Hiking with children - Dassieskasteel Traverse

Happy kids at Stonehenge on the Dassieskasteel Traverse hike
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“What’s Stonehenge,” asked a quiet voice. “I like Stonehenge,” said another.

Having summitted earlier than expected it seemed like a good idea to continue to the rocky jungle gym named Stonehenge, and sure enough, the children had a wonderful time exploring the doorways, windows, nooks and crannies of this amazing area while all thoughts of lunch and tired feet were forgotten.

New friendships formed

After 30-odd phone calls over the past two weeks I entered Silvermine gate 2 expecting to find the car park full of unruly children and, even worse, unruly parents, but it was a manageable 14 children and 10 adults who turned up for the adventure, ranging from four to 11 years of age. The weather was perfect, still and cool with cloud cover to begin, turning into a sunny warm day.

After the cave, ascending to the summit
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We set off on the road to circumnavigate Kleintuinkop after offering the frontrunners the target of a large rock, “how big is the rock” and “is that the rock”. Eventually, after a steep section, the kids climbed the large rocks at the turnoff point while waiting for everyone to catch up. It was a good place for a tea break and showing the kids the king Protea and the miniature of this, Diastella divaricata.

From here on the oldest child Dean, aged 11 and Sabelo, aged 9 were given the task of following cairns, which they thoroughly enjoyed helped by some of the other children. Meanwhile, the parents were told that the words “be careful” were taboo.

On Dassieskasteel Traverse
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After a false start, sorting the height phobic and the youngest member, 4 year-old Liam from the toughies, about five returned to the cars under Kevin Carters able co-leadership, while the rest of us continued on the correct path.

Passing the Hottentots cherry trees and rounding the corner to scramble up a short pitch, the kids enjoyed the first cave. From her on things became more exciting as they scrambled under an overhang and found Ystervarkgrot. Entering the cave under the watchful eye of Mike Walton, they switched off torches and listened to the silence. Those of us outside knew when this happened as we heard squeals of fright.

Excitment after entering the cave
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Continuing up the ridge to the summit, ably found by Dean, Sabelo and assistants we were soon on the top after passing more king proteas, one explored by a praying mantis.

All too soon we reached the summit and the decision was made to continue to Stonehenge. While the adults found the easier routes the children were hooked and looked for difficult rock scrambles, most showing their expertise while adults bit their tongues and tried not to watch. Soon we were there and the tortoise was the object to conquer and, after sustenance, this was overcome by Talitha showing her strength and agility with years of gymnastics. Of course the boys couldn’t be outdone and even one of the parents!

Almost at the summit
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After a group picture we continued to the “helicopter pad” and the descent to Bertie’s Balcony. By this stage the kids had adventure overload and wanted to finish the hike. After a further descent and then the long boring section along the road we finished at about 3pm, after six hours of adventure.

The highlight for almost all of the kids was the cave but they also enjoyed the rock scrambling and with this in mind the next hike will be Agatha’s Gully, hopefully with more support from Meridian members who have kids. Many thanks to Kevin Carter, one of the founding members of Meridian Hiking Club, and as a parent, who better to take the club forward into the next generation.

Donmichel and Kathleen
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N.B. The aim of Capricorn Hiking Club is to encourage future generations to continue exploring our mountains, to enjoy nature, to explore new areas, to grow as human beings, to help the young and weak, and so much more, even to teach us.

My thanks to MHC for making this children’s hike possible. To the parents who came along and gave their support, but mostly to the children for taking the chance, for being brave and trying out the unknown.