For my personal challenge I wanted to hike the 3 Peaks: Devil’s Peak, Mclear’s Beacon and Lion’s Head, all in one weekend.
We started at 6:30 on Saturday 23 March at the parking lot for the Saddle on Tafelberg Road. I hiked with my Dad and my godmother Kate. When we started it was dark and a bit cold and there were no people on the mountain yet. The zigzags were easy up to the Saddle Rock but then got hard up Devil’s Peak. We got to the Trig Beacon on Devil’s Peak at 8:25am and we were in the clouds. We had a little break and a snack on the top and then we walked down. When we came down there were lots of people coming up.
We crossed the saddle and started walking up the path to Ledges. It wasn’t easy to find the path, but eventually we found it. Ledges wasn’t easy to walk up because there are scrambly sections and even a worm hole! It is not marked on the map because it is a technical route. I liked the scrambles and the tunnel that we had to climb through, but one section was a bit smooth and I was a little bit scared.
When we got to Mclear’s Beacon at 11:50am. I was happy when we got there. It was also cloudy and we didn’t have a view. We ate lunch of chicken mayo rolls. Then walked across the Front Table where we could see the city.
We walked down Platteklip and I didn’t like all the stairs. Aunty Kate had to go home so she gave us a lift in her car to Kloof Neck and we walked up to the parking lot at Lion’s Head. My Mum, sister and brother joined us at 2:30 and we walked up Lion’s Head together. I was quite tired but I was very happy to see them. When we got to the top of Lion’s Head I could look back at all the places that I’d walked.
We had a snack on the top ad then walked down. We got to the car just before 6pm and my legs were really sore! We went to Camps Bay for a cold swim in the sea and some pizza.
Although I was very tired after the hike, I am very proud of myself that I did it! It took us 11,5 hours, we gained 1417m elevation and we covered 18km.
Christopher du Toit
