The Epic Journey of Table Mountain

All last week (Monday, July 5 through Friday, July 9), we spent in seminars at the University of Cape Town (UCT). However, on Thursday we got a day off from class and went to the top of Table Mountain. The mountain gets its name because it’s nearly flat on top (like a table as you might guess.) It’s about 3,255 feet high and is believed to be one of the oldest mountains in the world, formed under the ocean 600 million years ago. To get to the top we took the Table Mountain Cableway, a huge cable car system that can carry 65 people in each car from halfway up the mountain to the top. The floor of the cable car rotates so everyone inside can get a full 360° view of the trip up.

Cable Car

At the top we had an hour or so to explore the top of the mountain and take pictures. The views of the city and the ocean were amazing from here. My friend Danielle and I walked all over the top of the mountain, stepping from rock to rock, until we reached the edge on the other side. It was a little scary but very exciting to look over the edge and realize just how high up we were. After this we had lunch in a little café on top of the mountain and then got ready for the real adventure – hiking down. Table Mountain has several hiking trails leading up and down the mountain and we took the route through the Platteklip Gorge, which winds around the side of the mountain. This is the most well known route, and I’m guessing the safest as well. My friend Sammi commented that the terrain reminded her of the journey to Mordor in The Lord of the Rings, which I thought was pretty funny. It certainly did have that feel, with the rocky pathways and the scrub vegetation. Lots of people climb up the mountain using this path as well. After our trip down I really have to admire these people for climbing up. It’s a steep path and it takes a long time to travel the distance between the ground and the top. It would definitely take some serious strength and stamina. The hardest part about going down is trying to keep your balance and not trip on the rocks. I discovered it took more leg strength than I thought to stay steady while walking down. However, throughout the hike the view was beautiful and I definitely felt a sense of accomplishment at the prospect of hiking down a mountain.

For the first half of the hike everyone was in good spirits, laughing and joking as we walked, stopping to take pictures all the time, and even rousing a cheer of “Go Green! Go White!” every once in a while. We also passed a lot of other hikers, mostly tourists visiting South Africa for the World Cup. We met people from all over the world, including a few others from the U.S. As we got farther down the mountain and especially as we came out of the mountain’s shadow into the sun, the fatigue set in and the hike became much more tiring. My legs really started to hurt after a while from trying to hold my balance on the steep downward slopes. At one point I lost my balance, pitched forward, and took a spill a few feet down the slope. I landed on chest and my left knee slammed into the ground pretty hard. I was a little shaken, but thankfully I only bruised and scraped my knee.

After about two hours we finally got to the bottom and I couldn’t have been happier to be on flat ground again. Despite sore legs (I felt like I had just gone through a day of winterguard camp again.) we all felt very tough and strong for making it all the way down. After everyone reached the bottom we were all very happy to stop for a cocktail. (Haha.) Back at the guest house that night, the owners held a traditional South African barbecue, known as a braai. They cooked a type of fish called snook over a wood fire. It was very delicious. Definitely a great end to the day.

Braai pits