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Thursday, January 9, 2014

Stunning hike up Lion's Head Mountain overlooking Cape Town

It is honestly hard to believe that this type of hiking exists pretty much right in the center of Cape Town. Of course it's one of the things that makes Cape Town a world class city. You've got the mountains, the beach, and the sea.

And when they all come together, it's gorgeous!

All we needed was some decent weather. It's been raining on and off most of the week. So we checked the weather forecast yesterday morning and they were calling for showers in the morning and clearing in the afternoon. So we kind of hung around the house in the morning.

We had made lunch plans with Sean and Ryan, a couple of friends from New York City who we met in Namibia. Sean lives in Cape Town now, and Ryan is here visiting him.

Sean, Ryan, Ruth, Kevin

From our lunch spot, we were thinking of walking to the starting point for the hike up Lion's Head Mountain. But Sean quickly straightened us out, saying it was a long boring walk just to the starting point and that we were better off saving our energy for the hike itself. Ryan stopped a metered cab, and it cost us R55 ($5.80) to take a taxi to the base of the hill.

Doesn't take long and you start to get a nice view of the city.

The first part of the trail is easy and wide and has a few benches where you can sit and enjoy the view.

But that doesn't last long.

Soon, there are ladders.

And climbing, and chains to hold on to! This reminds us of some of our hikes in Slovakia!

Great views of Cape Town. Sure makes you wonder how a tree manages to grow up here!

Ruth, looking very brave!

There was quite a bit of scrambling over the rocks to get to the top. We really enjoyed the moment though, and we thought it was amazing that there was a hiking trail that even went to the top!

Kevin, at the top of Lion's Head Mountain.

The view over the west side of the mountain. You can see Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years behind bars.

The clouds make for some great photos!

Some more pretty flowers along the way.

And then we hiked back to the bottom, took a cab to the train station, and used our return train ticket to get back home. But, no more cabs and trains for us! We picked up a car this afternoon...we'll tell you that story tomorrow!


28 comments:

  1. excuse me but you were higher than the clouds beautiful view sorry am waiting for my stomach to turn back over
    :-)

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    1. We weren't really higher than the clouds, they were pretty low. We have actually hiked much higher, especially when we were in Slovakia and in Guatemala.

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  2. Great photos except those of you guys near the edge....be careful!

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    1. Thanks Randy. Trust us, we were being careful!

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  3. See now, I would never get away with taking a picture of my wife's "good side" like that. Just sayin'.

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    Replies
    1. Kevin was lucky to get away with it, but really it was the only way to get an idea of what we had to deal with on the trail.

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  4. Awesome photos and looks like a great hike.

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    1. Thanks George, it was nice to be out hiking again.

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  5. How many other people did you meet on the hike?

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    1. LOTS, almost too many for our liking, but we still enjoyed the hike.

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  6. Replies
    1. It really was breathtaking. It took away my breath every time I looked down! ;-)

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  7. I knew almost nothing about NAMBIA nor South Africa before getting hooked on your site. Yesterday, I saw my friend MelVe's documentary THE LAST OF THE BOERS that gives a very balanced view of the history of South Africa/Nambia from her perspective as a descendant of the Boers. It will add immensely to your understanding of the countries you are visiting if your internet can stream it anytime soon. Here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHJWJusV0pQ Enjoy! Rebecca in SW Fl in our Safari Zanzibar

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    1. Thank you Rebecca, when we have good internet we will download this and watch it. We love seeing films or documentaries on places we have been or are going to see, it gives you better understanding into the area and the people.

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  8. I didn't do the Lion's Head hike and instead rode through the table cloth clouds on Table Mt. That sure looks like a challenge.

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    1. Believe it or not, Kevin found a number of references to this being a family friendly hike. We actually saw a little girl who was probably only 4 or 5 hiking up with her family and she was barefooted and was smiling away with no concerns. There was an alternative route that took you around the part with the chains and staples on the very steep bit and that was the way we came down. Overall it wasn't a terribly difficult hike and it took us about 3 hours in total, up and down including admiring the view at the top for about 15 minutes.

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  9. I didn't know you were part mountain goat! :c)

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    1. Neither did we but after that I guess we are!

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  10. Stunning pictures, great hike, now if only you could fly down with a hang glider!

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    1. We did see some hand gliders that were taking off from Signal Hill which was the smaller hill you can just see to the left in the fourth picture from the bottom with Kevin standing on the rock overlooking the city.

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  11. Wonderful pictures and views, Ruth and Kevin!
    ps Sherman says hola!

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    1. Thanks Paula, missing Sherman and all of our friends there. Say hi to everyone and give Barb and Sal a big hug for us.

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  12. Don't think I could do that hike any more. What a view!

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    1. You could always take the cable car up to Table Mountain for some beautiful views. We want to hike it but the mountain has been covered in clouds since we arrived. It was the higher mountain in the picture of me standing at the edge. You can see a road that has a couple of switchbacks which leads to the cable car launch.

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  13. Stunning is exactly the word! You look amazing up there.

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    1. I wish we could have had blue skies, it would have even looked more beautiful then.

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  14. There is no way no how you would get me up there!

    but glad you guys did so you could share the view with us------

    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
    Karen and Steve
    (Blog) RVing: The USA Is Our Big Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com
    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

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    1. I was surprised that I managed to do it in a couple of tricky spots, so I can understand you not wanting to do it. Glad we were able to take you along with us through our pictures.

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