers, who build enormous nests in the Camel Thorn tress, this is an example of a relatively small nest. The communal nests can measure up to 6 meters long and 2 meters high, and can weigh as much as 1,000 kg while housing up to 300 birds. The nests are built with insulated walls to maintain a stable temperature inside the nest to keep the weavers warm at night and cool during the day.

We stopped for lunch at about 12.30pm, and spent an hour talking about how far we still had to go until the day's end.  After packing up and heading back to the path, we were in for a huge surprise - we had had lunch less than 5 minutes walk from the shelter!

Getting to the shelter so early, gave Aldred "Boomslang", together with his wood collecting assistants, enough time to find enough fire wood to launch a satellite!

Because we had so much time that evening, I decided it was a good night to serve dessert - stewed fruit and custard.

Here is Lori and I enjoying some rest time outside the shelter before facing the long day 4, where we would face some tough climbing and descending before reaching the half way mark tomorrow. There was a further worry that night, Lori had now developed some very bad blisters that weren't healing and causing considerable pain - a hikers nightmare.. 

Following Footprints Part Two

The first night's sleep in the Putte Shelter was an intimate experience. Sharing close quarters (while hiking) with 9 strangers, introduces you to more about their personal habits than some couples share in 10 years of marriage. You very soon learn who snores (and how), who has "night winds" (not pretty) and then other personal habits (careful), which remain certain hiker's secrets ("what happens in Naukluft, stays in Naukluft). 

Keith left the shelter some time during the night to sleep outside, he found his snoring was no match for the  log sawing done by the more experienced.

Day two, we packed up camp, filled our water bottles, ate breakfast, said goodbye to Raymond and Werner (Verry) and headed out for our 2nd day of hiking. It started off "relatively" easy compared to the first day, with a few undulating hills, but nothing too strenuous.The views and scenery were again breath taking, and I am already starting to wonderful what other adjectives I am going to use later in this diary, as everyday brought us new wonders beyond my imagination.

It was during this time that Jenny hurt her knee, and realised she was unable to continue further down the kloof (ravine). Norm, Jenny and Lucy (Jenny's sister) turned back and headed for the day 3 shelter - rather than risk the chains and the harsh walking required in the kloof (ravine).

After lunch we where in the Ubusis Kloof (ravine) headed down a river bed to the first set of 3 chains. I am not a novice to chains - I have climbed Lion's Head many times, so I was prepared, until I got to the edge of a cliff with a foot print facing directly down!
Keith said he was willing to make camp right there, as the thought of climbing back up those chains (with a full 8 day backpack) the next morning had us all a little worried (there were other "words" used, but I think I'll keep this polite). I had to remind him that we can't stop - we had to get to the next shelter otherwise where could we get water.

Thank goodness Werner was there and gratuitously took Lori's and my bag down the first set of chains, as well as coached us where to put our feet as we descended. After this first set of chains, I regained my confidence and managed to do the rest carrying my own bag -  I will admit that I certainly could not have managed this without Werner or the 7 months of Boot-camp training I had done.
Lori was a real trooper, she is terrified of heights, and she surely conquered that fear.

After 15 km of walking, 7 of us survived and arrived at the Ubusis shelter, which had once been a holiday home. We were greeted by a sign that said " Please leave the shelter in the condition you would like to find it". Well, that was a little rich, since none of us had thought to bring a plumber, a roofer or an electrician on the hike, not to mention an exterminator.

We did all manage to have a cold shower and thanks to Lori's, Dr Bronner's Magic Soap, we left smelling of peppermint and feeling completely refreshed. Thanks Lori!

Then, the biggest surprise of all, Werner took 2kgs of wors (sausage) out of his bag and 4 briquettes! I had to photograph it as proof that you can never underestimate the lengths South African men will go to, to have fresh meat! My contribution was a rice dish with lentils and beans, cooked on a working gas stove we found  in the shelter.

After a supper, we had a huge bonfire and thanks to Aldred (Boomslang), we were kept in fire wood late into the night.

 I had a good night's sleep, on a bed with a mattress, I did however cover my mattress with my ground sheet, as I certainly didn't trust what could crawl out of it during the night.