Dam Reflection

From the dam, this view greeted us this morning. It was very quiet, not a leaf stirred. The reflection was a picture perfect view with a clearer view of the mountain in it's reflection, than the real thing.
One could almost touch the reflection.

The two highest peaks in the middle, are George Peak, to the left, and Cradock Peak to the right.
A few years ago, Johann and a friend, Deon, climbed these peaks.

Cradock Peak (the taller of the two) is slightly more inland, and offers a 360 degree view which include the coastal region, as well as the Klein Karoo up to the Swartberg Mountains. Overberg toward Cape Town is also visible in the very very far distance.



George Peak ... The Trail:

From Witfontein, (White Fountain) the Nature conservation station at the bottom of these peaks, the trail climbs steeply up the slopes. It passes through fynbos (indigenous shrubs and growth), for about 2.5 hours to a nek (neck, or saddle) where the George Peak and Cradock peak paths split.
From here, it is a 30 minute climb to the 1337 meter high summit of George Peak from where there are expansive vistas of George and the coastline stretching between Mosselbay and Knysna.
This trail gains over a 100 meters in altitude and is rated as strenuous. The altitude at George is about 200 meters.
17kms; 7 hours: out and return.

Cradock Peak ... The Trail

It follows the same route as the George Peak trail for the first 2.5 hours. The trail then climbs steeply for about an hour to the summit of the Cradock Peak, at 1579 meters, the highest point in this area.
This is an extremely demanding trail, with an altitude gain of nearly 1300 meters, but the views are ample reward for the effort.
19kms; 8 hours: out and return.

Interesting is that both these peaks are higher than Table Mountain in Cape Town which (only) reaches 1067 meters.

For those of you who are cricket lovers: former SA Cricket captain, Hansie Cronje's aircraft crashed half way up George Peak. Very sad.