12 of us set out on the climb up the Trappieskop path at 08h00 in calm, crisp and clear conditions. This was a welcome change for those who did last year’s hike in a cold blustery south-easter which whited out route visibility. We stopped often on the hike up to the lower terrace to admire the views check the route in clear skies. We all elegantly made it through Lower Aladdin cave before arriving at the Dragon’s Mouth minutes later. The wriggle down and through was unusually dry and didn’t make for any muddy pics as expected (or hoped for). Next was Clovelly cave which allowed some mandatory leopard crawl practice. The scramble up to the higher terrace gave a welcome stretch opportunity and we had our beverage break in the yellowwood glade next to the Devil’s Pit. After the break we split into two groups and took turns to drop into the Free Drinks Saloon where some members enjoyed the filtered water. We then regrouped and headed up to Boomslang speculating en route whether the rock above the Devil’s Pit had anything to do with its naming. Gratefully we had among us many younger members who could find no resemblance to an erstwhile politician. Boomslang was also very dry and we went through the big hall slowly and quietly trying to disturb the Natal long-fingered bats as little as possible. Once at the inner sanctum, we wormed our way through the tight tunnel where leopard crawling is a tiring but fun necessity. After dustily emerging from Boomslang we headed up Echo valley to our lunch stop. After a leisurely shady break in ideal conditions, we descended vis Weary Willy’s and reached the vehicles safely at 13h55.
