This will be the second post from our trip to Cape Town, with photos from another hike. After climbing Lion’s Head, which you can see here, Polly and I decided the very next day to climb Skeleton Gorge, which is the back side of Table Mountain. It was a pretty strenuous hike, with 900 meters (3000 feet) of climbing done over 6.5kms. Our hike began in the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.
The botanical gardens are beautiful, huge and sprawling. There were some really cool statues, like this one, throughout the gardens. Behind the statue is our route.
This route goes up the Eastern side of table mountain. The hike was beautiful, with wooden steps, ladders, scrambles up bouldery ravines, forest canopies, and open views.
The climbing started right away.
A ravine.
Some cool bark.
The route quickly became steeper.
See the little wooden steps? Our pathway up the mountain.
The views got better and better.
At the top, strangely, is a sandy lake. We stopped here for a snack and some water, then set off down the mountain.
Going down, we chose a different route, Nursery Ravine, which felt like just going down 5 straight kilometers of very steep, rickety wooden stairs. However, the views, the flowers, and the trees were unparalleled, so it was well worth it.
We had to cross a bit of the top ridge to get to Nursery Ravine.
Steep treacherous stairs and incredible views.
Once down, we set out to explore the botanical gardens a bit more before heading back to our Airbnb for lunch and well deserved rest.