Blinkwater Hike, Newhanover, 11 June
Hike leader Dusty Shaw
Photos Dusty, Iain, Chris, Penny, Tracy
Weather: Clear,
Hikers: 15
Total Accent: 523m,
Distance: 12km,
Severity: 3
We all met up at the designated point on the P550, we then took a slow and dusty drive up to the Douglas Smith cottage and got ready for an exciting venture onto the Blinkwater mountain reserve. The reserve is run and maintained by a joint partnership with Ezemvelo KZN wildlife, SAPPI and Mondi. After a brief introduction, history lesson and a group photo we donned on our bags and we were off as the day started to warm up with lots of promise of amazing views
The first part of the walk takes us through London plain trees that are over a hundred years old that have showered the ground with leaves as winter sets in. The trail starts to climb from here onwards, with frequent brakes we ascend the 523m over 1.3km through the gum plantation before we broke out at the top onto grasslands.
Another short break was held as we all stripped layers off and had a quick drink to rehydrate this time around we had no horse flies to encourage us to race up the path, thank goodness. We followed the jeep track up admiring the view and we were able to see Albert falls clearly in the far distance.
Just before we got to the bent arrow where we needed to leave the jeep track we stopped at Dusty’s rock for some hikers to pose the trail had been recently brush cut and was clear to navigate.
We continued down to where the SAPPI trail joined into the main trail where we had a small break.
The little indigenous patch holds a beautiful waterfall within it, unfortunately we weren’t graced with it this time round. Continuing on with the trail every now and again we would reach a high point and admire the view surrounding us and how clear it was. Eventually we arrived at our designated lunch spot on top of a hill where we had 360 degree awesomeness around us. Far in the distance we could just make out Noodsberg and other features we had no names for.
After a good chin wag and a stretch we donned our packs on again to start the second part of the hike into the indigenous forest. Surprisingly the trail was still quiet wet and slippery and one had to take caution not to slip on hidden roots and moss covered rock. This part of the trail has a different approach as it tests ones fitness levels but has some of the most amazing sites of rock cliffs, wild vines, fungus and wildlife.
Bum sliding was the order of the day as we navigated over some of the technical areas and made our way through the rock arch with the hidden stream below ground that we could audibly hear but not see. We followed the blue and orange ribbons which marked the trail.
Every now and again we would cross streams that had crystal clear water (13).
As we adventured on we eventually reached the contour path which allows for easier walking as it lead us out of the indigenous forest and into the gum plantation to our final point at the Kraal just before the Douglas Smith cottage.
One last photo was taken of the group at the “Far Away Tree” spoken about in one of the earlier hikes done many years ago.