Baboon Ridge
Sunday was again a beautiful day and I took advantage of the weather by exploring the back half of the Gecko Creek property. The recent rains have meant that water is running freely off of the mountains and the guests and I had been hearing the sound of running water from the cottage and the cabins. There was no apparent stream to be seen so, of course, that meant an excuse to go exploring.
Although the Fynbos is considered low vegatation, it can be very dense and tangly stuff. John and John (who work here) have been busy clearing underbrush so the area in front of the cottage was fairly open and easy to traverse. It wasn’t too long before I came upon a stream of water about a metre wide flowing off of the mountain that is called Baboon Ridge. I was surprised at the volume of water that was cascading down and even now I am not sure where it ends up although I am sure it eventually makes its way down to the Oliphant’s River. Of greater interest to me was were did it come from?
I strated up the hillside to see if I could track down the source of the water. Because of the density of the underbrush, I had to weave my way away from the watercourse to get some elevation and by the time I made my way back over to the area I realized that I had actually overshot and come out above the source of the water. As curious as I was to find the source, it seemed a waste to climb back down without going higher to first explore the ridge itself.
Up until this point, the steady climb had been on sandy soil through fairly dense underbrush. Soon, however, the gentle slope gave way to squared off rock faces about a metre in height. There were lots of cracks and crevises as well as many rock falls which meant foot and handholds were plentiful. There was no difficulty maintaining your climb as there were so many alternate routes to use if one didn’t pan out. After about half an hour of steady climbing, I crested what from the camp looks like the summit of the ridge but in fact, there was a lot of height still ahead that you couldn’t even see from the ground. As I pushed back through the scruby underbrush, I was soon looking across the valley to the other side and the camp had completely disappeared from view.
On top of the ridge there were two rock formations which tempted me with a 360 degree panorama. It was too appealing a prospect to pass up so, although I was tired and ill-prepared (I had not set out to climb so I had not brought any water, no hat, no sunscreen) I couldn’t resist climbing the smaller of the two formations, it also being the closer of the two.
The view from the top made the extra effort worthwhile. Looking down the backside of the ridge saw the mountain split into two separate ridges with a deep ravine between them. Looking across, you could see for miles down the N7 highway and across a vast expanse of mountain peaks to the south.
After surveying the countryside from my lofty perch I made my was back to the crest of the ridge. I wanted to see exactly where I was in relation to the camp and to yell down to my friends there. As I stood on the ledge at the top of the ridge I began to mentally map out my decent route which now seemed somewhat more difficult than the way up. Oh well. At least I wasn’t working against gravity any more.
The way down did indeed prove more challenging than the climb, surprisingly. I had deliberately skirted the largest part of the rock face as climbing down rock is harder than climbing up it. That seemed like a good plan however finding a viable route through the thick underbrush was at times challenging. Although it is winter and most snakes are dormant, they are still there and need to be respected. Although I saw and heard lots of evidence of baboons, rock dassies and diker (small deer) I was just as glad to not encounter any of the local wildlife as I made my was down to the bottom of the incline.
Quite by chance, as I crisscrossed my way down the hill, I came across not one but four water sources which were all feeding into the larger stream that I had seen further down the slope. It is amazing to see the speed that the water runs and you wonder where it is all coming from.
Eventually, the cottage was in view and I began to look forward to a nice, hot shower, along with the customary “tick check”. Ticks are common in the underbrush here and whenever you come in it is wise to check whether you have picked up any unwelcome hitchhikers. While many tick bites are harmless, some do carry diseases which need to be avoided if at all possible.
With the refreshing, hot spray of the shower revitalizing me I was feeling pleased with myself for having successfully ticked off another of my goals for this trip as Baboon Ridge had been on my “to do” list. My only regret was that because I hadn’t set out to climb it, I didn’t have my camera with me. So you will just have to take my word that I actually made it to the top. Two steps away from heaven!
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Morag