TABLE MOUNTAIN YOU BEAUT!!! Today we climbed Platteklip Gorge up the center of Table Mountain, one of the incredible World Heritage sites found on the edge of the city of Cape Town.
In case you didn’t know, today was Global Take A Hike Day and our hike was in aid of picking up litter while hiking up the mountain. Every person that hiked was asked to carry a plastic bag to collect any litter found along the paths. In return, we were given a free refreshment at the top and a free ride down the mountain on the Cable Car.
We took on the hike eagerly! My sister, my aunt, my uncle and I all turned up ready to conquer this mountain once again.
Platteklip is a well marked path up the center of Table Mountain and we started from the bottom on Table Mountain road and took the Devils Peak path because it’s a slightly gentler route.
From the Devils Peak path you get an excellent view of Platteklip to our right. The weather started out fine with a little fog swirling around the top of the mountain.
We walked the first few hundred meters along the contour to the Silverstream Waterfall. The overhanging rock faces are spectacular in the Ravine but it was dryer this time than the last few hikes. Summer is definitely on its was.
We rounded one more ridge and walked straight into the intersection with Platteklip Gorge. The litter collecting had been slim pickings until this point on the less travelled path, but the Platteklip path paid out!
At the same time the there was no more messing about as the zig zag climb up the steep slopes began. As soon as we got half way up the clouds covered over and the drizzle came down.
On the way up about 100 teenage kids joined us from the bottom of Platteklip on a class outing to clean the mountain and get some healthy exercise outside.
The fog got thicker and the drizzle got more consistent as we go to the last quarter of the uphill path. Unfortunately we didn’t get the spectacular photos of the Gorge that we were hoping for. By the fog made for a moody and eerie scene up ahead.
Before we knew it we had made it to the top of the gorge ready to take the last 15 minute walk along the paths on top of the mountain to the Cable Car station on the far tip of the flat rocky top.
The top of the mountain was COLD 🥶. The very slight wind chill drop the temperature drastically and reminded us again about the reality of exposure and preparation. Luckily we had the right gear and had come prepared.
We quickly covered the last couple hundred meters to the Cable Car station where we were greeted by helpful, friendly staff who took our bags of litter and I joined a cue for the hot coffee! Then we bundled into the Cable Car with our free tickets down the mountain.
The ride down seemed way too fast in the clouds and miraculously we managed to warm up in the tiniest spot of sunshine when we got to the bottom. The views on the ride down are usually 360 degrees of spectacular cliffs, ocean views and the CBD below.
In the end we had done about 2 hours of hiking and 650 meters of elevation. A decent amount of our uphill climbing. But this is a typical tourist hike for anyone visiting Cape Town.
I guess I’ll have to do this hike again to get those photos that I’m missing. Hopefully it will happen really soon just as the sun is rising or setting. Cape Town is beautiful any time of the year but looking at it from this angle is extra special.
