On Saturday morning, 7am, a group of sixteen started from Cecilia Forest parking. The weather conditions were perfect. We walked up to the Contour Path and reached the riverbed leading us up to the proper Nursery Buttress section after roughly 40 minutes.
The whole group climbed the first rockbelt following the scrambling line at the crest of the buttress, avoiding the circumvention. Further up, at the 18-meter rockband, a rope was offered and chosen by one member.
After a second breakfast in the shade, we made our way further up, enjoying the numerous fun scrambles and the views from the saddle before reaching castle rock. A last steep section brought us onto the top of the mountain where we relaxed in the shade of a big boulder.
As everyone was keen to extend the previous hiking plan, we quickly decided to move on. First, we visited the cave system facing Skeleton Gorge, enjoying the magnificent panorama. From there we found our route via faint paths up to Cleft Peak. After exploring the top section of Cleft Peak we took the most frequented route down, quickly reached the dams and continued on the jeep trail to De Villiers Reservoir. While some had an early lunch break in the shade, others got refreshed at the water. We then made our way down via Cecilia Ridge, passing by Cecilia Waterfall, and finally reached the cars around 1:30pm.
Thank you everyone for an epic hike. Thank you for your enthusiasm, your support, and for all the fun we had. Thank you, Dina Segal, for the recce, the ropework, and all assistance on the hike.
Photos by Amitai Meyerowitz, Dyan Belonje, Johan Fourie, Robert Brand, Ruth Knoblich
