Wolkberg Epilogue
Let me start with a lesson. We were very impressed (prior to the trip) with the GPS we bought. Our awesome ability to create custom routes using only a Google Earth snapshot and a 20m contour interval Topographical Map of the area made us much too proud. Thinking this would be enough was the first mistake.
We had no idea of where the water would be, what the plant life would be like or where any of the established tracks lie.
So, the lesson is, do not rely on your cleverness and your GPS alone when planning a route. Get some locals who know the land and let them give you advice. We ended up having to change our whole route (lack of water), get cut, scratched and full of holes (seeing as this area contains every type of thorn bush/tree/shrub that God made) and occasionally tired and frustrated (from walking, beating and trudging our way through the thicket because we didn’t know where the paths were).
Other than that it was an awesome trip. After surveying the intended route from within the valley we found that we didn’t have enough water for all three days. This is what caused us to change route. We ended up walking south along the Mohlapitse river, coming in from the roads created for the forest plantations which span most of the Western part of the mountains. We spent most of Day 1 trying to find a suitable camp site. We ended up moving twice to better locations. Our campsite was really awesome though. A huge tree for covering, the river 20m away and wide open space made for a great site. We did about 11km.
On Day 2, we decided to go up Serala from the south. This was a complete disaster. We ended up fighting our way through immense thorny bush and thickets. After about two hours we found that we were completely cut off by some kloofs on one side and an impregnable wall of undergrowth on the other. This forced us to change our plans once again. Fighting our way back down (on our haunches to get under the bush) we regrouped on the riverbed. Determined to climb a mountain that day we cast our eyes up at our next target. Devils Knuckles. A knuckle shaped mountain with four rounded peaks situated a couple of km’ east of our current location. We started following the river in that direction.
Reaching the base we went to sit on a large rock in the middle of the river. Contemplating our plans we heard a couple of voices coming from our left. It wasn’t two minutes when three couples rounded a couple of trees (imagine our dismay when we found a perfect pathway three meters from where we were struggling against those blasted thorn bushes!). I quickly asked them if they knew where they were going (seeing as we didn’t). This started of an extremely informative conversation as the one guys grandfather was a historian of the area. It was here that we once again realized the necessity of consulting the locals.
The next part of the trip made it for me. After we climbed the slopes about 150m up we had to go up the cliffs. This was
huge fun and we spent about 45min going up 60m of neutral and positive incline rock faces. After this we got stuck again and had to climb sideways into a kloof to go up the rest of the way. It took us about 3.5hrs up and down. The whole route that day was only about 9km long (I can run this easily in 50min) but it took us from 08:00 to 16:30. Like I said previously, it can get long in the mountains.
Day 3 we broke camp and headed back. This was quite a long haul after yesterdays exertion. It’s just under 8km and almost 1km up. Was great though, not a thorn in sight!
All in all, this area requires at least one more visit. Ha ha, we already planned most of it. There seems to be another route coming in from St. Georges Valley. Which easily covers Serala, the Wonderwoud, and what looked (from the top of Devils Knuckles) like a huge waterfall in the south. Really looking forward to it.
I offered the GPS coordinates on my previous post. They are up for grabs but I’m not going to post them. Just put in a request in your comment and I’ll get them to you.
Anyways, I’m off. Stay well!
Lekker lekker boet. Would like to join you guys in future, but I do not want to struggle through the blasted thorns. But hey, who said it would only be easy. It’s like life, there is always a mountain to climb, a camp to setup and a face rock to climb. There is falls, struggles and thorns, but also the sweet victory of reaching the top.
Bless you
Hi Schalk,
sounds like you had allot of fun! Me and a friend did did this wilderness trail last year December (2006). We went there with only a map we got from the office, boy did we have fun! The First day we descended following the jeep trail from the forest station, cooled of at the little water fall and continued our unknown journey. We setup camp next to a stream the first night. Day 2 and the morning of day 3 was horrific, we got so lost, we had no GPS coordinates, except for the waypoints we took during the first day and a half. We didn’t really want to turn back, but we had no choice. So the plan is definitely to go back, with a topographical map and proper coordinates. If you don’t mind, I would really like the coordinates you gathered on your trip.
–
Hey Darrel,
sorry for only getting back now. Two questions. One, do you use Mapsource (Garmap) by any chance? Secondly, if you do, can we arrange an email swap, then I’ll send you the route/track files. This will be much more accurate (and easier for me). If not let me know and I’ll post them manually. Do you guys know when you’re going back?
Hey!
Email would be great! my email address: darrell(at)angelbright(dot)co(dot)za No i don’t use Mapsource! Unfortunately not! sorry -I’m a Linux user!
We are not sure when exactly the “re-match” will be, cause there are a few other trails we would like to do before we go back there. Magoebaskloof and Fish River Canyon.