REPORT ON HIKES DONE BY FLORIDA HIKING

REPORT ON HIKES DONE BY FLORIDA HIKING

HIKE: 5 ASSEGAIS

DATE: 17 – 19 OCTOBER 2008

TYPE: BASE CAMP

AREA: MACHADODORP / BADPLAAS

This hike was booked in place of Idwala as there were no takers for that hike, and this was obviously a good move as we had 16 hikers going. We shared the camp with 6 hikers from IBM hiking club. We were very glad to welcome Aileen back with some of her family, and also 4 new hikers, 2 ladies and 2 gents. The weather closed in on the Friday evening and the last few hikers arrived in the rain. Except that it turned into a cloud burst and it would appear that the camp had not been “waterproofed” as water came in everywhere. Unfortunately some of both our and the other groups bedding got soaked, and these hikers spent both nights in their cars. The water also poured into the kitchen/dinning area, and upon opening the one door the water gushed in like a raging river as it had damned up just outside the door. Once again I have to take my hat off to the Florida hikers – they handled everything as if it was a daily occurrence, and no-one even seemed the least bit rattled and upset. Florida hikers – you guys are once again STARS!!! Maybe it is the age thing!! The trail was well varied and as we had done a hike – Bermanzi in January – we knew that the area was lovely. This is a new trail and in places we were a bit concerned that erosion would most definitely be a problem and more than likely in the not too distant future. We also felt that not all the bridges were necessary over the river, and that maybe just a very well secured cable would have sufficed. We were very lucky that we had cloud cover for the entire Saturday, as some of our newies battled a bit, thanks to Aileen for being the sweeper and keeping an eye on them for us. The 6 of us who hiked on the Sunday were not that lucky, the sun came out and we really felt the heat and humidity. The camp was laid out in amongst the rocks, the huts were double storey with access to the top storey via ramps and scrambles up rocks, there was lots of creosote messed on the mattresses as well as the floors and some of us were unlucky enough to get this on our kit bags and sleeping bags. But as per usual Florida hikers did not let anything stand in their way of having a very good time.