Rhino's Peak - 12/20/12

Pillar Cave

BEN - We woke up very early and were delivered some exciting news.  Alistair is gone!   He rode his bike to Durban and is off the farm.  We won’t have to deal with him again.  Anyway, Steve had to drop some horses off at Drakensberg Gardens and wanted to get it done early, so we helped him load the horses into the truck, and left at about 5:30.  We drove the big horse trailer up the windy Drakensburg Gardens Road, all our things packed for a hike, and night of braiing/camping.  We were taking off for the night.  Woohoo!  The only down side was that we had a cooler and a whole bunch of crap, but since the horse box was on the truck, there was no way for Steve to maneuver it all the way to the Park’s Board and base of the hiking trail.  However, in a pure stroke of good luck Candice was at the Drakensburg Garden’s Entrance and offered to drive us up.   We couldn’t thank her enough.  Had we had to carry all our gear up to the trail head and campsite, we would have been too tired to achieve any part of our goal; Rhino’s Peak. 

Rhino’s Peak is a 10 hour hike and is supposed to be very challenging (and requires perfect weather).  It was a lofty goal, but we figured we’d give it a shot; awesome if we made it, still a cool hike if we didn’t.  Candice dropped us off and we went to the campground where we set up my little tent and chucked all our dinner stuff inside.  We paid the small fee for our little piece of heaven; it was an incredible view of the mountains outside our tent flaps.  We set off in the sunny morning across the grassy plains headed for the mountains, the rhino’s horn looming large overhead.  The hike started our hearts pumping as we followed a wide river up a gradually ascending mountain valley.  The terrain wasn’t steep, but a slow consistent climb that kept you working.  We had to get our feet wet or rock hop over a few different river crossings.  Eventually we reached a steep incline where we heard water running.  This was the first landmark we would reach; Pillar Cave, aptly named due to the large rock pillar seemingly holding up the entrance of the cave.   The cave was a nice cool spot away from the sun.  We sat and looked out over the valley, the cave was an amazing perch.  After some pictures we continued on, actually descending back to the river.  We reached the water as it hurtled through a cool shoot, the rocks smoothed by the swift current.  We hopped rocks to cross the stream and reached the Pillar Annex, a series of overhanging red rock with numerous nooks and crannies.  We continued on and the path started the climb again, this time a bit steeper.  As we pushed towards the dreaded ‘really steep section’ some grey clouds came over the mountains and lingered.   Gabby was starting to lag behind, so we stopped on a boulder for lunch and decision time.

Playing in the river

We were just about at the base of the difficult section of the hike and rain was threatening.   I, of course, was fool-hardy ready to push on, throwing no caution to the wind, but Gabby was not feeling it and had a more realistic view of the weather.  We ended up eating and subsequently falling asleep on our sun warmed boulder for a good half hour.   

Once we woke, it was clear we wouldn't be reaching any summits for the day.  We took our time and explored little gullies and anything that interested us on the hike back.  At one point we decided to leave the trail and follow the pebble banks of the river.  This was really fun, but a bit dangerous as the seemingly solid banks continually shifted under our feet.  We had fun jumping around for a bit before joining back up with the trail.  As we did so, the skies decided to open up.  We got on our rain coats, but were quickly soaked to the bone, and hiked quickly to warm ourselves up.  We made good time on the way back down.  When we reached our tent, we stripped down and were glad that the campground had shower facilities with hot water!  After our wonderful warming showers, we retreated into our small tent where we snacked on chippies, played cards, read, and napped; all while listening to the rain patter on the tent flaps.   Eventually the deluge abated and wrapped in blankets, I was able to get the braii going.  We moved the picnic bench close to the fire and huddled close as the coals started to light.  We opened a bottle of red wine and threw some pre-seasoned chicken on the grill.  We sat and enjoyed our wine as the chicken slowly cooked.  Unfortunately, it started to drizzle again.  We didn’t care we were ravenous, so we waited until the chicken was done, stripped it off the bone, and devoured the simplest yet most delicious chicken-on-a-roll sandwiches we’d ever had.  Perfect.  After our feast, we dove into the tent just as the rain really started to fall again.  It certainly wasn’t the most ideal camping weather, but we made it work and had a blast.