Led by Jon Ray and Paula Clarke, the group met up just before sunrise on the 30th May at Kylemore in the Banhoek Reserve, as an early start was necessary to allow sufficient time to navigate the kloof, reach the peak, and return before sunset. As is often the case on MCSA meets, everyone was enthusiastic, fit, and ready for the day.
The way up Duiwelskloof is a steep, beautiful and varied one, following the stream up through magnificent rock walls, boulder fields, waterfalls, and crystal-clear pools, with plenty of rock-hopping and enjoyable scrambles along the way. Reaching the saddle above Overhang Cave at the top of the kloof rewarded us with the precipitous view back down the kloof and eastwards of the Jonkershoek ridgeline peaks in the near distance.
After a short refreshment stop, we headed off again and Drakenstein Peak was reached by following the ridgeline with fairly easy off path walking. The peak really culminates this hike with uninterrupted views across all the surrounding mountains. We had paced ourselves well on the ascent with two short breaks and reached the summit in good time. This allowed for a relaxed lunch stop in clear winter sunshine, with particularly good visibility back to Table Mountain.
The descent was slightly quicker than our ascent. Despite the recent cold fronts, river levels were lower than expected, allowing us to remain mostly within the riverbed and avoid the scratchy bypass paths that some of us had been unfortunate to choose on the way up. The lower pools provided an opportunity for a quick swim for those brave enough to take advantage of it, which was very refreshing after a long day on the mountain.
We arrived back at the vehicles at 5:30 pm as dusk began to settle in. We were so lucky with the weather, it could not have been more perfect. Thank you to everyone who joined, it was such a lovely, interesting and diverse group of people who all contributed and made this a really memorable day out.
