We are back from a very nice but demanding hike. The Queen-Rose Trail has been named as one of the most beautiful trails in South Africa. It consists of two legs:
1) From the Queen-Rose Hut along the Rose river to Makesh Hut (14 km)
2) From the Makesh Hut along the Queen river back to the Queen-Rose Hut (8 km).
We, a group of six people, went to the Q-R hut last Friday, had a very nice braai and slept well in the very well equipped hut.
At 8:45 am the next day we started the hike on the 1st leg of the trail.
Up, up, up for 2 km in a forestry plantation with beautiful pine trees.
When we were at the top op the trail we saw a big truck loading timbers. We passed it on the main track, but after 1 km we understood that we must have missed a turn. We walked back and found that the truck had run over the sign! That added 2 km to our hike...
We then had a very steep descent to Alvin's Fall, along the Roland's Ladder.
We had a short lunch break at the view point above the fall, and then went down to the Rose River.
From there it was downhill for several kilometers, so we expected it to be like a walk in the park. How wrong we were!!!!
The Rose River flows in a deep canyon, and the trail is very narrow, and includes 20+ river crossings. Most of them with a rope to hang on if we would slip on the wet stones...
After coming out of the canyon we had lovely views of the mountain ridges of the escarpment.
The sun was starting to set behind the high mountains, but we had at least 2 km ahead of us. The last kilometer, was probably the worst... Steep downhill on a narrow path with lots of small loose rocks, making it very easy to trip, especially when your legs are VERY tired!
We finally made it to the Makesh Hut, where we had a nice supper: Chicken Curry with rice.
No-one stayed up late that evening.
We will do the next leg some other time!!!
