Lion’s Head

Last night I crashed hard at 9pm local time. Unsurprisingly I awoke at 3am this morning instantly wired and ready to go. However, I also had the realization that I was trying to aggresively push the flow of this trip rather than slide into it.

10,000 miles at around 600 mph creates an inertia that seems to drive me long after I leave the plane. Add to that the desire to shove as many experiences as I can into a two week trip that will span thousands of miles across South Africa and parts of Zambia and Zimbabwe before I am done. Finally ice that nice little stress cupcake with the fact that I chose to get a rental car for the first 6 days in a country that drives on the left side of the road (see my separate post about driving on the left revelations) with driving styles reminiscent of a blend of aggresiveness similar to New York City mixed with a blatant disregard for traffic rules like I have seen in Mexico. In retrospect it was not surprising that my first night in Cape Town felt a little bit like a Rick Steves on meth experience.

So this morning after waking up I decided I needed to 'clear the mechanism' (bonus points to those who can name the movie). I decided not to have any objective other than get as high above the city as I could before sunrise and follow any track that 'felt' right. So, I walked out the door of the 'Cape Diem' bed and breakfast at 4:45am while the city was still asleep and the birds just beginning to wake.

Skye Way

A town that was a cacaphony of sounds and energy the night before, was now still and serene.

Skye Way quickly led me out of the Green Point district and up to the trails that led up to Signal Hill, part of Table Mountain National park.

The further I climbed, the quieter it got - despite being surrounded by city on three sides - and the more amazing the views became.

Table Mountain

At this point I had already climbed 1000 vertical feet or so in a little more than a mile. Now with the view of Lion's Head in front of me, alone out in the park just after sunrise I decided to keep going.

Lion’s Head wreathed in early morning marine mist

Lion’s Head revealed

Some amazing views of all the surrounding areas from the Lion's Head approach.

Camps Bay (foreground) and the Cape of Good Hope in the distance

Cape Town and Signal Hill from the base of Lion’s Head

By the time I reached the final approach to Lion's Head summit a little after 7am it was already teeming with hikers. There is a trailhead about a mile from the crest for folks that want to drive and do a quick summit as opposed to the 3.5+ mile and 2200 vertical' approach I took from Cape Town.

The Final Summit

360 degree views… of mist

Unfortunately by the time I summited the mountain was completely enshrouded in mist again, so my visual reward was a little wanting, but it was an amazing climb and I had plenty of breathtaking views all the way up.

The Decent

Interesting side note the shrubs you see in these pictures are known as Fynbos - a natural scrubland or heathland unique to just a few small parts of South Africa - Table Mountain National Park being one. What makes Fynbos unique are both their biodevesity (8500 different species in the Cape floral kingdom) and their endemism (6000 of these are unique to the South African Fynbos). There are 3 species unique only to this small section of Table Mountain.