The Chop-Chop Story

Saturday morning early, well not so early, but early enough, CJ and myself left George for a scenic drive up Montagu Pass and parked my Uno in the black wattle grove at the North Station. The idea was to hike to Tierkop, put out markers, chop open the trail and then hike back to the car...

So just after 8:00 we set off on an epic mission, the first few km went by without too much trouble, putting in markers where necessary and the day just starting to warm up.

Then after the ridge where one looks down upon the last visible signs of civilization (Herold Wine's Dam) we started going down into forests that reminded me of Jurrasic Park. Here we had to start our chopping, and in hind sight, a pruning shear might have worked better than a machete, firstly because the trail was quite overgrown and not much space to get a swing going and secondly, the plants are young and bendy, so they deflect and spring right back with minimum damage. Anyway we battled on up to the Kiaamans River, up here it was just a small pleasant stream and had a lunch break under the shade. We did not know it at the time, but this was the last place to get water, so from here, make sure your bottles are filled and that you have a good long drink!

Enjoying the Shade at the Kaaimans Crossing

Then begins what Lettuce refers to as "The Switchbacks". Lettuce is a lettuce farmer near Plett , and captained the Pennypinchers AR Team to successfully complete the Bull of Africa in 2008. He is also a member of the Southern Cape Mountain Rescue Crew, and having gone through that section in the Eden Duo (albeit in the opposite direction) I had peppered him with questions about the trail to get as much info as possible.

The Switchbacks will really test the athletes, and it is a steep climb from the valley up to the ridge. One misstep could result in quite a spectacular fall and the overgrown trail doesn't help much in that department (we tried our best to clear the worst, even resorting to breaking the plants with our hands, but it was a mere 'drop in the ocean')! However the view to the top of Craddock Peak was awesome, with clouds just forming at the summit, and we even spotted a black eagle enjoying the cool breeze! Once you reach the ridge you are itching to run again, and the path clears out a bit and you can stretch your legs. When we got here we decided we were not going to hike back to North Station, but instead press on from Tierkop to George. So off we set for Tierkop.

The Ridge after the Switchbacks

Tierkop was locked up so we could not fill our empty bottles, but I am working on Cape Nature to open it up on race day.

Tierkop Hut, A Welcome Sight for Tired Legs (but still 17 km from the end!)

From Tierkop we stuck to the old hiking trail, that goes over the old George Dam, (the dam makes me think of some futuristic movie where earth has been attacked by Aliens and mankind is now on the brink of extinction - a civilization that once was). From the dam the hiking trail winds its way along the contours through some amazing mountain forests and then drops down to the Witfontein Forestry area, we arrived back at 18:30, so we spent about 10.5 hours out on the trail.

It was an amazing day out, my legs are still a bit tender, and my closing thoughts are mixed:

• This trail run has amazing views, but you will work hard to get to the best view points!
• The condition of the trail is not great, your legs will get scratched so bring along gaiters if you have any.
• We used blue spray paint from North Station to Tierkop, and yellow spray paint from Tierkop towards Witfontein, so keep an eye out for our little arrows. Also there are numourous hiking footprints so you should not get lost.
• Water on the trail is scarce, so drink up when you get a good water source, and make sure you fill your bottle at every opportunity!
• Even in the full noon sun, just stopping for 5 minutes on the ridge cools you down quickly, especially if the wind is blowing.
  
• If you plan on walking the whole trail, bring along a headlamp just in case...
  
• Walking at 15 minutes per km it will take you about 10 hours to do the whole route, add in about 1 hour for stops (3 x 20 minutes) gets you to 11 hours.
  
• The total distance is probably closer to 40 km than 35 km, but we will see what the people with footpods / GPS watches report back.
• If you are worried about the distance (and can't find a relay partner), I will make a concession and you can start from the North Station and miss out on the first big climb up Craddock Pass. You need to sort your own transport out to the North Station.
• If we can sort out registrations quickly, and get the race briefing done with, we can start a bit earlier on race day.