Start your own adventure, no need to be fit or buy fancy gear, keep it simple, just get some fresh air in your lungs you'll love it. How I turned a boring trip in the small town of Swellendam, South Africa into a day to remember packed with fun, excitement and most importantly friendship.
I was on holiday visiting my parents in Swellendam, South Africa (near the city of Cape town). It was winter, but being a warm country the day was beautifully sunny and quite a pleasant at 20 C (68 F). To my surprise the mountains were still covered in snow. At first what seemed just as a pleasant sight soon sparked my curiosity, if the snow wouldn't come to me could I go to the snow?
I was in my usual comfort zone, thinking of every excuse not to do it:
I've done it before (grade 7 school hiking trip).
My legs are going to hurt tomorrow.
The snow is going to melt.
It's already 10 am, I haven't planned this.
I don't have the right shoes or gear.
An hour later a neighbour came over and obviously we stared to talk about the beautiful mountain and how we both have only seen snow a couple of times. I just said, "Let's do it!". That was it our minds were made up.
The adventure starts just by saying yes. Your mind automatically switches from negative to positive and you only see the opportunity that has been handed to you. If the inspiration of the perfect conditions are there, embrace it - CARPE DIEM.
With small adventures the sun is your best friend, but also your greatest enemy. It provided me with the perfect conditions, but I only had 6 more hours before it's light would fade, putting me in a terrifying predicament. Make sure you know exactly how long your trip is going to take, I've done the trail before and knew it takes on average 3 hours to the top and another 2 hours down. It felt surreal grabbing all I needed with minutes to spare wishing I just decided to do this hours ago, but there was no backing out now.
In my backpack:
It was no walk in the park, but that's exactly what you need. It got harder with each step up the mountain but every time I felt like giving up I would look back and see a view increase in beauty. 3/4 Up and our first touch of snow, our excitement level was of the charts. We felt like we had discovered gold!
2 Hours since we started the climb and we reached the top I believe the thought of finding snow definitely made us climb faster, but I was fit enough to take the pace. The view was amazing I felt like a great explorer that conquered Everest, but it wasn't that cold and I wore shorts.
We had such a great time and I just had to build a snowman. Unfortunately after an hour and a half we had to make our trip back down. It was a breeze even took a jog here and there.
It was definitely a day to remember and I'm so glad I could have shared it with a friend.
