Mountie to Matie: Lion's Head Moonlight Hike

Sunday evening was ISOS's last Lion's Head hike so Emmi and I didn't want to miss it. Even after I woke up with a bit of a cold (due to Saturday's top-deck bus ride around the city), I knew I'd be upset if I missed out. I did, however, think that it might be canceled because of how bad the wind had been all day.

We left a little after 5pm, and there were about 20 people going. We got to the mountain around 6:30. As soon as we got out of the van we could tell how bad the wind really was. We had to scream over it to hear each other and everyone was bundled up, even though it was in the high 60s or 70s. We decided we were still going to hike, so we set out on the trail. The views were so amazing, even before we started climbing up. The wind was bad, but as we rounded the mountain it calmed down a bit. We reached the top just as the sun started setting. You could see all of Cape Town-- Table Mountain, the waterfront, Camps Bay, Clifton. Then I remembered about the rock everyone takes pictures on because it looks like you're hanging over the city. I was the first to climb out on it, and considering the wind, I was terrified.

The sun set but the wind didn't give up. It was only 7:15 and the vans weren't coming back til 9:15. It was really really cold and cloudy so we decided to call them and have them come back a little early. The wind kept getting worse and the clouds covering Table Mountain started rolling towards us so we decided to head down at 7:50. Emmi and I went first, using the flashlight on my cheap track phone for light. The descent from the top was the worst because it's a bunch of steep rocks that you had to climb to get up, so all we could do was slide down them to get down. We scooted on our bottoms for most of the way down because the wind was moving so fast that we couldn't balance standing up. Then the scariest moment of my life.. (I'm not exaggerating.) We were standing on the narrow edge of the mountain, still climbing down the steep part, with everyone else behind us. There was a square rock that came to a point between Emmi and me. All of a sudden the wind came at as so hard we fell over and couldn't move. Emmi was on the face of the mountain so she was pinned up against the rock, unable to move either way. I was holding onto the corner of the rock, trying to grip it; if I had let go I would've fallen against the rocks behind be and tumbled over the edge. There was a moment I wondered if we really could make it down the rest of the mountain in those conditions.

The wind let up just long enough for us to crouch down and keep moving. By then the adrenaline set in and our legs were wobbling beneath us but we just wanted to get to the end. Luckily we were on a wider part of the mountain before another big gust of wind came. This one knocked me completely down on my back against the rocks, but it was comical, unlike the last time. As soon as Emmi and I saw the gravel path we started running to the end. We made it to the bottom about ten minutes ahead of everyone else, and for the first time we saw the moon.

This morning I woke up feeling pretty battered, but not as sick as I thought I would feel. I'm a little scraped up, and I found one nasty bruise, but I don't think I would trade the experience for anything.