05 May 2009

Steenberg Peak at Silvermine

Date: 3 May 2009

Location: Silvermine, off Ou Kaapse Weg, TMNP

Walkers: Michele, Dorothy, Helen, Delphi, Claudia, Richard & Daisy

**** Route plotted here ****

We parked at Gate 2 in Silvermine East and took the path signposted to Higher Steenberg Peak.


(Photos by Helen)

This lead us to the left of Wolfkop, meandering through the lush fynbos. There were lots of rocks too, including the distinctive Wolfkop Pillar.


(Photos by Michele)

The views from here were wonderful. We could see down to Ou Kaapse Weg, across to Silvermine West, to Constantia and the Back Table beyond, and Devil's Peak was in the far distance. It didn't hurt that it was an absolutely perfect clear sunny day either!


(Photo by Michele)

It was particularly interesting to see across to the valley we'd walked through last weekend when we did the Silvermine River Walk (to left of road in the two pics below)



(Photos by Michele) (Photo by Helen)

Our path took us uphill, up some steep stone steps.


(Photos by Helen)

When we reached the plateau we could see all the way to Long Beach in Noordhoek to our right, and across to False Bay and beyond to our left.



(Photos by Michele)

After a little break for refreshments we had a just little bit more climbing to do, to get up Higher Steenberg Peak. Yay, on top at last!


(Photo by Helen)

Here and there, we spotted the enormous flowers of the king protea.



(Photos by Michele)

And there were also more weird and wonderful rock formations up here. Michele was in her element! ~ Can you guess which ones of the these below is known as Gavel Rock?





(Photos by Michele) (Photo by Helen)

We then made our way down back to the plateau and joined the jeep track. Following roads and the Old Fisherman's Path through this central part of Silvermine, we made our way down the valley and back to the parking area.




(Photos by Michele) (Photos by Helen)

These are some of the beasties we saw along the way:


(Photos by Michele) (Photos by Helen)
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1 comment:

MrMozambique said...

I ran the counter-clockwise route this morning from Gate 2. It was spectacular. Seeing both oceans from the peak made my day.